WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission said it improved its Tower Construction Notification System and set up an e-mail account for other contacts with Native American tribes.
The Tower Construction Notification System (TCNS) is an interactive, log-in and password-protected system that depends on information voluntarily provided by tribes, tower owners and carriers.
TCNS was set up nearly a year ago to help tower owners and carriers contact tribes regarding proposed tower sitings. The purpose was to allow historic preservationists and tribal cultural authorities the ability to warn if a proposed tower could be a problem.
The improvements allow a tribe to exclude certain areas from notification. For example, there may not be an interest in reviewing proposals for towers that are to be constructed along highway rights-of-way built after a certain date, said the FCC. If an area is excluded, a tower owner should not expect to receive a response.
TCNS includes explicit legal disclaimers indicating that the information in it is provided only to comply with the National Historic Preservation Act, and it should not be used for evaluating tribal land, water and other related claims,
For tower owners and carriers that contact tribes by other means but wish to notify the FCC of these contacts, a special e-mail address has been established. These contacts can be e-mailed to TribalTowerExchange@fcc.gov.
Tribal contacts are an important part of the Nationwide Programmatic Agreement, which becomes effective March 7.
