The Fish and Wildlife Service announced Thursday that it is expediting a permit for a long-debated Nebraska transmission line that punctures the habitat of the threatened American burying beetle.
Citing the Trump administration’s declaration of a “national energy emergency,” the federal agency said it is deploying an “emergency permitting process” to propel construction of the Nebraska Public Power District’s R-Project. The proposed 226-mile transmission line through the central part of the state has been under sometimes heated discussion since it was first publicly proposed in 2012.
“The decision reflects the department’s commitment to responsibly manage the nation’s lands and resources in support of the public, the economy and national security,” the FWS said in a statement.
The FWS said it was utilizing an authority granted under the National Historic Preservation Act to move the project along. Section 106 of the law requires federal agencies to consider the effects on historic properties of projects they are involved with. The law allows for abbreviated reviews in the event of a declared state or federal emergency.
