On Friday, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) circulated a draft of the proposed revisions to ACHP’s regulations for Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, which sets forth a process by which federal agencies must review the effects of their undertakings on properties listed on or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.
After reviewing the draft, GW Law Professor Sara Bronin, the Senate-confirmed Chair of the ACHP from 2023-2024, observed:
“The proposed changes would unleash the Trump administration to fast-track projects that destroy, or cause irreversible damage to, our historic places, with virtually no public oversight. The sloppy, ill-conceived draft dramatically reduces historic properties protected, abdicates federal responsibility to Indian Tribes as sovereign nations, and exempts hundreds of billions of dollars of state and local projects from Section 106 review — all in clear violation of Congressional direction to the ACHP. It also largely cuts the public out of the Section 106 process, giving only a handful of parties a tiny window at the very end to provide comments, instead of the current practice which invites early consultation that helps federal agencies properly scope a project to avoid, minimize, or mitigate damage to historic properties. If adopted, these regulations will be challenged in court, and I doubt they will survive judicial scrutiny. ACHP should go back to the drawing board and develop legally-defensible ways to smooth and shorten the review process in ways that advance, not undermine, its legal mandate to protect our irreplaceable history.”
If you would like to speak to Sara Bronin please reach out to gwmedia
gwu [dot] edu (gwmedia[at]gwu[dot]edu).
-GW-