Port of Corpus Christi Authority Channel Deepening Project expands one of the nation’s most critical energy export ports

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

WASHINGTON (August 1, 2024) – The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) is pleased to announce that the Port of Corpus Christi Authority Channel Deepening Project is the latest project to complete federal environmental review and authorizations with FAST-41 permitting assistance from the Council. This $400 million project will expand one of the largest ports in the nation, a major gateway to international and domestic maritime commerce.

“Ports and waterways are one of the most important sectors in the FAST-41 portfolio, providing a critical component to our nation’s global economic development,” says Eric Beightel, Permitting Council Executive Director. “Projects like this one play a key role in strengthening the supply chain, and today’s announcement shows once again how vital the efficiency and accountability of the FAST-41 program is for critical infrastructure projects.” 

A major economic engine in the state of Texas, the Port of Corpus Christi is the largest port in the U.S. in total revenue tonnage. The channel deepening project will upgrade the channel with the capacity to accommodate transit of very large crude carriers into the Gulf of Mexico. First built in 1926, the port has incrementally expanded throughout the years, going from a depth of 25 feet (width of 200 feet) to a depth of 54 feet (width of 530 feet). This latest project will take the depth to 77 feet. 

The Department of the Army, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers led the project through the FAST-41 process. Learn more about the Port of Corpus Christi Authority Channel Deepening project on the Federal Permitting Dashboard at Permitting.gov.

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 federal agency charged with improving the transparency, predictability, and accountability 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; the deputy secretary-level designees of 13 federal agencies (including the Departments of Agriculture, Army, Commerce, Interior, Energy, Transportation, Defense, Homeland Security, and Housing and Urban Development, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation), 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 resources, 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.