NTIA Adopts New Measures to Streamline Environmental Impact Permitting Review for “Internet for All” Projects

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced 30 new “categorical exclusions” established to support National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews for broadband infrastructure deployments funded by the Internet for All programs. NTIA has also adopted six additional categorical exclusions from the First Responder Network Authority, an independent agency within NTIA, the nation’s communication network for first responders. NTIA has historically relied on 11 categorical exclusions established by the Department of Commerce in 2009 that remain available to support NEPA reviews. Categorical exclusions are categories of actions that a federal agency has determined, after review by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment and therefore typically require neither an environmental assessment nor an environmental impact statement. Broadband deployment projects generally have limited potential for significant environmental impacts, and NTIA’s substantial record of related NEPA reviews supports expanding the list of actions categorically excluded from detailed environmental review.