The Trump administration's Advisory Council on Historic Preservation has voted to overhaul the regulations underpinning Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, a process that reviews roughly 120,000 federal actions a year to protect historic sites. The article's author, a former Senate-confirmed chair of the council, warns the changes would weaken protections nationwide and let the administration approve mining, fossil-fuel and other extractive projects on or near historic land with far less scrutiny.

Under the new rules, only sites deemed "geographically compact" would be protected, stripping safeguards from many archaeological sites, cultural landscapes, and places of historic or religious significance to Native American, Native Hawaiian and Alaska Native communities — potentially allowing projects such as a pipeline across Gettysburg Battlefield. The overhaul would also exempt many undertakings from review entirely, including state and local government projects, meaning federally funded highway and road expansions could proceed without the current level of oversight.