The Permitting Council is pressing ahead with President Donald Trump‘s priority of expediting key infrastructure projects, such as mining, despite the government shutdown.
The government shutdown is in its fourth week, leaving many federal agencies with furloughed employees. However, the Permitting Council, a federal agency responsible for guiding essential infrastructure projects through the permitting process, continues its efforts to advance them.
Emily Domenech, executive director of the Permitting Council, told the Washington Examiner, “We’re still coming to work and making sure things are getting built, and we have the results to show that this is a worthwhile endeavor.”
The council oversees the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST-41) program, which supports the permitting process for infrastructure projects within several economic sectors, including transportation, semiconductors, and renewable energy.
The Trump administration has used the program to help mining projects obtain permits, strengthening the domestic supply of critical minerals and rare earths needed for sectors such as defense and energy.
Since the shutdown, Domenech noted that some projects have completed their processes, including the Caldwell Canyon Mine Project in Idaho, which will mine phosphate.
She added that three new mineral projects have been added to the council’s FAST-41 in the past month, including the Burnt Rock Exploration Project in Nevada and the Copper Creek Exploration Project in Arizona. The first two projects were added to the council’s Transparency Dashboard, allowing the public and private sectors to monitor progress, but without access to the full benefits of the program.
Additionally, the council added the Kilbourne Graphite Project in New York to the list of covered projects that receive the full benefits of the council.
“We did not slow down at all,” Domenech said. “We really did work with the [Office of Budget and Management] and the White House ahead of time to say, ‘hey, look, we’re going to prioritize moving projects that are in the President’s priority sectors.'”
She added, “So we’re continuing to work on those projects regardless of what Congress decides to do this week.”
Most of the council’s activities are funded through the Environmental Review Improvement Fund, which supports federal environmental review processes for various projects.
As part of the fund, the council has transfer authority, allowing it to move funding to other federal agencies to assist with permitting. Domenech said, for example, that the council helped fund staff who worked on mining projects in the Department of Agriculture because it did not have a large, robust staff.
“We have the ability to transfer our funding that keeps us open during the shutdown to these other federal agencies as needed, if it’s required, to bring folks back from furlough,” Domenech said.
Domenech said the council has brought back about a dozen of its own employees from furlough. However, more than three dozen employees at other agencies have returned to work as a result of the council emphasizing their key role in the permitting process.
A private sector adviser engaged in the critical mineral sector told the Washington Examiner, “From where I stand, the government shutdown hasn’t materially affected the federal government’s critical mineral development activities.”
They added, “The critical mineral portfolio cuts across multiple departments and, of course, the White House, and the senior-level officials driving it are all ‘essential employees.'”
The Trump administration has leaned on the FAST-41 program, which began during former President Barack Obama’s second term, to help streamline the permitting process for critical infrastructure projects. During the Biden administration, only one mining project was on the program’s dashboard. The council now manages 47 mining projects.
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The Trump administration has made it a priority to bolster the domestic supply of critical minerals and rare earths to reduce the United States’s reliance on China, which controls the majority of the supply chain.
“We are looking to focus on sectors that were either sort of been under assault by the previous administrations … or were forgotten,” Domenech said. “I think the mining sector really is that forgotten sector that did not get attention from previous administrations, even when maybe it should have.”
