Cell towers must protect birds
Attached
is an article that ran yesterday (2/19/08) on a new D.C.
Circuit Court of Appeals ruling requiring the Federal
Communications Commission to conduct Environmental Impact Assessments
of cell towers on migratory birds before granting permits.
Projecting forward, this ruling could be a new opening to raise
concerns over other effects of tower radiation. We believe this
is a significant move forward as it is a crack in the veneer created
by the mobile phone industry in the Telecommunications Act of 1996
where EISs were explicitly excluded. Expect the mobile phone
industry to immediately begin legislative moves to counter this high
court decision....Stay tuned.....
Dr. George
Carlo
Science and Public
Policy Institute
Washington, D.C. 20004
WILDLIFE:
Cell towers must protect
birds, U.S. court rules (02/19/2008)
Allison
Winter, E&ENews
PM
reporter
The
government must require cell phone towers to be equipped with
protection for migratory birds, a federal court ruled today.
The
split
decision
by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
says that the Federal Communications Commission illegally licensed
6,000 towers along the Gulf Coast. The court says the agency must
reassess those permits to make sure the communications towers comply
with the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy
Act.
The decision addresses FCC's ruling on towers in the
Gulf of Mexico, but lawyers who argued for environmentalists on the
case said it could have broader reach for all of the agency's
permits on new communications towers.
"The reason we
think it's significant is that it directs FCC to carefully review
the environmental impact of towers before they issue the permits,"
said Steve Roady, a lawyer with Earthjustice.
Two members of
the three-judge panel said FCC should consult with wildlife experts
and require environmental impact assessments for the towers. The
court also said FCC failed to sufficiently involve the public in its
tower approval process. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh dissented. He
said the suit was premature because FCC is re-examining the issue of
migratory birds and towers in in a separate, broader
rulemaking.
"The Catch-22 for the interested parties ...
is that the commission provides public notice of individual tower
applications only after approving them," Judges Judith Rogers
and Merrick Garland wrote in their majority opinion.
The
American Bird Conservancy and other environmental groups had sued
FCC in an effort to block the communications towers along the Gulf
Coast, a major migratory corridor for birds. The group says 5
million to 50 million birds are killed each year in collisions and
other accidents with communications towers.
"We are very
pleased by today's ruling, which will require the FCC to assess the
environmental impacts of towers," said Darin Schroeder of the
American Bird Conservancy. "Given the large number of bird
deaths caused by towers, an environmental review is long overdue."
He added that the decision a "huge victory" for
birds.
Aviation lights on communications towers can attract
and confuse birds, especially in foggy conditions, environmentalists
say. Groups say birds could be saved if FCC would change its
requirements for lighting on the towers, placing white strobe lights
over the constant red lights, to alert the birds. Some industry
groups say the lighting schemes would be expensive and have
questionable benefits.
[ FCC must study bird-tower collisions
http://www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=afxnews&articleid=6556918&subject=economic&action=article ]