Summit brings together key permitting stakeholders to discuss best practices to advance critical infrastructure projects nationwide

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

WASHINGTON (October 8, 2024) — Today, the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) held the inaugural Infrastructure Developers Summit. Permitting experts and decision makers gathered with project developers in Washington, D.C. to explore permitting opportunities and challenges, while strategizing best practices for improving the federal permitting process and bringing next generation infrastructure to life. 

“I am thrilled that the Permitting Council is bringing together some of the greatest minds in infrastructure permitting for this first-ever event,” said Eric Beightel, Permitting Council Executive Director. “Today I announced the agency’s intent to invest $15 million in a game changing contracting tool to help federal agencies leverage surge support to get environmental reviews done with efficiency. That tool is just one example of the work we are championing at the Permitting Council to revolutionize the permitting landscape as we know it, and convenings like this one will increase our ability to identify and develop best practices to build infrastructure that is essential to the future of the nation. That work is already paying dividends, with FAST-41 covered projects achieving Record of Decision an average of 18 months earlier than projects outside of the program.”

Held at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) headquarters, today’s first-of-its-kind gathering was a unique opportunity for project developers to hear directly from the federal government leaders charged with transforming the permitting landscape on the Permitting Council’s work to bring critically needed efficiency and accountability to the process. The half day summit featured remarks from National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard as well as a fireside chat on the Biden-Harris administration’s work to transform the efficiency of federal permitting, featuring Permitting Council Executive Director Eric Beightel, U.S. Department of Energy Deputy Secretary David Turk and Department of the Interior Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis. 

Representatives from infrastructure development companies like Orsted, South32 and Tradepoint Atlantic spoke at the summit, detailing how their infrastructure projects benefited from the predictability, transparency and accountability of the FAST-41 process. The New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority and federal leaders from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Interior, and the U.S. Department of Commerce also served as panelists, highlighting how the work of the Permitting Council is making a traditionally inefficient process work better for stakeholders across the board. 

Summit Participants: 

• Lael Brainard: Director of the National Economic Council
• David Turk: Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy
• Xochitl Torres Small: Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Agriculture
• Laura Daniel-Davis: Acting Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of the Interior
• Pilar Patterson: Head of Mid-Atlantic and P2X Permitting at Ørsted
• Lynn Mostoller: Executive Director at the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority (RETA)
• Judy Brown: Head of External Affairs, Americas South32
• Tom Caso: Vice President Tradepoint Atlantic
• Shamina Dillard: Deputy Chief Environmental Review and Permitting Officer at the U.S. Department of Agriculture
• Steve Tryon: Chief Environmental Review and Permitting Officer/Director of the Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance (OEPC) at the U.S. Department of Interior
• Jill Springer: Chief Environmental Review and Permitting Officer /Senior Policy Advisor for Permitting in the Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth/Federal Preservation Officer at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)

The Permitting Council plans to make the Infrastructure Developers Summit an annual event aimed at fostering greater coordination and collaboration in the federal permitting process. Learn more about the work of the Permitting Council and view the Federal Permitting Dashboard at permitting.gov. A livestream of the event is available on YouTube and event photos are featured on LinkedIn. 

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.