PoQueen Rivera will serve as the new Executive Director at the Council that is fostering an all-of-government approach to meeting federal treaty and trust responsibilities to Tribes.

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Permitting Council Press Office (media@permitting.gov)

WASHINGTON (May 21, 2024) – The Permitting Council (Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council) is pleased to announce that PoQueen Rivera, Director of Tribal Affairs, will serve as Executive Director of the White House Council on Native American Affairs (WHCNAA). In this role, Rivera will lead the WHCNAA’s collaborative inter-agency work to realize its mission of bringing prosperity and resilience to all Tribal nations. Rivera replaces Morgan Rodman as Executive Director of the WHCNAA who recently began serving as Senior Policy Advisor for Native American Affairs for the White House Domestic Policy Council. 

“It is an honor to continue my service as the new Executive Director of the White House Council on Native American Affairs,” said PoQueen Rivera. “The White House Council on Native American Affairs is uniquely positioned to spearhead interagency collaboration and make certain the federal government is creating policy and programs that remove barriers and holistically respond to Indian Country. I look forward to building off the work done by the Biden-Harris Administration to ensure that the WHCNAA continues to fulfill its mission to facilitate interagency collaboration for the benefit of Tribal communities.”

“President Biden is committed to strengthening Tribal Nations, and I’m proud of the long list of WHCNAA accomplishments under the leadership of U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and White House Domestic Policy Council Director Neera Tanden, who serve as WHCNAA co-chairs,” said Morgan Rodman. “As the new Executive Director, PoQueen will play an instrumental role in the continued success of WHCNAA’s inter-agency work for Tribes and Native communities. She brings strong leadership and a depth of experience working with Federal, Tribal, and state governments.” 

PoQueen Rivera served as the first-ever Director of Tribal Affairs for the Permitting Council, where she was responsible for building the agency’s Tribal program. During her tenure, Rivera ushered in the first Tribal projects to ever receive FAST-41 permitting assistance from the Permitting Council, a total economic investment of over 100 million dollars. Rivera also spearheaded numerous Tribal priorities, including the creation of the Environmental Review Improvement Fund Tribal Assistance Program (ERIF TAP), a financial assistance program launched in response to requests from Tribes for resources to help them meet increased permitting demand and to meaningfully engage in the environmental review process. ERIF-TAP is a historic first for the Permitting Council, allocating funds to Tribal governments to support Tribal engagement in the environmental review and authorization process for FAST-41 covered projects. Earlier this month the Permitting Council announced the first funding awards for this program, allocating a total of $1.3 million to the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and the Stockbridge-Munsee Community. 

“The work that PoQueen accomplished during her time at the Permitting Council is inspiring and laid the foundation for Tribes to seek and obtain our unique permitting support for essential infrastructure projects in Indian Country. Her work helps Tribal Nations engage in the environmental review and authorization process for infrastructure across the nation,” said Eric Beightel, Permitting Council Executive Director. “While we will surely miss the enthusiasm and commitment she showed in her work as Director of Tribal Affairs, we know that her skills are perfectly suited to advance the mission of the White House Council on Native American Affairs.”

About the Permitting Council and FAST-41 

Established in 2015 by Title 41 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST-41) and made permanent in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Permitting Council is a unique federal agency charged with improving the transparency and predictability of the federal environmental review and authorization process for certain critical infrastructure projects. The Permitting Council is comprised of the Permitting Council Executive Director, who serves as the Council Chair; 13 federal agency Council members (including deputy secretary-level designees of the Secretaries of Agriculture, Army, Commerce, Interior, Energy, Transportation, Defense, Homeland Security, and Housing and Urban Development, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Chairs of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation); and the Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

The Permitting Council coordinates federal environmental reviews and authorizations for projects that seek and qualify for FAST-41 coverage. FAST-41 covered projects are entitled to comprehensive permitting timetables and transparent, collaborative management of those timetables on the Federal Permitting Dashboard. FAST-41 covered projects may be in the renewable or conventional energy production, electricity transmission, energy storage, surface transportation, aviation, ports and waterways, water resource, broadband, pipelines, manufacturing, mining, carbon capture, semiconductors, artificial intelligence and machine learning, high-performance computing and advanced computer hardware and software, quantum information science and technology, data storage and data management, and cybersecurity sectors.