ACHP Announces Program Comment Amendment to Support President Biden’s Broadband Initiative

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) Chair Sara Bronin announced her approval of the Amended Program Comment for Federal Communications Projects. The amendment was requested by the US Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The purpose of the amendment is to assist federal agencies in efficiently permitting and approving the deployment of wired and wireless next generation technologies of communications infrastructure, including 5G, to connect all communities with reliable, high-speed Internet. The Program Comment provides an alternative way for federal agencies to comply with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act to take into account the effects of undertakings under its scope on historic properties and afford the ACHP a reasonable opportunity to comment on them. The amendment also adds a provision that requires federal agencies to offer compensation when they ask Tribes to provide additional services beyond responding to findings and determinations under the Program Comment’s terms.