The Trump administration’s federal Permitting Council is signing a memorandum of understanding with Utah on Friday aimed at speeding up the state’s permitting process, POLITICO has exclusively learned.
Under the agreement, the state’s Republican Gov. Spencer Cox — a vocal permitting reform advocate — committed to joining the agency’s FAST-41 expedited permitting program and aligning their state environmental review timelines with federal targets for priority energy projects.
It’s the fourth state to ink such a partnership with the council under the Trump administration after Alaska, Idaho and Tennessee, relying on authority from the 2015 Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act.
Emily Domenech, executive director of the Permitting Council, said she will sign the MOU with Cox at the governor’s Operation Gigawatt Summit, where he is convening industry, policymakers and investors to help devise ways to meet the state’s goal to double power production over the next decade.
