Historic preservation law is under threat at 60 : NPR

Key Points:

• The National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), signed 60 years ago by President Lyndon B. Johnson, established protections for over 100,000 historic sites through mechanisms like Section 106 review, which requires federal agencies to consult stakeholders before projects that might harm historic resources proceed.
• Preservation advocates warn that recent efforts by a federal council and a bipartisan Senate permitting reform bill aim to weaken Section 106 protections by narrowing the scope of review, limiting public and tribal input, and potentially excluding significant sites, threatening historic preservation nationwide.
• The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, now largely composed of Trump appointees, voted to weaken regulations this summer, proposing to exclude significant landscape features from protection and make tribal consultation optional, with changes still under public comment and review.
• Tribal leaders and preservation experts argue that these regulatory and legislative changes would roll back decades of progress in including Native American tribes in preservation decisions, undermining tribal sovereignty and historic preservation efforts.
• Critics of the Senate bill say it creates legal ambiguities and could increase litigation by removing early-stage consultations, while advocates have launched coalitions and defense funds to fight these changes and preserve the integrity of historic preservation laws.