60 years ago the National Historic Preservation Act became law with broad bipartisan support. On Nov. 9 it may be killed by the federal government.
An unprecedented Coalition has formed to fight back. When Congress passed the National Historic Preservation Act, half of the historic places the federal government had documented in the Historic American Buildings Survey were already gone. Section 106 was built on that collective grief about the treasures we had destroyed. Today, 106 Strong, the growing coalition of over 1,000 organizations and Tribal Nations, is being launched, representing more than nine million Americans, to make sure we never go back.
Section 106 works because it asks federal agencies to do something simple: stop, look, and listen before harming places Americans value. It gives Americans a voice before historic downtowns, battlefields, burial sites, and sacred sies are damaged or lost.
Title III – Historic Preservation of S. 5653 is not permitting reform. It is a sweeping assault on the protections Congress enacted 60 yeas ago to ensure that federal agencies consider the consequences of their decisions for America’s historic and sacred places.
