Connecting Communities, Protecting Wildlife

November 14, 2024

Programmatic Permitting Solutions Accelerate Broadband Deployments While Safeguarding Endangered Species

By: Jill Springer, Senior Policy Advisor, Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth, NTIA

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) are working together to significantly accelerate Endangered Species Act (ESA) reviews for Internet for All projects.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is driving historic investments in broadband and other infrastructure, including the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. The ESA requires agencies to ensure their activities are not likely to jeopardize the existence of threatened or endangered species or destroy or adversely modify their designated critical habitat. The enormous number of projects expected from BEAD means that an innovative, collaborative approach to Endangered Species Act reviews is needed.

To accelerate high-speed internet projects while also protecting endangered species, NTIA is partnering with FWS to implement programmatic strategies that reduce the volume of reviews and the time required to complete them, without undermining the conservation of listed species. In March, NTIA and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) announced a streamlined historic preservation review approach for broadband that tailors the level of review to a project's potential for effect. Informed by that success, NTIA and the FWS are partnering to apply similar principles to endangered species reviews.

NTIA and FWS are collaborating to enable grant recipients to complete many endangered species reviews online, using the FWS Information for Planning and Consultation system, known as IPaC, through the development and expansion of tools called Determination Keys, or DKeys, which can streamline the consultation process for common project types.

Endangered species reviews can require 60 or more days for analysis and processing, but when an applicable DKey is available, endangered species reviews can be completed in IPaC online in less than an hour for many projects. NTIA and the FWS have already modified and expanded DKeys in 26 states, significantly streamlining endangered species reviews for high-speed internet projects that will connect millions of unserved homes, with the goal of expanding this approach across the nation in the coming months.

But some activities require no Endangered Species consultation at all. NTIA has compiled and published a list of NTIA-funded activities with "no effect" on listed species or designated critical habitat that do not require FWS consultation. This includes activities like stringing fiber along existing utility poles and running fiber through conduit. NTIA estimates that the "no effect" list will benefit 75% of NTIA's high-speed internet projects all over the country.

Key actions NTIA and FWS have taken:

• Developed and published the "no effect" list.
• Identified additional broadband activities that are "not likely to adversely affect" listed species and their designated critical habitats by "deconstructing" broadband project types.
• Modified existing Standing Analyses and associated DKeys to streamline consultation for broadband projects.
• Initiated pilot projects to apply these tools in Texas and Michigan.
• Developed a plan to expand DKey coverage nationally.
• Held a national meeting with representatives from all eight FWS regions to launch this initiative and foster support for the national expansion of DKeys.

To ensure FWS has the resources to accomplish this initiative, NTIA and the Permitting Council have allocated funds for the FWS to hire biologists to expand scientific analysis and to provide additional FWS staff to support consultations on projects that may affect protected species or habitats. The support of regional FWS biologists is crucial for ensuring both the protection of the nation's threatened and endangered species and their critical habitats and the timely access to reliable, affordable, high-speed Internet service.