Project developers are seeing a notable shift in federal permitting. The conversation is moving away from abstract reform and toward project-specific timelines, judicial review, and agency accountability.

For mining and energy clients, the most practical signal may be what is already happening under the FAST-41 program. FAST-41 coverage puts a project on the Federal Permitting Dashboard, where it gets a coordinated permitting timetable, a designated lead agency, and Permitting Council oversight of agency milestones. Coverage once mostly meant large linear infrastructure. It now reaches critical minerals, mine expansions, and grid projects.

Recent developments show the program's growing reach:

• Hermosa (Arizona). The Permitting Council announced that South32's Hermosa Critical Minerals project near Tucson completed federal permitting as the first FAST-41 covered mining project, with the Forest Service serving as lead agency.

• Red Dog (Alaska). The Red Dog Mine Life Extension Project gained FAST-41 coverage on September 1. That coverage is expected to extend the operations of the mine for approximately 14 years, and coverage puts federal permitting on a coordinated timetable, with the Army Corps of Engineers as lead agency.

• Ironwood 500 kV (Arizona–California). On October 13, the Ironwood 500 kV Transmission Line between Arizona and California gained FAST-41 coverage. Prioritizing transmission is a meaningful policy signal from the federal government.

The takeaway is that developers should consider early whether a project may qualify for FAST-41 coverage and whether a public, enforceable timetable would affect financing, offtake, and construction planning.

The courts are moving, too. For example, the US District Court for the District of Alaska recently upheld the US Army Corps of Engineers' Clean Water Act Section 404 permit for the Johnson Tract mineral exploration project (also subject to FAST-41 coverage). The court emphasized deference to agency scientific and predictive judgments under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Clean Water Act.

Federal permitting is not yet fast or certain, but the tools for predictability are making a difference. Developers who prepare for timetables, judicial review, and agency accountability will be best positioned to take advantage of these changes.