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

WASHINGTON (June 7, 2024) — The Permitting Council (Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council) is pleased to welcome Angela Colamaria as its new Director of Permitting Planning and Policy. As part of the Permitting Council leadership team, Colamaria will work to improve the efficiency and accountability of environmental review and authorizations for infrastructure projects nationwide, as the agency works to fulfill its role in making once-in-a-generation infrastructure projects a reality. 

“I have dedicated much of my professional career to improving the federal permitting process, striving to ensure timely and effective project reviews that benefit communities while protecting the environment,” said Angela Colamaria. “I am truly excited to return to the federal permitting family at this pivotal moment to play a role in ensuring that innovative infrastructure receives the benefits of efficient and accountable environmental review.”  

Colamaria will lead the Permitting Council’s efforts to advance the agency as a center for permitting excellence across the federal government. She will provide strategic direction to develop, manage and direct programs that advance the timeliness and effectiveness of permitting reviews and authorizations. This role will entail working extensively across the permitting community to understand opportunities and challenges in infrastructure permitting and to drive programs and initiatives that support permitting excellence. 

“I am elated to welcome Angela Colamaria to the Permitting Council,” said Eric Beightel, Permitting Council Executive Director. “Having known and worked with Angie throughout her infrastructure permitting career, I cannot think of anyone better to take on this role leading our permitting excellence charge. She brings a unique perspective as someone who worked to create our agency in its infancy, and I am truly excited to see the wonderful benefits her years of expertise bring to our work to transform the environmental review and authorization process.” 

Prior to joining the staff of the Permitting Council, Colamaria served as the Chief Legal Counsel for the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, leading the legal unit and ensuring department compliance with federal and state environmental laws. Previously she worked for the White House Office of Management and Budget as the Infrastructure Permitting Team Lead, directing the team as it worked to improve the federal infrastructure permitting process, including National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews and other substantive environmental statutes and regulations. While in that role Colamaria oversaw the creation of the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council, serving as the Acting Director of the agency in 2018. Other past roles include time at the Department of Energy (DOE) as a Senior Program Manager for the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, experience with the DOE Office of the Secretary as the Special Advisor for renewables and infrastructure, and time spent as an Environmental Protection Specialist in the DOE Loan Programs Office.  

Ms. Colamaria is a graduate of American University’s Washington College of Law and the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources and Environment. Learn more about the Federal Permitting Dashboard at Permitting.gov.  

About the Permitting Council

Established in 2015 by Title 41 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST-41), 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 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.