America's historic preservation law is in peril, advocates say.
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advocates → say → peril
Here's what's at stake
It's been exactly 60 years since President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) into law, alongside half a dozen conservation bills.
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Johnson → sign → bills
"We have come here this morning to give part of our country back to its people," Johnson declared at the bill signing on Oct. 15, 1966.
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Johnson → come → Oct.
Now, historic preservation advocates say, the government is trying to yank the public's power away.
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government → say → power
"Preservation, from its inception, has worked best with public and private partnership," Brent Leggs, the president and CEO of the nonprofit National Trust for Historic Preservation, told NPR.
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Leggs → work → NPR
"Over the last year and a half, the federal government has divested that responsibility.
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government → divest → responsibility
It's a far cry from 1966, when the NHPA created a mechanism for identifying and protecting the country's historic sites — ranging from a single tree to an entire district.
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NHPA → create → district
Because of that law, those landmarks — today, more than 100,000 of them — are listed on the official National Register of Historic Places.
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landmarks → list → Places
And federal agencies must consult with states, tribes and stakeholders before beginning any projects that could potentially harm them, through a process called Section 106 review.
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that → consult → process
"Section 106 is in many ways the teeth behind the National Historic Preservation Act," said Elihu Rubin, a professor of architecture and urban studies at the Yale School of Architecture.
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Rubin → say → Architecture
"It is Section 106 that insists … that federal projects that threaten historic resources can only proceed when efforts are made to mitigate the impacts on those resources."
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efforts → insist → resources
Section 106 has saved historic buildings from demolition and prevented development on archaeological sites, according to "success stories" recently compiled by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
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Section → save → Preservation
But, Rubin stresses, the review process doesn't necessarily stop projects from happening — and that's the point of participating in it.
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that → stress → it
"Some of the most interesting projects that come out of it are surveys of fascinating buildings or places that will be lost," he said.
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he → come → buildings
"But we gain a lot from that process.
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we → gain → process
That process is now facing dual threats.
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process → face → threats
A federal council packed with Trump appointees voted this summer to weaken Section 106 regulations, while a bipartisan permitting reform bill gaining traction in the Senate would significantly narrow the review process in order to speed up infrastructure and energy projects.
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bill → pack → projects
"It will effectively rewrite the National Historic Preservation Act in ways that, for all intents and purposes, gut its meaning and protections for hundreds of thousands of sites across the country," said Greg Werkheiser, whose law firm, Cultural Heritage Partners, is leading a coalition to protect Section 106.
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firm → rewrite → Section
"Section 106 Strong," which officially launched Thursday, says it spans 1,000 organizations — including religious, environmental and civil rights groups — and Tribal Nations collectively representing more than 9 million Americans.
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it → launch → Americans
"I've been involved in historic preservation and politics for 30 years, and I've rarely seen a movement come together this quickly," he told NPR.
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he → involve → NPR
"I think Americans are simply fed up with watching their history manipulated, defaced, or destroyed as an instrument of political power.
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history → think → power
Historic preservation law was a reaction to widespread destruction
During the Great Depression, the federal government hired workers to survey historic buildings across the U.S. They documented 12,000.
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They → hire → 12,000
But by 1965, when Johnson convened a committee to study the issue, half of those buildings had been either destroyed or damaged beyond repair.
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half → convene → repair
"Folks concluded that if … we don't have some strong federal provisions, the natural instinct to just build as fast as you can, wherever you can, is going to take over," Werkheiser said.
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Werkheiser → conclude → provisions
The push for historic preservation was borne out of public backlash to post-World War II urban renewal and highway construction, which displaced entire communities and destroyed many American landmarks — including New York City's original Penn Station.
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which → bear → Station
"Because so much of the funding and impetus from these projects were coming from federal housing policy, there was an idea here that there needed to be a framework put in place to identify historic resources and to — if not protect them entirely — at least to acknowledge them and then to mitigate the negative impacts," Rubin explains.
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Rubin → come → impacts
The 1966 law provided that framework.
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law → provide → framework
Among other provisions, it tasked every state with opening its own office to administer national preservation programs.
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it → task → programs
Native American tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations weren't included in those duties until 1992, one of the last major amendments to the law.
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tribes → include → law
Leaders of the Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (NATHPO) told NPR that tribal communities now risk losing the seat at the table that it took them so long to get.
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it → tell → them
"The changes that are being proposed now — both on the regulatory front and the statutory front — would represent an enormous and devastating setback not just to pre-1992, but to pre-1966 historical preservation and the state of tribal voice and perspectives being considered," said Valerie Grussing, NATHPO's executive director of legislative affairs and strategic partnerships.
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Grussing → propose → affairs
Historic preservation experts maintain that Section 106 gives experts and the public visibility into federal construction projects without significantly slowing them down.
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Section → maintain → them
In fact, the National Trust for Historic Preservation says the nationwide average for a review is 16 days, and that 98% of those reviews conclude that the project will have no adverse effect on nearby historic resources.
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project → say → resources
"At the end of the day, it's [about] whether or not the federal government can come into your backyard and to your community and do whatever they want," said Chris Cody, associate general counsel for the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
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Cody → come → Preservation
These days, Cody estimates that his two-person team spends about 70 hours a week answering calls for help from local jurisdictions while also fighting federal cases in Washington, D.C.
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team → estimate → Washington
For example, the National Trust sued the Trump administration over the construction of its White House ballroom, but lost after the Supreme Court ruled the nonprofit lacked legal standing.
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nonprofit → sue → standing
That's one of many of President Trump's controversial renovations — including his proposed arch and municipal golf course redevelopment — that critics say are bulldozing over historic preservation laws and norms.
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critics → include → laws
It's against this backdrop that the National Trust for Historic Preservation recently launched a defense fund, aiming to raise an initial $10 million to protect the places and laws now in the crosshairs.
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Trust → launch → crosshairs
Cody calls this a "moment of existential crisis" for preservation efforts nationwide, not just in D.C.
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Cody → call → D.C.
There is somewhat of a trickle-down effect happening around the country, as various, I would call them, bad actors are trying to push the limits of the law in regards to historic preservation," Cody said.
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Cody → be → preservation
…and 32 more, not listed.
The Aporia
