Permitting Council Enters MOU With Utah in Latest Federal-State Agreement to Streamline Permitting
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The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council issued the latest state MOU to better coordinate state and federal permitting efforts. Permitting Council Executive Director Emily Domenech joined Utah Governor Spencer Cox at the Operation Gigawatt Summit in Park City, Utah for the signing.
The agreement brings transparency to the permitting of projects in Utah, with a commitment from the state to opt in to the FAST-41 process and align timelines for state and federal environmental reviews. As part of the agreement, the state of Utah will work with the Permitting Council to identify priority infrastructure projects, enable transparency for state permitting actions, and ensure that state and federal review timelines are aligned to prevent unnecessary delays for critical infrastructure projects.
“I am thrilled to announce our partnership with Governor Cox and the state of Utah,” said Emily Domenech, Permitting Council Executive Director.
“By aligning state and federal permitting timelines, Utah is establishing a more efficient and transparent permitting process that will drive investment to the state, speed energy, and natural resources development and advance President Trump’s infrastructure and energy dominance agenda,” added Domenech.
“Utah is a state that builds. We know that America’s future depends on our ability to move projects from idea to reality,” said Utah Governor Spencer Cox.
This agreement will help align state and federal permitting processes so that major projects can move forward with greater transparency, coordination and predictability. We’re proud to work with the Permitting Council to reduce unnecessary delays and help ensure Utah remains a place where big things can get built,” added Cox.
By aligning state and federal permitting timelines, this MOU will ensure that critical infrastructure projects avoid additional roadblocks after completion of the federal environmental review process, providing a transformative level of coordination and transparency between the federal government and Utah.
The Permitting Council will provide support to projects identified in Utah, ensuring focused technical assistance, transparency, accountability, and predictability in the permitting process.
A wide variety of federal support will be offered as part of the agreement, including:
• Assisting Utah in identifying eligible FAST-41 projects
• Engaging with Utah to identify and support gaps in federal knowledge and provide opportunities to share state
expertise
• Convening meetings with appropriate state and federal agencies to ensure streamlined and coordinated review
and to avoid duplicative efforts
• Exploring opportunities to improve state permitting processes, to include providing funding and access to
technology designed to streamline permit applications
The Trump administration is the first to use the Permitting Council’s statutorily defined ability to enter into federal-state agreements. This is the fourth federal-state MOU signed by the Permitting Council. Agreements were previously signed with the states of Alaska, Idaho and Tennessee, with additional states to follow.
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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