Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Battle Over Migratory Birds, Towers Continues

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 18:12:12 -0500

Battle Over Migratory Birds, Towers Continues

PCIA remains optimistic that efforts by environmental groups' to get thousands
of wireless towers to undergo costly post-construction environmental review will be
dismissed by the FCC.

The tower group replied to a petition filed by the Forest Conservation Council,
American Bird Conservancy and the Friends of the Earth this fall that said wireless
towers are a risk to migratory birds. The groups, led by the Forest Conservation
Council, say almost 6,000 towers across the eastern United States but
concentrated mainly in Gulf Coast states should be reviewed under
environmental law. The groups said in their petition and reply comments that
such post-construction review was necessary and that they'd like to see U.S.
Department of Wildlife standards used in those reviews.

The environmental groups should petition the FCC to change its rules about
migratory birds, not each individual tower owner, says John Clark, a lawyer at the
Washington D.C.-based law firm Perkins, Coie, which is acting as counsel for
PCIA in the matter. 'We don't claim the FCC's environmental rules are perfect,
but the Friends of the Earth shouldn't challenge individual tower owners. They
should petition the FCC,' he said in an interview with Wireless Week. PCIA has
argued the towers meet federal regulations, including the National Environmental
Policy Act and the Council of Environmental Quality requirements.

http://www.wirelessweek.com/index.asp?layout=story&doc_id=107371&verticalid=34&vertical=Business+and+Finance&industry=

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