Summit will bring together key permitting stakeholders to discuss best practices to bring once-in-a-generation infrastructure investments to life

Contact Information
Permitting Council Press Office (media@permitting.gov) 

WASHINGTON (August 22, 2024) — The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) is pleased to announce the inaugural Infrastructure Developers Summit. Scheduled for October 8th in Washington, D.C., this first-of-its-kind summit will bring together senior leaders and practitioners from throughout the permitting landscape to discuss benefits of the Permitting Council’s FAST-41 permitting assistance program, share best practices to advance permitting excellence, build a network of permitting connections, and cultivate innovative ideas to transform federal permitting.

“One of the greatest benefits of the Permitting Council’s role as a center for permitting excellence is the ability to convene stakeholders from across industry to problem solve and share insights,” said Eric Beightel, Permitting Council Executive Director. “This Summit is an excellent opportunity for our permitting community to come together to strengthen our networks and discuss the progress we’ve made to improve and advance permitting. I’m proud that we're hosting this event and encourage infrastructure developers from industry, states, and tribes to attend.”

The half day summit is free and open to permitting stakeholders inside and outside of the federal government. This event is an opportunity for participants to hear directly from federal leaders on how the Permitting Council is approaching common federal permitting challenges, discovering innovative solutions and forwarding best practices to transform the environmental review and authorization processes. Attendance at the Infrastructure Developers Summit will give participants an up-close-and-personal look into the Permitting Council’s FAST-41 permitting assistance program, showcasing how it can bring transparency, predictability, and accountability to infrastructure projects across sectors. 

Event Details

When: Tuesday, October 8, 2024 

Time: 1:00-5:00 p.m. ET 

Where: USDA Headquarters, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 

Registration: Link

Press: Event is open to press

Who should attend?

●    Infrastructure developers
●    Past and current FAST-41 project sponsors 
●    State and local governments
●    Tribal governments and representatives
●    Federal agency permitting staff and leadership
●    Permitting stakeholders

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. The Permitting Council also serves as a federal center for permitting excellence, supporting federal efforts to improve infrastructure permitting including and beyond FAST-41 covered projects to the extent authorized by law, including activities that promote or provide for the efficient, timely, and predictable completion of environmental reviews and authorizations for federally-authorized infrastructure projects.