FCC to Narrow Environmental and Historic Reviews of Wireless Build
Certain small cells, towers, and rural 5G builds may soon bypass NEPA and historic site reviews
WASHINGTON, August 4, 2025 – The Federal Communications Commission will vote Thursday on a proposal that could sharply narrow environmental and historic preservation reviews required for new wireless infrastructure projects.
The proposed rulemaking builds on a petition from wireless industry trade group CTIA, which urged the FCC in March to no longer consider wireless deployments made under geographic spectrum licenses “major federal actions” under the National Environmental Policy Act. The rulemaking also asks whether the FCC should stop treating such deployments as “federal undertakings” under the National Historic Preservation Act.
If adopted, the rule could exempt many wireless projects from longstanding review requirements, including: small cell installations, towers under 200 feet that don’t require antenna structure registration, and rural 5G buildouts authorized under geographic licenses.
When the FCC sought comment on CTIA’s petition in May, at least nine individual Tribal governments weighed in to oppose the plan, as did eleven state historic preservation offices and a dozen cities and counties.
Those in opposition warned the FCC’s changes, if adopted, could exempt large categories of wireless projects from Section 106 tribal consultations and historic site assessments under the NHPA, a move that several Tribal Nations argued would violate federal trust responsibilities and dismantle longstanding protections for sacred sites.
In comments filed this spring, the Suquamish Indian Tribe argued that removing NHPA “undertaking” status would eliminate Tribal consultation entirely, and therefore, “contradict the Federal Indian trust responsibility, one of the most important principles in federal Indian law.”
The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe similarly warned that the CTIA-backed proposal “would limit government-to-government consultation with Tribal Nations, eliminate cultural resources project reviews, and adversely impact and destroy our tribal cultural resources.”
The National Congress of American Indians and the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers jointly emphasized that the FCC must “meaningfully consult with Tribal Nations in a government-to-government capacity during the pre-decisional period.”
Despite these objections, the FCC has signaled that only public-record filings – not private consultation – will be considered in the official decision-making process. While Tribal leaders were invited to engage in off-the-record consultations with FCC commissioners, the rulemaking clarified that the FCC will only rely on filed comments and presentations placed in the docket in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act.
“To be clear, while the Commission recognizes consultation is critically important, we emphasize that the Commission will rely in its decision-making only on those presentations that are placed in the public record for this proceeding,” page 42 of the notice for rule-making stated.
Wireless industry argues for 'fresh look' at efforts to permit wireless infrastructure
Meanwhile, CTIA – backed by carriers AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile and infrastructure firms like Crown Castle – met with FCC staff last week to reiterate support for the proposed rulemaking. The group argued the rule aligns with the federal government’s broader effort to scale back NEPA reviews, and the Supreme Court’s May decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County.
“Taking a fresh look at application of NEPA to wireless deployments is… especially appropriate given recent changes to the legal environment, resulting from both bipartisan changes to NEPA and a recent Supreme Court ruling holding that agency NEPA decisions are entitled to substantial deference, and clarifying that NEPA is not intended as a substantive roadblock to infrastructure projects,” CTIA wrote.
“The time is ripe for the FCC to review and rewrite our NEPA rules from first principles,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in a statement announcing the proposed reform on July 16.
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