Congress strips NOAA's veto over cable projects in marine sanctuaries
S. 2873 — Undersea Cable Protection Act of 2025 · Filed by Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Sep 18, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill amends the National Marine Sanctuaries Act to prevent NOAA from requiring its own separate authorization for undersea fiber optic cables if a federal or state agency has already issued a license, lease, or permit for the same work. It allows NOAA to participate in interagency coordination but strips its independent permitting authority over cables in marine sanctuaries.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is to remove NOAA's independent sanctuary-protection authority and replace dual-agency review with single-agency permitting. This is functionally a deregulatory streamline favoring cable operators, framed as a procedural efficiency measure.
What the text implies
- NOAA retains only 'interagency cooperation' authority under section 304(d), which is advisory/consultative, not binding — the Secretary cannot condition or deny a cable project even if NOAA identifies sanctuary harm.
- The bill applies retroactively to cables already authorized by other agencies, potentially grandfathering in projects that predate this amendment and were never subject to sanctuary-specific environmental review.
The full analysis lists 5 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
submarine cable operators and installers; telecommunications companies deploying undersea fiber infrastructure; cable repair and recovery service providers