FCC Permitting Reforms to Cut Billions of Dollars’ Worth of Red Tape 
By Updating FCC’s Approach to NEPA Environmental Regulations, Agency’s Reforms Will Accelerate High-Speed Infrastructure Builds
   
WASHINGTON, September 8, 2026—Today, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced that the Commission will vote this month on a series of permitting reforms that will modernize the agency’s approach to NEPA environmental regulations.  Specifically, the reforms will cut billions of dollars’ worth of red tape while accelerating the build out of modern Internet infrastructure.  The FCC’s actions are part of President Trump’s government-wide effort to expedite and simplify permitting processes that are hindering economic development, infrastructure investment, and job creation.

Chairman Carr issued the following statement:

“President Trump’s policies are working.  Just last year, the FCC launched our Build America Agenda, which aims to unleash new infrastructure projects in communities all across the country.   This month, the FCC will notch another big win in this effort.  By updating the FCC’s outdated approach to NEPA environmental laws, the Commission will cut billions of dollars’ worth of red tape while greatly accelerating the buildout of modern, high-speed Infrastructure.  This relief will not only make a difference here on Earth, but also in the skies above.  Our decision will ensure that outdated environmental rules do not hold back America’s space economy and the novel activities underway in orbit. It is time to build.”

Additional Background Information:

Chairman Carr today shared an Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking with his colleagues for consideration at the Commission’s September 30, 2026 Open Meeting.  If adopted, the Order would revise the Commission’s National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) rules to ensure they comport with the amended NEPA statute and accelerate the federal permitting process.

Analysts find that modernizing the NEPA review process means faster construction, more jobs, and increased investment—unlocking billions of dollars in economic activity that was previously stuck in red tape.  Clearer, more consistent rules mean greater certainty for businesses, catalyzing private-sector investment.  Meanwhile, streamlined reviews will boost American infrastructure, dramatically reducing unnecessary paperwork costs.

The January 2026 NERA Report produced for CTIA estimated that the Commission’s legacy NEPA and NHPA rules would result in over $2.2 billion in direct regulatory compliance costs between 2025-2035, and a total of at least $7.5 billion in welfare and economic activity loss over that same period. 

The Order would codify the statutory definition of major Federal action (MFA), the prerequisite to trigger federal agencies’ NEPA obligations in the Commission’s rules and clarify which Commission actions are MFAs.  These final rules would eliminate evaluations under the Commission’s current NEPA checklist for more than 14,800 wireless deployments, further accelerating builds across the country.  Additionally, it would find that deployments of facilities in connection with geographic area spectrum licenses, site-based spectrum licenses, unlicensed or licensed-by-rule wireless services, and satellite earth stations do not qualify as MFAs to the extent the deployments do not require antenna structure registration.  The Order also would find that actions associated with space-based operations, including the launch, deployment, and operation of space stations, are not MFAs.  

This action would also adopt reforms to streamline other aspects of the Commission’s NEPA rules, including the Commission’s requirements for categorical exclusions, environmental assessments, environmental impact statements, joint agency actions, and emergency situations.  

In an accompanying Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the Commission would seek additional comment on the agency’s National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) framework, including how the Commission’s licensing of spectrum relates to the definition of an “undertaking,” which is the trigger for NHPA review, as well as whether to adopt efficiencies in the NHPA process. 

The public draft of this item will be available on FCC.gov tomorrow on the Open Meeting webpage: https://www.fcc.gov/September2026. 

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