Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Environmental Groups Lash Out At Tower Violations

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2002 13:06:53 -0500

Environmental Groups Lash Out At Tower Violations October 30, 2002

http://www.wirelessweek.com/index.asp?layout=story&doc_id=106365&verticalID=33&vertical=Regulatory&industry=Health+and+Safety

WASHINGTON -- The bird wars continue despite efforts by the newly-reconstituted PCIA to put an end to them.
The groups that had filed an FCC petition to force environmental impact studies on thousands of wireless communications towers in the Gulf states and elsewhere in the country backed up their assertions again this week at the commission. The groups, the Forest Conservation Council, American Bird Conservancy and the Friends of the Earth, previously told the FCC that the towers violate three major environmental laws designed to protect migratory birds. They were at it again in reply comments responding to PCIA's motion to dismiss their original petition.
PCIA had filed its motion on the assertion that the groups’ demands were out of line with environmental review policies. The group said reviews had already been done and asking for more retroactively wasn’t legal and couldn’t be done. The FCC requires such impact studies to be done before towers are built, but leaves the reviews largely up to the companies building the towers to complete them, says John Talberth, director of conservation at the Forest Conservation Council. The companies usually delegate them to contractors, he says. The resulting studies that were done on the towers in question weren’t thorough enough, he contends.
In their most recent filing at the FCC, the conservation groups challenged PCIA on several issues. The first was that PCIA’s motion to dismiss tower authorization reviews for new towers pending since the groups’ petition was filed in August (about 273 towers, say the groups) should be made to perform environmental studies, consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; provide opportunity for the environmental groups to participate in the decisions made and comply with the Migratory Bird Treaty provisions.
PCIA spokeswoman Betsy Stephenson says the organization is preparing a response to the new comments.

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