To provide that a project to remove and replace communications equipment or services listed under the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 is not subject to requirements to prepare certain environmental or historical preservation reviews.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Fry introduced the following bill; which was referred to …
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill exempts telecommunications equipment replacement projects from environmental and historical preservation reviews. Specifically, when telecom carriers remove Chinese-made equipment (from companies like Huawei and ZTE) that has been designated as a national security risk, and replace it with equipment from trusted manufacturers, these projects will no longer require environmental impact assessments under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or historical preservation reviews under the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).
Who Benefits and How
Telecommunications carriers (especially rural carriers and small providers) benefit significantly. They are already required by federal law to remove Chinese equipment from their networks, and this bill eliminates time-consuming environmental and historical reviews that can delay these projects by months or years. This reduces their compliance costs and accelerates the replacement timeline.
Western telecommunications equipment manufacturers like Nokia, Ericsson, and Samsung benefit from faster deployment of their products as replacements for the banned Chinese equipment, increasing their market opportunities.
Federal agencies overseeing equipment replacement benefit from reduced administrative burden in processing reviews.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Environmental advocacy organizations lose oversight of potential environmental impacts from telecom infrastructure changes. They will no longer be able to challenge projects on environmental grounds or require mitigation measures.
Historic preservation groups lose the ability to ensure that telecom equipment installations near historic properties comply with preservation standards.
Communities near telecommunications infrastructure may face reduced environmental protections, as there will be no formal assessment of potential impacts from construction, equipment installation, or facility modifications in their areas.
Key Provisions
- Projects to remove and replace Chinese telecommunications equipment ("covered communications equipment") are exempt from NEPA environmental reviews
- These same projects are exempt from NHPA historical preservation reviews under Section 106
- The exemptions apply to any federal authorization required for the replacement projects, including permits, certifications, and other approvals
- The bill defines "covered project" as permanently removing banned equipment and replacing it with non-banned alternatives
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Exempts telecommunications equipment replacement projects (removing Chinese equipment under Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act) from environmental and historical preservation review requirements
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Streamline and accelerate the removal of Chinese telecommunications equipment from U.S. networks by eliminating environmental and historical preservation review requirements that could delay replacement projects"
Likely Beneficiaries
- Telecommunications carriers (who must replace Chinese equipment under existing law)
- Western telecommunications equipment manufacturers (Nokia, Ericsson, Samsung)
- Federal agencies overseeing equipment replacement (reduced review burden)
Likely Burden Bearers
- Environmental advocates (reduced environmental oversight)
- Historic preservation groups (reduced historic preservation oversight)
- Communities near telecommunications infrastructure (reduced environmental review of potential impacts)
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A project to permanently remove covered communications equipment or services (as defined in section 9 of the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 (47 U.S.C. 1608)) and to replace such covered communications equipment or services with communications equipment or services that are not covered communications equipment or services
Any authorization required under Federal law with respect to a covered project, including any permits, special use authorizations, certifications, opinions, or other approvals
Equipment or services identified as posing national security risks under the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 (47 U.S.C. 1608) - primarily Chinese telecommunications equipment from companies like Huawei and ZTE
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology