Fixing Federal Permitting

The House of Representatives recently approved H.R. 5419, a bill introduced by Rep Tom Kean (R-NJ). Titled the Enhancing Administrative Reviews of Broadband Deployment Act, the bill would attempt to improve the process of getting permits for broadband on federal land. The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Specifically, the bill would direct the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture to conduct a comprehensive review of administrative barriers involved in reviewing applications to use federal rights-of-way. The two agencies would have a year to report their findings of the review to Congress, along with a plan on how the agencies can provide the needed staffing to review rights-of-way applications in a timely manner. The bill correctly recognizes that applications to build broadband on federal lands can be incredibly slow, to the point of creating hurdles that can stop broadband projects.