The FCC’s draft NPRM on changing how the agency enforces the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) has led to only one ex parte meeting at the FCC (see 2507170048); however, that doesn’t mean the changes aren’t controversial, industry and agency officials said. They predicted approval when commissioners vote Thursday, but potentially with at least a partial dissent from Commissioner Anna Gomez.

The FCC should consider narrowing its proposed presumption that a violation of the Cable Landing Licensing Act should disqualify a party from future licenses, the North American Submarine Cable Association said. In a docket 24-523 filing posted Thursday, NASCA said the presumption in the draft subsea cable order on Thursday's FCC meeting agenda (see 2507170048) would disqualify parties from future licenses, even though in the past, parties haven't lost licenses after entering into consent decrees for admitted violations. The presumption should be limited to instances where the violation wasn't remediated with a consent decree or compliance plan, resulted in a lost license or authorization, or was found by the FCC to be intentional, said NASCA. The group's filing recapped a meeting with counsel to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, while a nearly identical filing documented a meeting with Commissioner Anna Gomez's office.

Responding July 18 to New Jersey resident Brandon Chen’s challenge of 11 questions on the April 2022 Customs Brokers License Exam (see 2411270026), the U.S. said CBP was right to determine Chen failed to achieve a passing 75% score (Brandon Chen v. United States, CIT # 24-00208).

An FCC order couched as being about deleting outdated rules but outlining a new agency process that does away with notice-and-comment drew Anna Gomez’s first dissent as a commissioner. The direct final rule (DFR) order was approved at the agency’s open meeting Thursday over her objections, 2-1. The commissioners also approved items on auctioning AWS-3 spectrum, georouting 988 texts, and slamming rules. “The way we do things matters,” Gomez said. “The fact that the process adopted today effectively evades review by an informed public is a feature not a bug.”

In a July 21 complaint at the Court of International Trade, domestic antidumping duty petitioners CC Metals and Alloys and Ferroglobe USA, Inc. alleged a Malaysian ferrosilicon investigation’s mandatory respondent should have been hit with an adverse facts available rate. The respondent, meanwhile, challenged the AFA rate it did receive in the Commerce Department’s countervailing duty investigation determination in its own complaint (CC Metals and Alloys v. United States, CIT # 25-00131).

Alaska’s Knik Tribe raised concerns about changes proposed by CTIA to how the FCC enforces the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act. A draft NPRM addressing those laws is before commissioners for a vote at the Aug. 7 open meeting (see 2507170048).

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., reintroduced a bill July 16 that would bar China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from buying land within 10 miles of sensitive U.S. sites, including military bases and federally funded research labs. The Safeguarding Invaluable Land Act, or SOIL Act, has five co-sponsors and was referred to the House Financial Services, Foreign Affairs, and Energy and Commerce committees. When he introduced it in 2023, it was called the Saving Our Invaluable Land (SOIL) Act.

SES' now-finalized takeover of Intelsat (see 2507170002) is a sign of satellite communication's center of gravity shifting permanently from geostationary orbit (GSO) incumbents to low earth orbit (LEO) disruptors, Quilty Space wrote last week. GSO's declining dominance due to the rise of LEO and stagnating broadcast revenue, among other issues, has been plain to see for years, it said. Quilty cited operator responses such as Telesat moving away from GSO in favor of its LightSpeed LEO system, Eutelsat buying OneWeb, and Viasat acquiring Inmarsat and now teasing direct-to-device services and multi-orbit offerings. SES' near-term priorities are integrating Intelsat, cutting costs and reducing its use of debt, according to Quilty. Beyond that, SES must set a course "that not only fends off emerging LEO competitors but also accelerates growth beyond its current high-single-digit targets."

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., introduced a bill July 14 aimed at improving the tracking of foreign purchases of U.S. farmland.

The U.S. pushed back July 16 against exporter Soc Trang Seafood Joint Stock Co.’s challenge to the Commerce Department’s surrogate value calculation of Vietnamese land rental prices in a countervailing duty review (see 2501270012). The government said Commerce’s use of Thai data was supported by substantial evidence (Soc Trang Seafood Joint Stock Co. v. United States, CIT # 25-00030).