Eric Beightel, who was Biden administration executive director of the federal Permitting Review Council, a special federal entity created to fast track permits for key infrastructure projects, said several U.S. agencies typically use “leftover” funds to pay operating costs as long as possible, but that eventually these can dwindle to zero. 

The current council executive director, Emily Domenech, was quoted by Politico’s E&E News, stating that the council itself is also currently coordinating with different agencies to fund administrative work related to projects on the council’s dashboard. The entity was established in 2015 under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act to streamline permitting for large infrastructure projects through better coordination among federal agencies on environmental reviews. 

The Corps did not respond to ENR’s request for comment, but sources familiar with the issues say that the agency's permitting office will soon run out of resources to operate.

“The vast majority of regulatory staff in all districts will be furloughed, and nearly all regulatory decisions will be paused," Mark Sudol, a former chief of the Corps regulatory program, told ENR. "Once the funding is gone, there may be a supervisor designated as ‘essential,' [who] may finalize a very small number of permits that are close to being issued.” An example might be a finalized document for a permit decision that simply needs a signature,  he said

“But for most actions, once funding runs out, it's been my experience that all non-excepted staff will be furloughed, and processing will stop across the country,” said Sudol, now a senior advisor at environmental permitting consultant Dawson & Associates.

Mum on Project Cancellations

The Corps also has not provided any added information about potential cancellations as a result of U.S. Office of Management and Budget Director Russel’s Vought’s statements posted on X that the administration would immediately pause more than $11 billion in funding for “lower-priority” projects that he said included those in New York City, San Francisco, Boston and Baltimore.  

In an Oct. 27 letter to the Corps, Democrats Rep. Marcy Kaptur (Ohio), ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, and Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and ranking member of the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, demanded to see the list of projects that are being paused and potentially could be cancelled. 

The Corps has not yet provided the list to lawmakers, an aide to Murray confirmed to ENR Oct. 31. 

Jordan Howard, federal construction and regulatory affairs counsel for the Associated General Contractors of America, said in an interview that the fact that Vought asked the Corps to consider which projects are less critical suggests that the administration is “taking a measured approach.” 

Brian Turmail, AGC vice president of public affairs and workforce, suggested that some administration statements could be rhetoric being used as a negotiation tactic. AGC has not heard of any work stoppages yet on the Gateway project, he said, although "that could change."  

But Howard noted that the shutdown itself is creating challenges that extend beyond re-opening the government. “It’s a disruption,” he said. “You can see that while contractors are still getting paid for work, things like processing and paying change orders or contract modifications are delayed, and so that does affect everyone.” 

Former permitting council director Beightel added that the numbers of days lost in permitting action do not always directly correlate to the days required to get the process back up to speed. Project pauses and delays due to the shutdown or because of review for possible cancellation can have large cascading effects on permitting, he told ENR. 

“So many projects have construction windows, or there are windows to do certain field surveys, and any delay just pushes that back, and there are occasions where you may miss an entire year because you've missed a window of opportunity,” he said.