From Preservation Action:

This week the House held multiple hearings aimed at addressing permitting reform. The House Natural Resources Committee held a hearing this week to consider 8 bills, including the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development or SPEED Act (H.R. 4776). This bipartisan bill would make several changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to address timelines for review, restrict litigation, as well as limit the scope of environmental review. This comes as NEPA continues to deal with numerous changes from previously enacted legislation and recent court rulings. The Committee voted to advance the bill, sending it to the full house for consideration.

Also this week, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing to consider 28 bills aimed at streamlining broadband permitting. Several of those bills would remove requirements for environmental and historic preservation reviews for certain broadband deployment projects. This includes exempting some projects from Section 106 review under the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). All 28 bills included in the markup were approved by the Subcommittee and advanced to the full committee for consideration, including the following 8 bills that specifically include exempt certain projects from preservation reviews under the NHPA.

H.R. 1541, Wireless Broadband Competition and Efficient Deployment Act
H.R. 1655, Wildfire Communications Resiliency Act
H.R. 2298, Reducing Barriers for Broadband on Federal Lands Act of 2025
H.R. 2817, Coastal Broadband Deployment Act
H.R. 4211, Brownfields Broadband Deployment
H.R. 5264, Streamlining Permitting to Enable Efficient Deployment for Broadband Infrastructure or the SPEED for Broadband Infrastructure Act
H.R. 5273, Broadband Competition and Efficient Deployment Act
H.R. 5358, TRUSTED Broadband Networks Act

Ongoing Efforts to Address Permitting Reform and Threats to Preservation Reviews

As we've seen through these hearing and the recent Senate hearing to examine NHPA's Section 106 process, there is a growing, bipartisan interest in reforming the permitting process. One of the ways some lawmakers have sought to reform the process is by eliminating or reducing perceived barriers to federal projects, which at times has included the NHPA and preservation reviews. 

Section 106 reviews are largely efficient and predictable. There are around 120,000 Section 106 consultations every year and 98% of those reviews result in findings of no adverse impacts. Additionally, Section 106 already offers many tools, like program alternatives, that can further help to speed up federal undertakings.

Preservation Action continues to educate lawmakers on the importance of the NHPA and the Section 106 process, the track record of success, and existing flexibility. While also advocating for increased funding for State and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices and more resources for survey and digitization, which would make the process even more effective and efficient. You can learn more about the NHPA, ongoing threats, and advocacy efforts by checking out the recent webinar from our partners at the National Trust for Historic Preservation aimed at helping advocates defend the NHPA and Section 106.

Stay tuned for more!

https://savingplaces.org/action-center/updates/defending-the-national-historic-preservation-act-and-section-106