Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (FPISC-Main)

The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) was established to improve coordination, transparency, and efficiency in the federal environmental review and authorization process for infrastructure projects nationwide. Created under Title 41 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, the Permitting Council is directed by Congress to: Create public timetables and structure for federal permitting review Convene agencies to improve collaboration, coordinate processes, and increase efficiencies Create predictability in the process to avoid permitting delays and increased costs for project sponsors 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.  FAST-41 projects may be in the renewable or conventional energy production, electricity transmission, 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.