To provide that certain communications projects are not subject to requirements to prepare certain environmental or historical preservation reviews, and for other purposes.

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4141 To provide that certain communications projects are not subject to require- ments to prepare certain environmental or historical preservation reviews, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 15, 2023 Mr. FULCHER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To provide that certain communications projects are not subject to requirements to prepare certain environmental or historical preservation reviews, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. APPLICATION OF NEPA AND NHPA TO CERTAIN 3 COMMUNICATIONS PROJECTS. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.— 5 (1) NEPA EXEMPTION.—A Federal authoriza- 6 tion with respect to a covered project may not be 7 considered a major Federal action under section 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:20 Jul 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4141.IH H4141 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 4141 IH 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act 1 of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)). 2 (2) NATIONAL HISTORIC PRESERVATION ACT 3 EXEMPTION.—A covered project may not be consid- 4 ered an undertaking under section 300320 of title 5 54, United States Code. 6 (b) GRANT OF EASEMENT ON FEDERAL PROP- 7 ERTY.— 8 (1) NEPA EXEMPTION.—A Federal authoriza- 9 tion with respect to a covered easement for a com- 10 munications facility may not be considered a major 11 Federal action under section 102(2)(C) of the Na- 12 tional Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 13 4332(2)(C)), if— 14 (A) a covered easement has previously been 15 granted for another communications facility or 16 a utility facility with respect to the same build- 17 ing or other property owned by the Federal 18 Government; or 19 (B) the covered easement is for a commu- 20 nications facility in a public right-of-way. 21 (2) NATIONAL HISTORIC PRESERVATION ACT 22 EXEMPTION.—A covered easement for a communica- 23 tions facility may not be considered an undertaking 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:20 Jul 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4141.IH H4141 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 4141 IH under section 300320 of title 54, United States 1 Code, if— 2 (A) a covered easement has previously been 3 granted for another communications facility or 4 a utility facility with respect to the same build- 5 ing or other property owned by the Federal 6 Government; or 7 (B) the covered easement is for a commu- 8 nications facility in a public right-of-way. 9 (c) REQUESTS FOR MODIFICATION OF CERTAIN EX- 10 ISTING WIRELESS FACILITIES.—Section 6409(a)(3) of the 11 Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 12 (47 U.S.C. 1455(a)(3)) is amended to read as follows: 13 ‘‘(3) APPLICATION OF NEPA; NHPA.— 14 ‘‘(A) NEPA EXEMPTION.—A Federal au- 15 thorization with respect to an eligible facilities 16 request may not be considered a major Federal 17 action under section 102(2)(C) of the National 18 Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 19 4332(2)(C)). 20 ‘‘(B) NATIONAL HISTORIC PRESERVATION 21 ACT EXEMPTION.—An eligible facilities request 22 may not be considered an undertaking under 23 section 300320 of title 54, United States Code. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:20 Jul 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4141.IH H4141 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 4141 IH ‘‘(C) FEDERAL AUTHORIZATION DE- 1 FINED.—In this paragraph, the term ‘Federal 2 authorization’— 3 ‘‘(i) means any authorization required 4 under Federal law with respect to an eligi- 5 ble facilities request; and 6 ‘‘(ii) includes any permits, special use 7 authorizations, certifications, opinions, or 8 other approvals as may be required under 9 Federal law with respect to an eligible fa- 10 cilities request.’’. 11 SEC. 2. PRESUMPTION WITH RESPECT TO CERTAIN COM- 12 PLETE FCC FORMS. 13 (a) PRESUMPTION.—If an Indian Tribe is shown to 14 have received a complete FCC Form 620 or FCC Form 15 621 (or any successor form), or can be reasonably ex- 16 pected to have received a complete FCC Form 620 or FCC 17 Form 621 (or any successor form), and has not acted on 18 a request contained in such complete form by the date that 19 is 45 days after the date of such receipt or reasonably 20 expected receipt— 21 (1) the Commission and a court of competent 22 jurisdiction (as the case may be) shall presume the 23 applicant with respect to such complete form has 24 made a good faith effort to provide the information 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:20 Jul 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4141.IH H4141 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 4141 IH reasonably necessary for such Indian Tribe to ascer- 1 tain whether historic properties of religious or cul- 2 tural significance to such Indian Tribe may be af- 3 fected by the undertaking related to such complete 4 form; and 5 (2) such Indian Tribe shall be presumed to 6 have disclaimed interest in such undertaking. 7 (b) OVERCOMING PRESUMPTION.— 8 (1) IN GENERAL.—An Indian Tribe may over- 9 come a presumption under subsection (a) upon mak- 10 ing, to the Commission or a court of competent ju- 11 risdiction, a favorable demonstration with respect to 12 1 or more of the factors described in paragraph (2). 13 (2) FACTORS CONSIDERED.—In making a de- 14 termination regarding a presumption under sub- 15 section (a), the Commission or court of competent 16 jurisdiction shall give substantial weight to— 17 (A) whether the applicant with respect to 18 the relevant complete form failed to make a 19 reasonable attempt to follow up with the appli- 20 cable Indian Tribe not earlier than 30 days, 21 and not later than 50 days, after the applicant 22 submitted a complete FCC Form 620 or FCC 23 Form 621 (as the case may be) to such Indian 24 Tribe; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:20 Jul 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4141.IH H4141 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 4141 IH (B) whether the rules of the Commission, 1 or FCC Form 620 or FCC Form 621, are 2 found to be in violation of a Nationwide Pro- 3 grammatic Agreement of the Commission. 4 SEC. 3. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 5 Nothing in this Act or any amendment made by this 6 Act may be construed to affect the obligation of the Com- 7 mission to evaluate radiofrequency exposure under the Na- 8 tional Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 9 et seq.). 10 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 11 In this Act: 12 (1) CHIEF EXECUTIVE.—The term ‘‘Chief Ex- 13 ecutive’’ means the person who is the Chief, Chair- 14 man, Governor, President, or similar executive offi- 15 cial of an Indian tribal government. 16 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 17 means the Federal Communications Commission. 18 (3) COMMUNICATIONS FACILITY.—The term 19 ‘‘communications facility’’ has the meaning given the 20 term ‘‘communications facility installation’’ in sec- 21 tion 6409(d) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job 22 Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1455(d)). 23 (4) COVERED EASEMENT.—The term ‘‘covered 24 easement’’ means an easement, right-of-way, or lease 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:20 Jul 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4141.IH H4141 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 4141 IH with respect to a building or other property owned 1 by the Federal Government, excluding Tribal land 2 held in trust by the Federal Government (unless the 3 Indian tribal government with respect to such land 4 requests that the Commission not exclude the land 5 for purposes of this definition), for the right to in- 6 stall, construct, modify, or maintain a communica- 7 tions facility or a utility facility. 8 (5) COVERED PROJECT.—The term ‘‘covered 9 project’’ means any of the following: 10 (A) A project— 11 (i) for— 12 (I) the mounting or installation 13 of a personal wireless service facility 14 with another personal wireless service 15 facility that exists at the time at 16 which a request for authorization of 17 such mounting or installation is sub- 18 mitted to a State or local government 19 or instrumentality thereof or to an In- 20 dian tribal government; or 21 (II) the modification of a per- 22 sonal wireless service facility; and 23 (ii) for which a permit, license, or ap- 24 proval from the Commission is required or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:20 Jul 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4141.IH H4141 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 4141 IH that is otherwise subject to the jurisdiction 1 of the Commission. 2 (B) A project— 3 (i) for the placement, construction, or 4 modification of a telecommunications serv- 5 ice facility in or on eligible support infra- 6 structure; and 7 (ii) for which a permit, license, or ap- 8 proval from the Commission is required or 9 that is otherwise subject to the jurisdiction 10 of the Commission. 11 (C) A project to deploy a small personal 12 wireless service facility. 13 (D) A project— 14 (i) for the deployment or modification 15 of a communications facility that is to be 16 carried out entirely within a floodplain (as 17 defined in section 9.4 of title 44, Code of 18 Federal Regulations, as in effect on the 19 date of the enactment of this Act); and 20 (ii) for which a permit, license, or ap- 21 proval from the Commission is required or 22 that is otherwise subject to the jurisdiction 23 of the Commission. 24 (E) A project— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:20 Jul 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4141.IH H4141 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •HR 4141 IH (i) for the deployment or modification 1 of a communications facility that is to be 2 carried out entirely within a brownfield site 3 (as defined in section 101 of the Com- 4 prehensive Environmental Response, Com- 5 pensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 6 U.S.C. 9601)); and 7 (ii) for which a permit, license, or ap- 8 proval from the Commission is required or 9 that is otherwise subject to the jurisdiction 10 of the Commission. 11 (F) A project to permanently remove cov- 12 ered communications equipment or services (as 13 defined in section 9 of the Secure and Trusted 14 Communications Networks Act of 2019 (47 15 U.S.C. 1608)) and to replace such covered com- 16 munications equipment or services with commu- 17 nications equipment or services (as defined in 18 such section) that are not covered communica- 19 tions equipment or services (as so defined). 20 (G) A project that— 21 (i) is to be carried out entirely within 22 an area for which the President, the Gov- 23 ernor of a State, or the Chief Executive of 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:20 Jul 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4141.IH H4141 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 10 •HR 4141 IH an Indian tribal government has declared a 1 major disaster or an emergency; 2 (ii) is to be carried out not later than 3 5 years after the date on which the Presi- 4 dent, Governor, or Chief Executive made 5 such declaration; and 6 (iii) replaces a communications facility 7 damaged by such disaster or emergency or 8 makes improvements to a communications 9 facility in such area that could reasonably 10 be considered as necessary for recovery 11 from such disaster or emergency or to pre- 12 vent or mitigate any future disaster or 13 emergency. 14 (H) A project for the placement and instal- 15 lation of a new communications facility if— 16 (i) such new facility— 17 (I) will be located within a public 18 right-of-way; and 19 (II) is not more than 50 feet tall 20 or 10 feet taller than any existing 21 structure in the public right-of-way, 22 whichever is higher; 23 (ii) such new facility is— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:20 Jul 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4141.IH H4141 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 11 •HR 4141 IH (I) a replacement for an existing 1 communications facility; and 2 (II) the same as, or substantially 3 similar to (as such term is defined by 4 the Commission), the existing commu- 5 nications facility that such new com- 6 munications facility is replacing; 7 (iii) such new facility is a type of com- 8 munications facility that— 9 (I) is described in section 10 6409(d)(1)(B) of the Middle Class 11 Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 12 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1455(d)(1)(B)); and 13 (II) meets the size limitation of a 14 small antenna established by the Com- 15 mission; or 16 (iv) the placement and installation of 17 such new facility involves the expansion of 18 the site of an existing communications fa- 19 cility not more than 30 feet in any direc- 20 tion. 21 (6) ELIGIBLE SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE.— 22 The term ‘‘eligible support infrastructure’’ means in- 23 frastructure that supports or houses a facility for 24 communication by wire (or that is designed for or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:20 Jul 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4141.IH H4141 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 12 •HR 4141 IH capable of supporting or housing such a facility) at 1 the time when a request to a State or local govern- 2 ment or instrumentality thereof, or to an Indian 3 tribal government, for authorization to place, con- 4 struct, or modify a telecommunications service facil- 5 ity in or on the infrastructure is submitted to the 6 government or instrumentality. 7 (7) EMERGENCY.—The term ‘‘emergency’’ 8 means— 9 (A) in the case of an emergency declared 10 by the President, an emergency declared by the 11 President under section 501 of the Robert T. 12 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist- 13 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5191); and 14 (B) in the case of an emergency declared 15 by the Governor of a State or the Chief Execu- 16 tive of an Indian tribal government, any occa- 17 sion or instance with respect to which the Gov- 18 ernor or Chief Executive declares that an emer- 19 gency exists (or makes a similar declaration) 20 under State or Tribal law (as the case may be). 21 (8) FEDERAL AUTHORIZATION.—The term 22 ‘‘Federal authorization’’— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:20 Jul 20, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4141.IH H4141 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 13 •HR 4141 IH (A) means any authorization required 1 under Federal law with respect to a covered 2 project or a covered easement; and 3 (B) includes any permits, special use au- 4 thorizations, certifications, opinions, or other [Text truncated for display. 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