Sponsors (3)
Bars FPISC from finalizing or enforcing a specified 2023 proposed rule and inserts new wording into the statutory definition of "covered project," changing which mining projects qualify for Title 41 coverage.
The bill expands which projects receive prioritized permitting and locks in current regulatory scope—accelerating some infrastructure and protecting operators from new mining rules, but increasing environmental/community risk and reducing agencies' ability to modernize or clarify permitting rules.
State and local governments (and project sponsors): more projects qualify as 'covered projects,' which can speed project reviews and permitting timelines so infrastructure projects proceed faster.
Federal agencies: clearer statutory basis to prioritize and coordinate permitting for projects included in the definition, enabling more consistent federal coordination of covered projects.
Mining companies and developers: prevents imposition of new regulatory requirements on mining projects, avoiding additional compliance costs.
Local communities and the environment: expanding which projects get faster approvals could allow projects with greater environmental or community impacts to proceed more quickly, shifting costs or harms to taxpayers and local jurisdictions.
Federal and state agencies and permit applicants: changing the statutory definition without precise language and blocking agency updates reduces agencies' flexibility, creates legal uncertainty about scope, and preserves potentially outdated or unclear rules until resolved by guidance or litigation.
Rural communities and mining-dependent economies: by blocking the rule change, the bill may prevent some permit-streamlining that could have accelerated mining projects and related local economic activity.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Official title: To amend the FAST Act to include certain mineral production activities as a covered project, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 21, 2025 by Jefferson Shreve · Last progress February 21, 2025
Prohibits the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (FPISC) from finalizing, implementing, administering, or enforcing a specific 2023 proposed rule that would change which mining projects qualify as covered projects under Title 41 of the FAST Act. It also amends the statutory definition of “covered project” in federal permitting law by inserting new wording into the existing statutory definition, and establishes a short title for the Act.