Coastal Broadband Deployment Act

Summary

Exempts certain communications facility projects that are carried out entirely within floodplains from two federal review laws: the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). The change applies only to projects that require an FCC permit, license, approval, or are otherwise under FCC jurisdiction and that fall entirely inside a floodplain as defined in federal regulation at the time of enactment. The effect is to prevent those covered projects from being treated as a "major Federal action" under NEPA and from being treated as an "undertaking" under the NHPA, removing those specific federal environmental and historic-preservation review requirements for qualifying projects.

• Exempts FCC-jurisdiction communications projects located entirely within a floodplain from NEPA and NHPA review.
• Applies only to projects that require FCC permits, licenses, approvals, or are otherwise under FCC jurisdiction.
• Uses the floodplain definition found at 44 C.F.R. § 9.4 as of the date of enactment; partial floodplain projects are not covered.
• Removes treatment of such projects as a "major Federal action" under NEPA and as an "undertaking" under NHPA.
• Is narrowly targeted to communications deployment/modification projects, not to other types of federal actions.
• Can speed deployment of communications infrastructure in floodplains by eliminating specified federal reviews.
• Reduces federal environmental and historic-preservation oversight for qualifying projects, raising potential environmental and cultural concerns.
• Does not, in the text, add funding or alter other federal, state, or local permitting requirements outside the stated exemptions.
• Relies on statutory and regulatory definitions (FCC jurisdiction, communications facility, floodplain) to set eligibility.