Heinrich Emphasizes Need to Safeguard National Historic Preservation Act to Protect America’s Public Lands, Improve Permitting Processes
Ranking Member Heinrich: “We can tweak and reform laws all we want, but fundamentally, until we have adequate staff at the agencies that process permits, we will continue to see frustratingly long permitting times.”
WASHINGTON — In his opening statement at a U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on the National Historic Preservation Act, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), the Committee’s Ranking Member, emphasized the importance of protecting America’s public lands by preserving opportunities for communities to have a voice in permitting decisions. He also called for improvements to the permitting process, but stressed that meaningful progress is impossible while the Administration continues to eliminate the very staff responsible for reviewing and approving permits.
“The National Historic Preservation Act says something very simple: before we build something, we should know if there’s an important piece of our nation’s history or culture in the area that we’re planning to build. Sometimes damage can’t be avoided, and sometimes the project being built is important enough that damage to a historic resource is a trade-off that we choose to make,” said Heinrich. “The NHPA allows for that. But, we should at least check, before we do irreversible damage to our national heritage.”
“There is no perfect law on the books, and we should always look for ways to make processes like section 106 consultation more efficient and more effective,” noted Heinrich. “I’m confident we can do that while also protecting the places, even the stories that have forged our national heritage. I’m equally confident we can’t do any of this without staff at the agencies that process permits for projects on federal lands.”
A video of Heinrich’s opening remarks can be found here.
A transcript of Heinrich’s remarks as delivered is below:
Thank you, Chairman.
The National Historic Preservation Act says something very simple: before we build something, we should know if there’s an important piece of our nation’s history or culture in the area that we’re planning to build.
And if there is, we should try to figure out if we can avoid damaging it.
Sometimes, damage can’t be avoided, and sometimes the project being built is important enough that damage to a historic resource is a trade-off that we choose to make.
The NHPA allows for that. But we should at least check, before we do irreversible damage to our national heritage.
We can and must build the energy infrastructure our economy and our climate need, while also preserving our history and our heritage. We can do both.
Our kids and our grandkids deserve to know where they come from—and we can’t tell the story of our nation without protecting the places that literally tell those stories.
Sometimes those places are a historic building or a historic district, and sometimes those places are a valley, or a mesa, or a mountain.
In my state of New Mexico, Mount Taylor dominates the horizon of central and western New Mexico, rising 5,000 feet from the desert below to a peak of above 11,000 feet. It is visible from nearly 100 miles away, and it is sacred to at least eight tribes in New Mexico and Arizona.
Mount Taylor and its surrounding mesas are a traditional cultural property and the impact of development on it should be carefully considered before permits are issued.
And that’s what the National Historic Preservation Act requires. Without the NHPA, federal agencies could allow new development on this mountain without ever considering its impact on the religious practices, the traditions of neighboring tribal communities.
Mount Taylor is listed on the State Register of Historic Places as a traditional cultural property, and that means that projects there get more scrutiny than other places in our state.
But that’s as it should be, because of the significance of Mount Taylor to communities across our state.
There is no perfect law on the books, and we should always look for ways to make processes like section 106 consultation more efficient and more effective.
I’m confident we can do that while also protecting the places, even the stories that have forged our national heritage.
I’m equally confident we can’t do any of this without staff at the agencies that process permits for projects on federal lands.
Our public land agencies have already lost more than 20 percent of their staff to early retirements, buyouts, and we’re expecting layoffs at the land management agencies in the coming weeks that will make this even worse.
It doesn’t matter what kind of permit you’re looking for – whether its oil and gas, or grazing, or road construction, or recreation: If the desk your permit application has landed on doesn’t have a human behind it, you’re not going to get your permit.
We can tweak and reform laws all we want, but fundamentally, until we have adequate staff at the agencies that process permits, we will continue to see frustratingly long permitting times.
And as I have said a number of times now, we can’t do permitting reform if the Administration persists in ignoring the fundamental laws. That’s just as true for section 106 agreements as it is for oil and gas permits.
We absolutely have to fix these issues, alongside process improvements, if we’re serious about permitting reform.
And finally, I would point out, that there are three buildings in this city that the National Historic Preservation Act does not apply to: the Capitol, the Supreme Court, and the White House.
And we have all seen, what is going on at the White House, right now, to our House.
I look forward to hearing from today’s witnesses about these issues, and I’m incredibly pleased to introduce Mr. Steven Concho from Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico.
Mr. Concho is a member of the Pueblo of Acoma located in the western part of our state.
He has served for nearly 15 years now, in the pueblo’s Office of Historic Preservation, including the past 5 years as the pueblo’s Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, or THPO.
Mr. Concho also represents the Four Corners Region on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, where he advocates for the protection of tribal cultural heritage and the advancement of tribal preservation programs nationwide.
In his role as THPO, Mr. Concho is dedicated to ensuring the protection, preservation, and continued vitality of Acoma’s ancestral lands and the broader Acoma Cultural Province for future generations.
His work emphasizes both safeguarding sacred places and promoting meaningful tribal participation in federal and state preservation processes.
He is passionate about community education and strives to inspire younger generations to pursue careers in archaeology, anthropology, and cultural resource management, ensuring that the work of preservation continues under future Acoma leaders.
Welcome, Mr. Concho, and thank you to all of our witnesses for lending us your expertise this morning on this incredibly salient topic.
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