Permit process and exemption from certain requirements

(a) Permit process (1) General permit Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Army (acting through the Chief of Engineers) shall issue a general permit on a nationwide basis under section 404(e) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1344(e)) for the construction, repair, and maintenance of submarine cables and landing stations of such cables. (2) Requirement The general permit described in paragraph (1) shall incorporate the standard for the minimum distance between submarine cables on the seabed promulgated under section 8(b) of the Act of May 27, 1921, as amended by this Act. (b) Federal authorization prohibition Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no Federal authorization (other than a submarine cable license, a certificate required by section 214 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 214), or the general permit described in subsection (a)(1)) may be required with respect to the construction, repair, or maintenance of a submarine cable or a landing station of such a cable, including with respect to a submarine cable or a landing station of such a cable that runs or is proposed to run through a national marine sanctuary designated under the National Marine Sanctuaries Act (16 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.). (c) NEPA categorical exclusion The Commission may not remove the construction of new submarine cable systems from actions that are categorically excluded from environmental processing under section 1.1306 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations. (d) Preemption of State and local authority No State or local government or instrumentality thereof may regulate the placement, construction, modification, or repair of a submarine cable with respect to which the Commission has issued a submarine cable license, or a landing station of such a cable, on the basis of the environmental effects of such cable or landing station.