WASHINGTON-The Clinton administration’s 15-month-old executive memorandum mandating tower siting on federal lands not only is not being implemented quickly, it is being filibustered by land-management agencies, according to a Dec. 2 letter to President Clinton from Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association President Tom Wheeler.
On the same day, the California Public Service Commission held a siting round table in San Francisco to discuss the problems in that state between government agencies, and cellular and personal communications services providers.
Despite presidential assurance only seven months ago that the General Services Administration had issued such federal antenna-siting procedures, Wheeler’s letter pointed out to the president that “the wireless telecommunications industry continues to experience significant antenna-siting resistance from far too many federal agencies in defiance of your order and the law.”
Wheeler provided examples of site stonewalling, including the National Park Service’s blocking of needed siting around the presidential retreat at Camp David and the jogging path in Washington, D.C.’s Rock Creek Park.
“In at least one instance, a government agency not only has ignored your order and the law, but has aggressively campaigned to solicit others or thwart the delivery of wireless services,” he continued. “Again, it was the National Park Service which, in addition to denying siting requests on its own land, formally solicited 29 local and county governments `to discourage the siting of towers’ adjacent to the federal land for the provision of service to users of the Blue Ridge Parkway.”
Wheeler also spread the blame around to the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, the Department of Defense and the GSA, pointing out that wireless carriers for years have spent “tens of millions of dollars annually” to build and maintain sites on federal land-money that goes right into the U.S. Treasury. Wheeler then played the auction card, saying prolonged siting problems would decrease future spectrum revenues.
Spokesmen for the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service were unavailable for comment.
The California PUC’s half-day, informal conclave addressed four agenda items: local government’s land-use issuance processes, wireless concerns, the PUC’s current site-implementation process with local governments and siting rules contained in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Panelists representing the wireless industry included Andrew Buffmire, general attorney for Sprint Spectrum L.P.; J. Walter Hyer, vice president of law and external affairs for AT&T Wireless Services Inc.; Richard Nelson, director of regulatory affairs for AirTouch Communications Inc.; and Jim Tuthill, vice president of external affairs for Pacific Bell Mobile Services.
According to Tuthill, the meeting-which was attended by some 200 people-was “a further step in the process of education and in addressing the needs of both citizens and the industry.” While Tuthill said that Pacific Bell had been able to achieve much of its tower-siting goals by understanding and acting on the concerns of residents and local governments, especially about neighborhood aesthetics, many residents still don’t understand the importance of siting issues in a competitive telecommunications atmosphere.
Kenneth Moy, legal counsel for the Association of Bay Area Governments who also participated in the discussion, said that problems between local jurisdictions and wireless carriers were best addressed face-to-face, and that ABAG was considering formulating a series of model ordinances and policies to provide to such governments-especially those that have not had to deal with antennas before, to help with their understanding of telecom siting issues. The CPUC’s current role as an approval body could be modified to pass such duties along to locales themselves.
“The real purpose of the meeting was to determine if the CPUC’s role should be changed when it comes to tower siting,” said AirTouch’s Nelson, agreeing with Moy. “The panel pretty much agreed that the commission should continue to act as a clearinghouse for information but that local jurisdictions can decide what is appropriate for their areas.” Nelson admitted that there always will be delays from moratoriums-there have been some 30 in 400 California jurisdictions, most of which were solved in 30 to 60 days-that will delay wireless system rollouts, but that they should be fewer and shorter as the educational process progresses.
