Wildfire Communications Resiliency Act
Wildfire Communications Resiliency Act
Plain Language Summary
# Wildfire Communications Resiliency Act - Summary **What the bill would do:** The Wildfire Communications Resiliency Act would speed up the process for repairing and improving communications infrastructure (like cell towers, phone lines, and internet equipment) damaged by wildfires. Currently, these projects must go through lengthy federal environmental reviews and historic preservation checks. This bill would skip those reviews for certain wildfire recovery projects, allowing work to begin faster. **Who it affects and key conditions:** The bill applies to communications companies and recovery efforts in areas hit by major wildfires. To qualify for the exemption, projects must: occur within five years after a wildfire disaster is officially declared, be located in the disaster area, and either replace damaged equipment or improve infrastructure to aid recovery or prevent future disaster damage.
The wildfire declaration would need to come from the President, a state governor, or a tribal leader. **Current status:** The bill is currently in committee (HR 1655 in the 119th Congress), sponsored by Republican Representative Cliff Bentz of Oregon. It has not yet been voted on by the full House. The goal is to reduce bureaucratic delays in restoring critical communications after wildfires, though critics might raise concerns about whether skipping environmental and historic reviews could cause other problems.
CRS Official Summary
Wildfire Communications Resiliency ActThis bill exempts certain post-wildfire communications infrastructure projects from specified federal environmental and historic preservation review requirements. Specifically, the bill exempts from review projects that (1) are to be carried out within five years of the declaration of a wildfire-related major disaster or emergency in a given area; (2) are to be carried out entirely within the area for which the major disaster or emergency was declared; and (3) will replace a communications facility damaged by the major disaster or emergency, or make improvements to a communications facility that are necessary for recovery or to prevent or mitigate a future major disaster or emergency. To qualify under the bill, a major disaster or emergency must have been declared by the President, a state governor, or a tribal chief executive. The bill specifies that these projects are not considered major federal actions under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 or undertakings under the National Historic Preservation Act, thus exempting such projects from the review procedures required under those acts.
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