Neighbors should not learn their history is gone when the bulldozers arrive. Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act makes federal agencies listen to the people who live with the consequences of a project. That includes tribal communities, whose histories are too often the first thing lost. It does not slow projects down. It improves them. Now a bill in Congress goes after it. It would make that consultation optional. It would let agencies end the conversation on their own terms. It would shrink the places and the harms that qualify for review. Once a historic place is demolished, it is gone, and no one gets a second chance to be heard. This law was meant to give part of our country back to its people. Gutting it hands the decision to agencies and takes the voice away from communities. Vote no on any bill that makes Section 106 consultation optional or narrows what it covers.
