View Rule

Title 41 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST-41), 42 U.S.C. 4370m et seq.,  established the Federal Permitting Improvement Council (Permitting Council), which is comprised of the Executive Director, 13 council members that represent Federal agencies, and additional council members, the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality, and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. The Permitting Council facilitates deliberate, coordinated, and transparent Federal environmental review and authorization for FAST-41 "covered” infrastructure projects across a statutorily identified range of industry sectors, including renewable and conventional energy production, electricity transmission, surface transportation, aviation, ports and waterways, water resource projects, broadband, pipelines, manufacturing, 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, cybersecurity, carbon capture, and energy storage. FAST-41 authorizes the Permitting Council, by majority vote, to determine additional FAST-41 sectors. 42 U.S.C. 4370m(6)(A). In January 2021, the Permitting Council voted to add "mining" as a FAST-41 sector. 86 FR 1281 (Jan. 8, 2021). The Permitting Council proposes to revise the "mining" sector to: (1) include only critical minerals mining; and (2) expand the sector to include infrastructure constructed to support the critical minerals supply chain, including critical minerals extraction, beneficiation, processing, and recycling. Revising the FAST-41 mining sector would not guarantee that any particular project in the revised sector would be covered under FAST-41 or receive the benefits of enhanced coordination under the statute. A project sponsor seeking the benefits of FAST-41 would still have to apply to participate in the FAST-41 program and demonstrate that the project meets the FAST-41 "covered project" criteria.