New Bill Mandates 10-Year, Fee-Free Flagpole Permit on Federal Land, Skips Environmental Review

The Star-Spangled Summit Act of 2025 is one of those highly specific bills that deals with a tiny patch of federal land but carries some big implications for how public resources are managed. At its core, this bill mandates that the U.S. Forest Service (which falls under the Secretary of Agriculture) must issue a special 10-year permit to maintain a U.S. flag on a flagpole at a specific spot called Kyhv Peak Lookout Point in Utah’s Uinta National Forest (Sec. 2).

The Automatic Permit and the Preference List

What’s truly unusual is how this permit is handled. The Forest Service must issue the very first 10-year permit to a specific individual: Robert S. Collins of Provo, Utah (Sec. 2). If Mr. Collins declines, the permit goes to a “qualified person” (a Utah County resident or local nonprofit with flagpole experience). For future renewals, there’s a strict preference hierarchy: first, the previous permit holder; second, whoever the previous holder recommends; and third, any other qualified applicant. This effectively guarantees that one specific individual, and then a small, self-selecting group, gets to manage this piece of federal property for decades, bypassing the standard competitive application process most of us would have to deal with to use public land.

No Fees, No NEPA: The Cost of Convenience

This bill contains two major provisions that affect taxpayers and environmental oversight. First, the Forest Service is explicitly prohibited from charging any land use fees for this permit (Sec. 2). While the permit holder saves money, this means the public—via the Forest Service—loses out on potential revenue that could be used to maintain the surrounding national forest. Second, and perhaps more significantly, the bill exempts the issuance, renewal, and management of this permit, including all work done to put up or maintain the flagpole, from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (Sec. 2).

NEPA is the law that requires federal agencies to study and disclose the environmental impacts of their actions before they take them. This exemption means that any work—whether it’s bringing in heavy equipment for maintenance or making changes to the site—can skip the required environmental review process. For everyday people, this matters because NEPA is the mechanism that allows the public to weigh in on how federal land is used. By carving out this specific project from NEPA review, the bill removes a crucial layer of accountability for activities on public land, potentially risking the natural resources the lookout point is supposed to protect.

Real-World Impact on Public Land

For local residents and taxpayers, this bill sets a precedent where Congress can step in to grant special, fee-free access to a specific site on federal land, automatically naming the initial recipient, and then waiving environmental oversight. While the goal is clearly to ensure the flag remains maintained—a civic-minded purpose—the method involves overriding standard procedures designed to protect public resources and ensure fairness. The Secretary of Agriculture can still impose conditions on the permit holder for public safety and resource protection, and they can allow “reasonable access” for the permit holder, but the core decisions about environmental impact are now off the table.