NTIA Continuing Work on Permit Streamlining

LAS VEGAS, Oct. 16, 2024 – The NTIA’s top permitting officer gave some updates Tuesday on the agency’s efforts to smooth over permitting snags ahead of the flood of upcoming broadband deployment projects.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration has been working for the last year to minimize permitting friction for projects funded by the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program.

NTIA has simplified some environmental and historical review processes for the program, but there’s still a myriad of federal, state, and local permits, plus pole access and public or private rights-of-way, that a provider might need before breaking ground.

“When I first took this role, people would talk about ‘the permitting process’, but if there was just one permitting process, we would all be a lot happier,” Jill Springer, the NTIA’s chief environmental review and permitting officer, said here at WISPAPALOOZA. 

Fish and Wildlife Consultations

One thing the agency has been working on with the Fish and Wildlife Service is adding more formulaic review processes to the USFWS’s online consultation tool, essentially preset questions a provider can answer to generate an approval instantly if they qualify, rather than filling out paperwork and meeting with officials. Federally funded projects can’t threaten endangered species or their habitats under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act.

“We anticipate that it’s going to take a significant number of the Section 7 consultations that are generated by BEAD, and instead of subjecting them to the typical 90-day-or-more process, enable them to do their review through the [online] system,” Springer said, “which can be done in 10 to 15 minutes if you have somebody who’s familiar with the system and familiar with the requirements.”

Screening tool

The agency is working on a tool for states to more quickly screen projects for National Environmental Policy Act compliance. States will have to evaluate likely NEPA applicability for projects they’re looking to fund, but many of the required permits will come after projects are greenlighted by NTIA. Springer said at an interagency permitting meeting this summer that the tool should be ready in six to eight months.

The tool will “simplify how those results are provided to NTIA and how quickly NTIA can review and approve them,” she said.

NTIA ultimately has to sign off on NEPA compliance, but states are heavily involved in the process under BEAD rules. The agency is set to release more detailed guidance for states to evaluate NEPA compliance.