The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released three agenda items for its August 7 open meeting. The agenda stresses items vital to the priorities of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr: relaxing environmental regulations, protecting undersea cables, and promoting the development of space-based communications.
Environmental Regulations: The commission will examine its obligation under the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) to ensure it aligns with federal environmental statutes and precedent that prioritize efficiency and certainty.
If adopted, a new Notice of Proposed Rulemaking would examine the Commission’s environmental regulations to ensure they comport with the amended NEPA statute, accelerate the federal permitting process, further a national priority of faster and more infrastructure deployment, and ensure that the Commission’s regulations are clear.
“The FCC’s Build America Agenda aims to unleash new infrastructure projects in communities all across the country. To do that, the FCC cannot let red tape and permitting obstacles stand in the way,” Carr said in a press release.
“As President Trump, the Supreme Court, and Congress have recognized, NEPA is one of the biggest obstacles to building in America. It should not take years to complete preconstruction environmental paperwork before a shovel hits the ground. The time is ripe for the FCC to review and rewrite our NEPA rules from first principles.”
Protecting submarine cables: The Commission will vote on a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPR) that would adopt measures to protect submarine cables against adversaries.car
These would include a presumption of denial for certain foreign adversary-controlled license applicants, limiting capacity leasing agreements to such entities, prohibiting the use of “covered” equipment, establishing cybersecurity and physical security requirements, and streamlining the Commission’s license review procedures.
Ground-Station-as-a-Service: A vote will be held on an order that would eliminate paperwork and clear regulatory barriers to ground-station-as-a-service (GSaaS), a business model where a single earthbound facility connects to multiple satellite systems in space.
GSaaS gives satellite operators the ability to send and receive signals without building their own infrastructure. In a speech in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, early this month, Carr outlined his broad agenda for his tenure as chairperson of the FCC. His priorities include broadband construction, freeing spectrum, promoting space communications, cutting red tape, and protecting national security.
