The Federal Communications Commission plans to eliminate red tape for space projects and a wide swatch of cellular internet infrastructure at the end of the month.

One of the FCC’s jobs is to regulate commercial space operations by allocating the radio frequencies used between spacecraft and ground stations, licensing satellite systems, and enforcing orbital debris rules. To do this, they’ve historically been required to assess the environmental impact of space projects under the National Environmental Policy Act, a sweeping law that applies to “major Federal actions” at all federal agencies.

Today, the FCC is announcing it will vote on permitting reforms to eliminate environmental evaluations for space operations by declaring them entirely outside the scope of NEPA. The rules are expected to pass at the agency’s September 30 meeting.

Although, since 1986, the FCC has not required detailed environmental assessments of satellites by default, parties can still petition and sue the FCC under NEPA to force a review. These new rules will remove that path by exempting space operations from NEPA entirely.

“Our legacy regulations have applied basically anytime somebody builds a tower. And people have been trying to argue that they now apply to these huge constellations that are being launched by SpaceX, Amazon, and others,” a senior FCC official who requested anonymity told Pirate Wires. “They want to trap that entire economy under multi-year environmental review.”

The new rules, originally proposed in August 2025, will “basically put an end to that,” the official added, accelerating the deployment of technologies like satellite internet, space-based data centers, and space mirrors.

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The rules could raise concern over a weakening of federal oversight and an over reliance on companies’ voluntary goodwill as spacecraft become more dense above earth. But the old system created nearly endless opportunities for various actors to obstruct space progress.

In 2020, the satellite networking company Viasat petitioned the FCC to perform an environmental review of a request from SpaceX — a Viasat competitor — to lower its Starlink satellites, arguing that its density would jeopardize “environmental, aesthetic, health, safety, and economic interests” because of the risk of collisions and space debris; Viasat later sued the FCC and lost on standing.

In 2022, DarkSky, a nonprofit that seeks to reduce light pollution, appealed the FCC’s decision to approve the second-generation Starlink system without a detailed environmental review. Alleged harms included “diminishment in the enjoyment of the dark sky,” harm to “professional and amateur astronomy,” “impairment of the cultural, religious, and heritage significance,” and “risks to migrating species that use stars for navigation.” They lost.

DarkSky and three other conservation groups are now petitioning the FCC under NEPA and a second statute to reverse its July approval of Reflect Orbital’s test mirror that will concentrate sunlight on targeted spots on earth. The new rule could significantly weaken their challenge.

“We’re seeing space tech get safer and safer. And the alarmists continue to push the same sort of objections that they’ve been pushing for the last decade,” the FCC official said. “It really just comes to a lack of comfort with the fact that the space economy is growing and it’s going to continue to grow.”

The FCC will retain the ability to regulate based on space systems’ use of radio frequencies, orbital debris concerns, and national security. The Federal Aviation Administration is still obligated to do environmental reviews regarding launches and reentries, though they have proposed a rule to waive some requirements.

The reforms, according to a press release seen by us, would also apply to other wireless spectrum deployments that “do not require antenna structure registration,” which is required for structures near airports or over 200 feet in height.

Alongside historic preservation rules, the old regulations would cost mobile wireless providers $2.2 billion in compliance and an overall loss in economic activity of at least $7.5 billion over the next decade, according to a study from National Economic Research Associates for the wireless industry trade group CTIA. The FCC estimates the reforms will eliminate NEPA evaluations for more than 14,800 wireless deployments over the next five years.

“We’ll be ready to do historic preservation review reform, I think, in the not-too-distant future,” the official said.

— Jonas Du