FCC Chairman Carr Begs for Less Paperwork
Agency leader looking to promote innovation through fewer regulations.
WASHINGTON, July 18, 2025 – FCC Chairman Brendan Carr wrote a blog post Wednesday about the FCC meeting scheduled for Aug. 7, teasing new rules that will be passed and revisions made.
After unveiling his Build America agenda in South Dakota on July 2, Carr emailed his August meeting blog post, outlining new ideas that will be presented at the FCC in the next month to build on his new agenda.
One of his main points was to decrease the need for National Environmental Protection Act intervention in permissions for infrastructure. NEPA is overseen by the Council on Environmental Quality.
Carr claimed it takes more than four and a half years to get the paperwork done to be greenlit by NEPA to complete pre-construction tests.
Carr’s blog said, “Now it is time for the FCC to do its part. We will consider a proposal to revamp the FCC’s approach to NEPA and get America building again.”
NEPA isn’t the only program that Carr is hoping will be revamped.
This August, Carr hopes to cut back Space Bureau paperwork, saying, “We will consider an Order to further streamline and expedite the application process for space stations and earth stations.”
Streamlining satellite rules, Carr said, will kick-start American innovation.
“In particular, our reforms promise to boost an emerging business model—Ground-Station-as-a-Service—that allows multiple satellite systems to share the same ground station. Space startups win as a result: they are spared the time and money to build their own bespoke infrastructure,” Carr’s blog post said.
The August FCC meeting will also include undersea cables, Carr said. He said he wants to make for a cleaner and quicker approval process to motivate investors and innovation.
Carr commented on how foreign adversaries, like China, “pose greater threats to submarine cable infrastructure than ever.” He also said that the FCC will “adopt measures to protect submarine cable infrastructure from foreign adversary threats.”
Carr also expressed his desire to help public safety, sharing his condolences to the victims and families of the Texas floods. Carr hopes to “begin a ground-up re-examination of the Emergency Alert Systems. EAS sends life-saving information using TV and radio outlets, and our Wireless Emergency Alerts distribute the emergency notices we receive on our mobile phones.”
With his desire for public safety, Carr’s plan will help with recovery updates, connecting public health and safety officials and victims in real time.
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