HDR’s Eric Beightel to Lead Biden Administration’s Permitting Council

HDR’s Eric Beightel has been appointed by President Joe Biden as executive director of the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council. Beightel will assume his new role at the beginning of July.

An infrastructure principal advisor and environmental strategist at HDR, Beightel has more than 20 years of experience in environmental compliance reviews and approvals for infrastructure projects. He is a national expert on environmental process and federal policy development and implementation.

“HDR allowed me to put my passion for infrastructure policy to work,” Beightel said. “I look forward to taking lessons from my work with public and private sector clients and HDR’s infrastructure experts and using those in my new role leading the Permitting Council.”

Beightel reviewed, analyzed and summarized key pieces of legislation, regulation, policy and guidance issued by Congress and federal agencies, including the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. He then worked with clients across transportation, energy, water and broadband markets to identify where and how public sector infrastructure agencies and private enterprises could leverage the new regulations and funding to optimize project development and delivery.

“The IIJA federal infrastructure policy briefs and updates were instrumental in helping our U.S. clients quickly understand the opportunities to advance their most critical infrastructure programs and projects,” said Brian Hoppy, HDR’s director of cross sector services. “This continued with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act Amendments. Eric’s speed at interpreting and ability to explain how legislation would impact or support infrastructure programs is unmatched in our business. He was a key partner and asset to our U.S. project teams and client managers.”

In his new role, Beightel will help implement these new infrastructure programs — facilitating a more efficient environmental review and approval process so critical infrastructure can transition seamlessly to delivery and operation.

For more information, please read the announcement from the Permitting Council.