Permitting Council Marks Significant Progress Achieved During Longest Government Shutdown in History
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As the federal government reopens after a historic 43-day shutdown, the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council has made significant progress during the lapse in appropriations. With two projects completing federal permitting and another nine receiving FAST-41 support, the Permitting Council’s strategic use of multi-year funding allowed for continued permitting advancement despite the shutdown.
“The Permitting Council worked hard to advance President Trump’s energy and infrastructure goals even in the midst of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history,” said Emily Domenech, Permitting Council Executive Director.
“Utilizing our multi-year funding from the Permitting Council’s environmental review and improvement fund, we were able to advance critical energy and infrastructure projects across the nation and continue to expedite federal permitting. I’d like to extend my sincere gratitude to all the agencies that continued work on these crucial projects, even when faced with a shutdown,” added Domenech.
The government shutdown now ranks as the longest in U.S. history, putting a halt to government services at every level. The agency’s Environmental Review Improvement Fund (ERIF) allowed for ERIF-funded staff at council agencies to continue working and focus solely on expediting permits for FAST-41 projects within the president’s stated priorities. Progress completed during the shutdown include:
COMPLETED PROJECTS
• Caldwell Canyon Mine Project
This Caribou County, Idaho-based phosphate mining project will aid in the production of various commodities, from crop protection products to consumable goods.
• Lisbon Valley Copper Project
This San Juan County, Utah-based minerals mining project will produce critically needed copper, used to power essential energy sources nationwide.
NEW PROJECTS
• Black Bear Natural Gas Project
This natural gas production and pipeline project is located in San Augustine County, Texas and will play a key role in the Trump Administration’s goal of unleashing the nation’s abundant energy resources.
• Burnt Rock Exploration Project
This project is a 10-year mineral exploration for gold and silver in the Aurora mining district of west-central Nevada. `
• Copper Creek Exploration Project
This project is a vast, 3-kilometer-long porphyry copper deposit located in Pinal County, less than two hours northeast of Tucson, Arizona.
• Donlin Gold Project
This Anchorage, Alaska-based project’s estimated mineral reserve is approximately 34 million ounces of gold.
• Kilbourne Graphite Project
This St. Lawrence County, NY-based $360 million critical minerals mining project will build a strategically significant domestic supply chain for graphite, essential for the production of energy storage systems to support large scale AI data centers and national defense applications.
• Kosciusko Junction Pipeline Project
This Mississippi-based pipeline sector project will deliver critically needed natural gas to power new and existing electric generation across the Southeast, in addition to powering the latest in AI technology.
• Mississippi Crossing Project
This Greenville, Mississippi-based pipeline project is designed to provide up to 2.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas transportation capacity to meet growing demand in the Southeast.
• South Railroad Mining Project
This project is located 16 miles south of Carlin, Nevada, and proposes to construct, operate and reclaim a new gold and silver mine from which ore would be extracted using conventional surface mining techniques and associated facilities.
• South System Expansion 4 Project
This Enterprise, Mississippi-based project will expand natural gas capacity by approximately 1.3 billion cubic feet per day to serve markets across the Southeastern U.S., from Clarke County, Mississippi to Aiken, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia.
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 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.
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