FCC Focused on Rescinding Environmental Regulations and Rules Approved Under Biden

President Donald Trump instructed the Council on Environmental Quality to rescind its NEPA regulation, and in February, the council issued guidance to federal agencies through an interim final rule, Thumann noted. She asked other panelists about the implications of rescinding NEPA rules.

Thumann said that through the “Delete, Delete, Delete” proceeding (see 2504140046), the FCC plans to get rid of “a lot of outdated, antiquated, unnecessary regulations,” some of which haven’t been in enforced for more than 20 years. It will also eliminate some rules approved under President Joe Biden, like broadband label requirements. “There are a lot of things that are kind of hanging around from the last administration that we hope to address over the next year or two.”

Thumann said historical preservation rules can also be used to block infrastructure builds. Deregulation at the national level “is going to be incredibly good for investment and opportunity and cutting red tape,” but fights remain at the state and local levels. Issues regarding siting on federal lands were addressed “in part” during the first Trump administration, Thumann said. “But we continue to hear, if not daily, at least weekly, about challenges on federal lands and the tribal consultation process as well.”

The FCC has “done a good job” of “having a clear process around” NEPA, said Caroline Van Wie, vice president-federal regulatory at AT&T. But NEPA lays out the steps “we have to go through every single time that we are building a tower, expanding our wireless footprint, sometimes even collocating” facilities on towers, Van Wie said. NEPA “creates a lot of paperwork and expenses.” AT&T typically has to hire a specialist contractor to review every site, she added.

The question posed is whether a large, geographic spectrum license “is actually a major federal action as it relates to the building of towers,” Van Wie said: “CTIA makes the strong argument that it’s not.” Streamlining the environmental rules will mean cheaper broadband and better coverage, she argued.

NARUC Executive Director Tony Clark said the group hasn’t taken a position on the interim rule, “and I’m pretty sure there are differences of opinion within the association.” Clark, a former state commissioner and former member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said NEPA “can be used as a cudgel to try to block infrastructure projects that may be needed.”

Paul Beaudry, vice president-regulatory and government affairs at Cogeco, said the biggest environmental delays his ISP faces are at the state and local levels. Environmental regulations “can very much slow down infrastructure deployment.” Beaudry cited as an example “a very complex web” of local, state and federal regulations regarding wetlands. Permits “can take a lot of time … to be fully processed and granted.”

Environmental regulations are necessary, but streamlining them and cutting buildout costs would benefit ISPs, Beaudry said. He warned that when the federal government cuts regulations, state and local governments sometimes feel they need to step in to fill the void. The Society for American Archaeology opposed the CTIA petition in a filing on Tuesday (see 2504220028).

Van Wie said AT&T welcomes Carr’s work on copper retirement as the carrier seeks to move to next-generation technologies (see 2504100040). “There’s just a lot of work that needs to be done to sort of speed up the process, ease the process for carriers,” she said. AT&T is also working with the states but has faced the most resistance in California, she added: “It’s a huge state [and] there’s a lot of electricity being used to continue to provide copper service” to customers there. About 95% of AT&T customers have moved off its legacy network, she said.