Federal Agency Backs Rule Overhaul Limiting Historic Site Input for 60-Year Reviews
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jul 31
Federal Agency Backs Rule Overhaul Limiting Historic Site Input for 60-Year Reviews
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jul 31
Summary
Initial approval from the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation would narrow how preservationists, tribes and the public weigh in on federal reviews affecting historic sites.
The proposed overhaul is meant to speed industrial and infrastructure projects by trimming a process that has shaped preservation fights since the 1960s highway boom.
Oil and gas drilling and other commercial developments could face fewer review hurdles, while the changes could also ease President Trump's Washington redesign plans, including the National Garden of American Heroes.
Preservationists, architects, archaeologists and Native American groups have already protested draft language, and lawyers for preservation organizations are preparing legal challenges if a major rewrite is adopted.