BEAD Projects Face 86,000 Permit Burden Before NTIA Guidance
Light Reading reported that a New York Law School analysis found more than 86,000 permits tied to BEAD broadband projects, while NTIA guidance on non-deployment funds remains pending.
States could use $21 billion in uncommitted BEAD funds to speed local permitting reviews under a recommendation from the Advanced Communications Law & Policy Institute (ACLP) at New York Law School, as broadband projects face more than 86,000 permit requirements nationwide, Light Reading reported.
The ACLP analysis examined 6,933 terrestrial project areas funded through the federal government’s $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program across 126 federal, state and local permitting layers.
More than half of the projects require over 10 permits, while one in seven requires more than 20.
The permitting burden
Every county in the analysis required a permit.
Federal environmental review applied to 95% of project areas, state permits to 76%, private or third-party agreements to 71% and municipal permits to 62%.
The typical build engages a median of 8 authorities, each running a separate process that can delay construction, ACLP report summary authors Alex Karras and Michael Santorelli wrote.
The study describes its total as a lower-bound estimate because it counts each permitting requirement only once per project.
That leaves the possibility of multiple reviews and approvals overlapping on the same build, including NEPA/EHP review, federal land authorizations, state and local construction permits, easements, railroad crossings and utility agreements.
ACLP said many localities may also lack the staff needed to handle the expected influx of BEAD-related permits and agreements.
Where approvals accumulate
After county-level requirements, water and infrastructure crossings were the largest permitting drivers.
Wetlands and floodplains reached the most projects, while thousands more had to cross or attach to existing infrastructure.
The study identified 4,964 projects involving roads and highways and 3,072 involving railroads.
Transmission and pipeline corridors also represented a significant share of BEAD permitting.
ACLP said permitting delays have long affected the broadband industry but are especially consequential for BEAD because of the program’s scale and deployment deadlines.
If the current process remains unchanged, overlapping approvals could create uncertainty against those deadlines.
The funding decision still pending
The institute urged the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to let states use non-deployment funds to hire permitting staff, outsource reviews or build digital tools for current and future broadband projects.
The $21 billion refers to BEAD money not committed to direct broadband deployment.
USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter made a similar case in a March letter to NTIA, calling permitting modernization one of the clearest ways to use the funds to accelerate BEAD construction while improving government infrastructure capacity.
NTIA guidance on how states may use the non-deployment funds has not yet been released.
After delaying the guidance in March, NTIA Chief Arielle Roth told a House committee that publication is now expected “this summer.”
