NARUC Approves Resolution on Equalized Spectrum Allocation Process for Utilities
NARUC members unanimously approved Wednesday a Telecom Committee-passed resolution on FCC treatment of utility spectrum allocations. The resolution, which also received NARUC board backing Tuesday, urges the FCC to equalize its spectrum license transfer process for utilities seeking spectrum for supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and smart grid systems. The resolution also asks the FCC to reconsider the “precedential effects” of a September order. The resolution’s proponents claim the order shows the agency believes utilities’ use of spectrum for SCADA and smart grid systems isn’t “dedicated” to public safety purposes yet supports positive train control on public safety grounds (see 1411170044).
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
NARUC’s adoption of the resolution will allow the group to file comments in FCC dockets 11-71 and 13-85, in which there are petitions for reconsideration of the commission decision to deny utilities’ requests for a waiver of the hearing process for transferring automated maritime telecom system (AMTS) spectrum from Maritime Communications/Land Mobile (MCLM). The FCC had allowed a hearing waiver for the Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA), which is also in the process of receiving an AMTS license from MCLM.
NARUC's board approved the resolution on a voice vote Tuesday, after defeating a motion from South Carolina Public Service Commissioner G. O’Neal Hamilton to table it. Hamilton had raised concerns about the small amount of time the board and committees had to consider the issues associated with the resolution. Some Telecom Committee members had raised similar concerns during that committee’s consideration of the resolution Monday.
District of Columbia Public Service Commission Chairwoman Betty Ann Kane, who sponsored the resolution, told us she believes NARUC’s “strong” vote for the resolution will put it in a position to provide influential comments on spectrum issue. NARUC has a “responsibility” to ensure utilities get the same treatment as railroads and others that seek out spectrum for public safety uses, Kane said. The Utilities Telecom Council and six other industry groups have also supported the utilities, in a joint FCC filing. “For now the resolution speaks for itself,” emailed a NARUC spokesman.
“Hopefully this strong support from NARUC and the trade associations will persuade the FCC that oil and gas companies and electric utilities deserve far better treatment than they have received to date in this proceeding,” said Keller Heckman communications lawyer Jack Richards. He represents two electric utilities and three oil and gas companies with applications for the AMTS spectrum requiring an FCC hearing. Fletcher Heald lawyer Paul Feldman, who represents SCRRA, declined to comment.