I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1655
To provide that construction, rebuilding, or hardening of communications
facilities following a major disaster or an emergency related to a wildfire
is not subject to requirements to prepare certain environmental or histor-
ical preservation reviews.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY27, 2025
Mr. B
ENTZintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Natural
Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker,
in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris-
diction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To provide that construction, rebuilding, or hardening of
communications facilities following a major disaster or
an emergency related to a wildfire is not subject to
requirements to prepare certain environmental or histor-
ical preservation reviews.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Wildfire Communica-4
tions Resiliency Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. APPLICATION OF NEPA AND NHPA TO COVERED 1
COMMUNICATIONS PROJECTS. 2
(a) NEPA E
XEMPTION.—A Federal authorization 3
with respect to a covered project may not be considered 4
a major Federal action under section 102(2)(C) of the Na-5
tional Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 6
4332(2)(C)). 7
(b) N
ATIONALHISTORICPRESERVATIONACTEX-8
EMPTION.—A covered project may not be considered an 9
undertaking under section 300320 of title 54, United 10
States Code. 11
(c) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 12
(1) C
HIEF EXECUTIVE.—The term ‘‘Chief Ex-13
ecutive’’ has the meaning given such term in section 14
102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 15
Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122). 16
(2) C
OMMUNICATIONS FACILITY .—The term 17
‘‘communications facility’’ has the meaning given the 18
term ‘‘communications facility installation’’ in sec-19
tion 6409(d) of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job 20
Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1455(d)). 21
(3) C
OVERED PROJECT .—The term ‘‘covered 22
project’’ means a project that— 23
(A) is to be carried out entirely within an 24
area for which the President, the Governor of 25
a State, or the Chief Executive of an Indian 26
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tribal government has declared a major disaster 1
or an emergency related to a wildfire; 2
(B) is to be carried out not later than 5 3
years after the date on which the President, 4
Governor, or Chief Executive made such dec-5
laration; and 6
(C) replaces a communications facility 7
damaged by such disaster or emergency or 8
makes improvements to a communications facil-9
ity in such area that could reasonably be con-10
sidered as necessary for recovery from such dis-11
aster or emergency or to prevent or mitigate 12
any future disaster or emergency. 13
(4) E
MERGENCY.—The term ‘‘emergency’’ 14
means— 15
(A) in the case of an emergency declared 16
by the President, an emergency declared by the 17
President under section 501 of the Robert T. 18
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist-19
ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5191); and 20
(B) in the case of an emergency declared 21
by the Governor of a State or the Chief Execu-22
tive of an Indian tribal government, any occa-23
sion or instance with respect to which the Gov-24
ernor or Chief Executive declares that an emer-25
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gency exists (or makes a similar declaration) 1
under State or Tribal law (as the case may be). 2
(5) F
EDERAL AUTHORIZATION .—The term 3
‘‘Federal authorization’’— 4
(A) means any authorization required 5
under Federal law with respect to a covered 6
project; and 7
(B) includes any permits, special use au-8
thorizations, certifications, opinions, or other 9
approvals as may be required under Federal law 10
with respect to a covered project. 11
(6) G
OVERNOR.—The term ‘‘Governor’’ means 12
the chief executive of any State. 13
(7) I
NDIAN TRIBAL GOVERNMENT .—The term 14
‘‘Indian tribal government’’ has the meaning given 15
such term in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford 16
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 17
U.S.C. 5122). 18
(8) M
AJOR DISASTER.—The term ‘‘major dis-19
aster’’ means— 20
(A) in the case of a major disaster de-21
clared by the President, a major disaster de-22
clared by the President under section 401 of 23
the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 24
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Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170); 1
and 2
(B) in the case of a major disaster de-3
clared by the Governor of a State or the Chief 4
Executive of an Indian tribal government, any 5
occasion or instance with respect to which the 6
Governor or Chief Executive declares that a dis-7
aster exists (or makes a similar declaration) 8
under State or Tribal law (as the case may be). 9
(9) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each 10
State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 11
and each territory or possession of the United 12
States. 13
Æ
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