CTIA is urging the FCC to drop National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements on certain wireless infrastructure deployments. In a Petition for Rulemaking, it says “unnecessary regulatory red tape” is hampering wireless broadband expansion. CTIA says its members face impediments that include lengthy deployment delays, increased costs (which can pull limited capital resources away from other needed deployments and network enhancements), and, in some cases, decisions not to deploy.
“NEPA review delays often result from the need to consult with multiple federal agencies, such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in addition to state environmental agencies, as well as the need to delineate wetlands or other environmentally sensitive areas that may be affected,” says the trade association. “While many collocations and site modifications are eligible for exclusions, reviews that are required can take months, particularly when site access is restricted or fieldwork is seasonal, as often occurs. According to members, EAs [environmental assessments] can sometimes take three to six months or in some instances even several years to complete and resolve.” Continue Reading
NEPA reviews add “substantial costs” to deployment, with CTIA members citing NEPA evaluations and related compliance can cost “millions” of dollars annually. “One member reports that a business decision was made to abandon a project only after spending three years and tens of thousands of dollars in attempts to obtain approval for the originally proposed project,” explains CTIA. “It is also not unusual for industry to allocate resources to sites that may have a quicker path to construction. These decisions have a direct impact on coverage and capacity for wireless networks writ large, and especially in rural and remote areas, impacting services for businesses and consumers.”
“Consistent with recent bipartisan amendments by Congress to NEPA and actions by the Administration and the courts, the Commission should act now to implement the statutory amendments and reduce unnecessary regulatory red tape for wireless facility deployments initiated by the private sector that lack substantial oversight by the Commission,” CTIA says in the petition.
The White House recently directed federal agencies to ensure their environmental review processes are grounded in the NEPA statute and other applicable law, and that those agency processes advance the country’s economic and national security, most notably by eliminating permitting delays, CTIA explains. Given these circumstances, the FCC should take “commonsense” steps now to implement these changes, asserts the trade group.
Specifically, CTIA urges the Commission to begin a rulemaking to:
- Find that geographic area deployments are non-federal actions excluded from the definition of an MFA [major federal action.]
- Ensure that any facilities that remain governed by NEPA are subject to a review process with clear timelines and predictable standards, and
- The Commission should make clear that mixed-use tower or pole deployments are not MFAs. “The Commission does not have “substantial” control and responsibility over such mixed-use deployments where the site-based element is only a smaller component of the broader geographic area deployment, and therefore it should not retain its NEPA authority over such facilities,” states CTIA. “The same policy should apply to modifications to increase, strengthen, or harden the underlying tower or pole, and at the same time alter any geographic area or site-based antennas on the structure, as long as the modifications do not require ASR,” says CTIA.
- Set further timeframe limits on EA reviews (see page 28 of the petition.)
The FCC is asking for input on the petition to RM-12003 by April 30.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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