Alaska has entered into the first of its kind memorandum of understanding with the US Permitting Improvement Steering Council, which is designed to move priority mining and oil-and-gas proposals faster through the permitting process. The FAST-41 cooperation with Alaska could decrease the environmental permitting time by up to 25 percent through a process that encourages coordinated schedules, early conflict resolution, greater predictability and transparency in federal reviews of major projects.
And let's keep things in Alaska for the next piece of news. Representative Nick Begich told reporters at a press conference in Anchorage this week that a Congressional Review Act resolution he floated last month would advance the 200-mile-long Ambler Road project that was stopped under the Biden administration; the resolution will be up for a vote next week. The House is also poised to take up resolutions against Biden-era resource management plans (RMPs) in North Dakota and Montana.
And the Washington Examiner has a piece on the Trump administration's focus on metallurgical coal, highlighting global demand for the steelmaking essential input and examining its potential to expand U.S. influence in global supply chains and address unfavorable balances of trade.
