PIERRE, S.D. (MITCHELLNOW) Congressman Dusty Johnson has introduced the Facilitating Optimal and Rapid Expansion and Siting of Telecommunications (FOREST) Act. Johnson says the bill will cut down bureaucratic red tape to improve broadband access in rural America.
This proposed legislation is to deal with the sluggish and complicated permit approval process for broadband on federally owned land. The lengthy permitting process on federal lands has prevented the improvement of broadband access, even though billions of dollars are available to improve broadband deployment.
The FOREST Act expedites broadband projects in places where the government has already conducted the appropriate environmental and historical preservation reviews.