Projects can still get fast-track permitting during the government shutdown—as long as they advance Trump administration priorities—says the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council.
In a letter to member agencies Oct. 1, council Executive Director Emily Domenech said the entity, which is funded through the Environmental Review Improvement Fund rather than through annual appropriations, is ready to continue operations during the shutdown.
The council uses the FAST-41 dashboard to coordinate federal environmental reviews and permitting for qualifying projects. The dashboard is named in reference to Title 41 of 2015 Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, through which Congress established the council and its program to expedite the permitting process for some infrastructure projects. Congress then made the pilot program permanent under the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Qualifying projects under the FAST Act include infrastructure for energy production, electricity transmission, surface transportation, aviation, ports and waterways, water resource projects, broadband, pipelines and manufacturing.
President Donald Trump executive orders have directed the council to consider other projects such as mineral production facilities and data centers for expedited permitting. The council says it has added 53 projects to the dashboard since Trump took office in January.
During this time, the permitting council «expects» that any staff that supported by the Environmental Review Improvement Fund «will also take advantage of the opportunity to focus their efforts entirely on expediting permits for FAST-41 projects that are within the president’s stated priorities,” Domenech wrote in the letter.
The dashboard currently lists more than 500 projects in progress, including a mix of covered projects, certain transportation projects and “transparency projects,” which are posted at the direction of the council’s executive director, as well as 30 more planned projects.
While many other government programs have been paused and an estimated 750,000 federal workers furloughed, the permitting council has fund money available to support agencies continuing permitting for FAST-41 projects during the shutdown.
“This is an opportunity to drastically and efficiently move projects that support the president’s priorities forward,” Domenech wrote.
