The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and other environmental gr...

the Mich. Audubon Society, Copper Country Audubon Club and Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition filed an application for review at the FCC last week. Last year, NWF told the Bureau insufficient environmental analyses were done before tower construction and as a result the FCC was violating the ESA and NEPA. The group asked that the agency immediately conduct environmental assessments on 3 towers and evaluate the cumulative impacts of the tower permitting system on migratory birds and endangered species. The Bureau turned down those claims last month, saying the Mich. State Police and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) were conducting an avian collision study. (The FCC over the last few years has authorized the Mich. State Police to construct 181 towers across the state.) NWF told the FCC in its latest filing that the Bureau incorrectly had held that performing environmental assessments before the avian study was complete would be premature. “Postponing these analyses creates unacceptable risks to the endangered Kirtland’s warbler and other migratory species and violates the ESA and NEPA,” NWF said. It asked the FCC to “order the Bureau” to perform environmental analyses under ESA and NEPA and to consult with FWS. The group asked for a review of: (1) Whether the Commission violated the ESA by approving towers in and around the habitats of listed species “without conducting an assessment of impacts on the species and without consulting with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service regarding those impacts.” (2) Whether the FCC violated NEPA by approving towers in and around the habitats of migratory birds without first conducting an assessment of impacts on the birds. NWF took aim at an unpublished letter last month in which the Bureau concluded it didn’t have to analyze the environmental effects of Mich. State Police communications towers and ESA and NEPA until after the 2-year avian study was performed. The Bureau said its tower authorizations were categorically excluded from NEPA. NWF said its members lived near the towers, bird-watched in areas near certain towers and “are concerned about the economic impacts on ecotourism that would directly impact their economic livelihood.” The application for review said the “FCC’s failure to assess the impacts of the towers on the Kirtland’s warbler and other migratory birds has harmed these members’ esthetic, recreational and economic interests.” The groups told the FCC that if reviews under NEPA and ESA were to show that a particular tower harmed the birds, the Commission had the authority to order that the tower be removed or that the harm be mitigated. The groups contended the FCC was made aware in advance of the towers’ construction of the potentially harmful effect on nonlisted migratory birds as well as 4 ESA-listed species, but didn’t conduct reviews before licensing them.