WASHINGTON-House telecommunications subcommittee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.) said he
will pursue early passage this year of legislation to improve wireless E911 service and foster antenna siting on federal
land, a move likely to re-energize opposition from local officials, conservationists and from environmentalists who last
week launched a challenge to a proposed cellular phone tower in Grand Canyon National Park.
Tauzin will hold a
hearing on the E911 federal land antenna siting and cellular privacy bills on Wednesday.
The Louisiana
congressman said his fast-track strategy is designed to avoid the kind of delays-created by opposition from local
officials and others-that helped kill the bill last fall.
At the same time, Tauzin acknowledged the nation’s mayors and
county commissioners have a right to speak up.
“There’s an impact … There are legitimate concerns,”
said Tauzin. But he said the bill adequately addresses concerns about federal pre-emption and provides benefits to
states in the form of matching grants to upgrade E911 dispatch centers.
Money for grants would be generated by
fees wireless carriers pay to erect antennas on federal property, though there is disagreement between the wireless
industry and federal agencies over the revenue that can be raised for that purpose.
The bill also would make 911 the
uniform nationwide emergency telephone number and promote development of automatic vehicle crash notification
technology. In addition, $10 million would be earmarked for federal research over five years to determine whether
mobile phones cause brain cancer or other health problems.
The National League of Cities and the National
Association of Counties weighed in against the E911 siting bill about the time the measure regained momentum late
last year, when it cleared the House Commerce Committee and got introduced in the Senate by Commerce Committee
Chairman and GOP presidential hopeful John McCain (R-Ariz.).
This year environmentalists, conservationists and
possibly trial lawyers also could jump into the fray.
The Arizona Republic, a highly influential paper in McCain’s
home state, last week reported on a confrontation between Cellular One and environmentalists over a proposed 43-foot-
high, 40-foot-wide tower beside an adjacent 1,040-square-foot building in the Grand Canyon.
Environmentalists
claimed the communications structure would give hikers false security and lead to further commercial incursion in the
Grand Canyon.
Cellular One replied the proposed cell tower would improve safety for campers and tourists. The
article said neither park officials nor the public asked for cellular service.
On the other hand, the paper said park
rangers attended to 200 heat exhaustion emergencies in the scorching summer of 1996 that witnessed the deaths of
several children.
Wireless firms are fighting with the National Park Service over proposed Bell Atlantic Mobile
towers in Rock Creek Park, just a cab ride away from the same Congress considering the E911 federal-land siting bill.
A few miles south of the nation’s capital, a battle is being waged over a wireless carrier’s desire to construct a tower that
would overlook Civil War grounds (non-federal) near Manassas, Va.
McCain is expected to reintroduce a
companion E911 federal land antenna-siting bill shortly.
“What we would really like to do is come to a
compromise. I’m not sure it’s possible, but we’ll try,” said Barrie Tabin, senior legal counsel for the
NLC.
Meanwhile, NACO, at its annual board of directors meeting in December, flagged pre-emption as a key issue
for counties in 1999. Indeed, in its preamble to the 1999 legislative priorities, the board spoke forcefully against any
attempts to usurp local authority in tower siting and other land-use matters.
“NACO stands firmly against
efforts of Congress and regulatory agencies to impose prescriptive requirements that intrude on local decision-
making,” the preamble stated.
While the chances of getting an E911 federal-land antenna siting bill through
the House this year appear good, the bill could meet resistance in the Senate from Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), who
likely will reintroduce a bill to curb antenna siting on nonfederal land and to bolster local oversight of siting decisions;
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), who is championing states rights; and from Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.), the
ranking minority member of the Senate Commerce Committee.
After McCain introduced the E911 siting bill last
fall, Hollings raised concerns about a provision to give wireless carriers limited liability protection from lawsuits
arising from emergency calls. Wireline carriers have limited E911 liability protection today.
Wireless carriers claim
the lack of liability protection is thwarting the rollout of E911 features that would enable emergency dispatchers to
automatically discern a wireless caller’s telephone number and ultimately to locate distressed calls within several
hundred feet.
Leahy, for his part, was poised to block E911 federal land siting legislation had McCain not pulled it
last fall. As such, Leahy remains arguably the key lawmaker in terms of what comes out of Congress this
year.
Leahy’s political clout in the debate cannot be overestimated. For starters, he is well positioned to make his
views known to the White House on siting or other issues. His former aide, John Podesta, is chief of staff to President
Clinton.
Other potential snags for E911 siting legislation include jurisdictional disputes among committees and
budgetary scoring.
Nevertheless, there is strong optimism Congress will pass a bill this year and it will be signed
into law by Clinton.
“I think the bills will be introduced in February and we have an excellent chance of
passing it by the end of the year,” said Robert Cohen, vice president of government relations for SCC
Communications Corp., a Boulder, Colo., provider of E911 wireless services.
