NTIA Seeks Comment on Environmental Procedures for Broadband Grants

NTIA is seeking comment on a proposal to follow FirstNet’s National Environmental Policy Act procedures on an interim basis, and establish 33 categorical exclusions (CEs) in compliance with NEPA, the Council on Environmental Quality regulations and other related authorities, as it awards funds under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Comments are due May 1, said a notice for Thursday’s Federal Register. “To facilitate NTIA’s compliance with the IIJA and because of the critical need to expand and secure broadband access across the United States, NTIA must find opportunities to accelerate provision of its appropriated funding while ensuring it complies with all relevant authorities, including NEPA,” the notice said. A CE doesn’t exempt an action from NEPA review, NTIA said: “Rather, it is one form of environmental review under NEPA. An agency may apply a CE to a proposed action after the agency has carefully reviewed and determined that the action fits within the category of actions encompassed by the CE.” NTIA said it wants to use FirstNet procedures since “the missions, geographic scopes, environmental settings, characteristics and technologies of proposed projects, and, more importantly, outcomes for the application of the FirstNet Authority implementing procedures are expected to be similar when used for the NTIA’s expected programmatic activities and grant programs.”