FAA and FCC narrow reviews for commercial space activities

The FAA published a proposed rule on July 30, 2026, that would use authority under the Commercial Space Launch Act to make specified requirements under NEPA, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, the Coastal Zone Management Act, and other federal environmental and natural-resource laws generally inapplicable to launch and reentry licenses, site operator licenses, and experimental permits. The proposal implements Executive Order 14335 and responds to a forecast that licensed commercial space operations will more than double over the next decade. The FAA framed duplicative environmental reviews as an obstacle to its public-safety mission rather than a meaningful protection of additional interests. The comment period closed August 31, 2026, and the rule could face litigation over the scope of the transportation secretary's waiver authority and the treatment of related federal actions. In a separate but parallel action, the FCC granted Reflect Orbital a two-year authorization for Earendil-1, declining to use the communications licensing proceeding to resolve objections about astronomy, wildlife, aviation, and broader environmental effects. Together, the two developments indicate that US agencies are restricting reviews to the statutory interests Congress assigned to each one, which may shorten core licensing timelines while shifting more responsibility onto applicants to map approvals across multiple federal, state, and local regimes.