New Act Strips Marine Sanctuaries' Power to Veto Undersea Fiber Optic Cables

The Undersea Cable Protection Act of 2025 is a short, sharp piece of legislation aimed squarely at speeding up how we deploy and maintain crucial communication infrastructure—specifically, the fiber optic cables that run along the ocean floor and power the internet. The main purpose? To make sure that National Marine Sanctuaries can’t stand in the way of these projects if they’ve already gotten a green light elsewhere.

The 'No Double-Dipping' Permit Rule

Section 2 of the bill is the big one. It essentially tells the Secretary of Commerce (who oversees the National Marine Sanctuaries) to back off when it comes to permitting undersea fiber optic cables. If a company already holds a valid license, lease, or permit from any Federal or State agency—say, the FCC, a state utility commission, or even the Army Corps of Engineers—to install or fix a cable, the Sanctuary can’t require its own separate permit or prohibit the project outright. Think of it like this: if you already have your driver's license, the local town council can’t make you take a second, separate driving test just to use their main street. The bill does clarify that existing requirements for different agencies to coordinate and talk to each other (interagency cooperation) still stand. But the key takeaway is that the Sanctuary loses its specific veto power over the cable’s presence.

Who's Calling the Shots Now?

This change is a huge win for the telecommunications industry, which is always pushing to streamline the regulatory process for essential infrastructure. For them, it cuts down on the bureaucratic maze. However, this raises a flag for those concerned about environmental oversight. National Marine Sanctuaries are protected areas for a reason—they house sensitive ecosystems. If the agency that issues the initial permit (the 'any' Federal or State agency) doesn't have a strong environmental mandate, the Sanctuary’s specific ecological review is essentially bypassed. Their job is to protect the marine environment, but this bill removes their ability to impose specific conditions or deny a project that might threaten the sensitive area they manage. It concentrates the permitting power in the hands of the first agency to approve the project, regardless of that agency's core mission.

Simplifying Special Use Permits: Deleting Restrictions

Section 3 tackles the rules for special use permits within Sanctuaries. These permits allow specific activities that might otherwise be prohibited in the protected area. This section simplifies the rules by removing two specific subsections (paragraphs (2) and (3)) that previously detailed certain restrictions or requirements related to these permits. While the bill doesn't specify what those restrictions were, deleting them simplifies the permitting process by eliminating previous limitations. This means activities that were previously curtailed by those now-deleted restrictions can potentially proceed more easily, again prioritizing streamlined access over the maintenance of specific, existing limitations designed to protect the sanctuary environment.