August 18, 2025 - FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez comments on the FCC aiming to overhaul NEPA process to accelerate permitting and high-speed infrastructure builds.
Re: Modernizing the Commission’s National Environmental Policy Act Rules,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, WT Docket No. 25-217 (August 7, 2025).
After a period of rapid growth in federal infrastructure projects such as interstate highways and urban renewal projects, a new national consciousness around the importance of protecting and preserving our shared history and the natural environment started to take root.[1] During this time, Congress passed the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA) to protect places of historical significance to our nation. A few years later, Congress also passed the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), establishing a national framework to protect our environment. NEPA asks the federal government to consider the effects on the environment before taking any major action.[2]
While our core mission at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is not to lead the preservation of historical sites or the protection of the environment, we do play a targeted and critical role in implementing these laws in the communications sector.
To the extent that deployment of communications infrastructure disturbs the environment and sites of historical significance, we take a look and work within the NEPA and NHPA frameworks to try to mitigate the effects. Our role, then, is to allow new technologies to reach people and to benefit our society while ensuring that we observe the processes established by Congress to protect humans, historical places, our natural environment, and infrastructure from harm. In this new age of rapid advancement and continuous deployment of new technologies, these processes remain as important as when Congress first established them.
As this Administration questions the value of bipartisan laws designed to protect our environment and to preserve our shared history and as federal agencies are directed to “prioritize efficiency and certainty over any other objective,” know that I am paying close attention.[3] The goals of NEPA and NHPA matter.
Now, as always, it is critical for the public to comment. We need to know your opinion on whether changes to how the FCC implements NHPA and NEPA make sense. This is your environment. This is your history. I encourage you to comment. For this reason, I approve this notice to the public of our proposed rulemaking.
[1] Congressional Research Service, The Federal Role in Historic Preservation: An Overview (2012), https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R45800.
[2] 42 U.S.C. § 4332(C).
[3]Unleashing American Energy, Exec. Order No. 14154, 90 Fed. Reg. 8353, 8355 (Jan. 29, 2025).
FCC Aims to Overhaul NEPA Process to Accelerate Permitting and High-Speed Infrastructure Builds
WASHINGTON, August 7, 2025—The Federal Communications Commission today launched a rulemaking to accelerate infrastructure builds by modernizing its environmental regulations. As part of the FCC’s Build America Agenda, this proceeding aims to cut red tape and unleash new infrastructure projects through a comprehensive review of the FCC’s National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) rules.
As part of President Trump’s effort to simplify permitting processes that can slow down economic development, infrastructure investment, and job creation, the FCC will examine its NEPA regulations to ensure they are efficient and clear.
The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking adopted today will examine the FCC’s environmental regulations to align them with the amended NEPA statute, speed up the federal permitting process, support faster infrastructure deployment, and ensure that the Commission’s regulations are clear. The Notice will also take a fresh look at the FCC’s National Historic Preservation Act regulations and other aspects of its environmental regulations.
The FCC will seek comment on the terms and exclusions in the updated NEPA statute, including “major federal action,” which triggers federal agencies’ NEPA obligations. It will also ask for input on how the updated NEPA statute should be applied to the Commission’s regulations and on what changes are needed.
Action by the Commission August 7, 2025 by Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FCC 25-47). Chairman Carr, Commissioners Gomez and Trusty approving and issuing separate statements.
Source: FCC