America's historic preservation law is in peril, advocates say. Here's what's at stake
Advocates are raising concerns that the 60-year-old National Historic Preservation Act is being weakened by current federal policies. Critics argue that recent shifts in government oversight are undermining the 'Section 106' review process, which protects historic sites from development.
Why it matters
This highlights a growing tension between federal infrastructure/development goals and the preservation of cultural and historical landmarks.
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.
"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.
Now, historic preservation advocates say, the government is trying to yank the public's power away.
National Trump allies vote to weaken protections for historic sites — not just in D.C. "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. "Over the last year and a half, the federal government has divested that responsibility."
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