The Biden Administration is continuing to direct efforts — through the President’s Investing in America Agenda — towards enabling more federal projects to get done more quickly in many sectors including broadband, via tools like expedited permits.
A new fact sheet issued by The White House stated that federal government agencies have been processing more than twice the number of permits for broadband projects on federal lands and property as they did under the previous administration.
Further, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has established and adopted 36 new categorical exclusions to streamline permitting processes. These include areas of historic preservation and threatened/endangered species compliance for broadband.
To date the administration has invested at least $560 billion in federal funds into more than 68,000 projects. In addition to broadband, other sectors where projects are being accelerated are in clean energy and transmission, transportation, offshore wind, and onshore renewable energy.
Presidential actions to accelerate projects include putting $1 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act to add experts and new technologies for expediting reviews.
The Biden Administration also has undertaken reforms to modernize the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and finalized the Bipartisan Permitting Reform Implementation Rule to accelerate the federal environmental review process. The Administration uses executive authorities to improve permitting and environmental review processes, where possible.
Two brand new actions may help projects be approved more quickly in solar energy production and the offsetting of emissions with clean air credits.
The Biden Administration has expanded the use of what it describes as the fastest form of environmental review: categorical exclusions. This is significant for broadband projects. The Administration said more than 15 federal agencies have developed, expanded, or adopted 125 categorical exclusions for projects with insignificant environmental impact in sectors like broadband, among others.
“In recent weeks, the U.S. Forest Service adopted 10 categorical exclusions that will accelerate its review of broadband projects. Data from the U.S. Forest Service indicates that these categorical exclusions will help streamline reviews for 100 broadband projects by 2027, thereby saving over $24 million in staff time per year and lead to a total reduction of over 20 years in processing time,” the Administration’s fact sheet said.
The White House announcement reminded readers that earlier this year the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation introduced a program comment to accelerate historic preservation reviews for broadband projects.
In similar efforts last year, the Fiber Broadband Association and the Rural Broadband Association imparted guidance intended to streamline the permitting process for providers doing rural buildouts.
