Twilight Towers Order Approved 5-0 by FCC
The FCC approved 5-0 Thursday a public notice on twilight towers, as expected (see 1712110043), examining ways such towers could be made available for collocation of wireless facilities without additional historic review. The PN is an early part of the FCC’s focus under Chairman Ajit Pai on speeding up the buildout of wireless facilities. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel concurred, citing concerns about the treatment of Indian tribes.
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The towers have been caught “in a regulatory quagmire” for too long, Rosenworcel said, but “I do think we still have a long way to go to honor our federal trust responsibility to tribal communities impacted by towers constructed during the twilight period.”
Similar to vampires in the Twilight movie series, twilight towers seemed like an issue that would never die, Pai said: “No more.” After more than a decade, the FCC is finally addressing the towers, he said. Pai said he hopes the issue will be wrapped up by the middle of next year.
The towers in question were constructed between March 16, 2001, and March 7, 2005, and either didn’t get historic review or weren't documented to have the review. The federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) established rules on the process for doing historic review but also can exclude from review federal undertakings that have minimum potential to affect historic properties, FCC officials said. One such agreement is the national programmatic agreement (NPA) for collocation on towers. The notice asks the ACHP to adopt a program comment allowing collocation on twilight towers, officials said. It also makes clear the FCC won’t take enforcement action against twilight towers built in good faith.
“None of us currently on the commission caused the twilight tower situation … Instead, we get the job of cleaning up the mess,” said Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, who had pushed the FCC to move on the issue. “We take a decisive step to do just that.” Action on the towers will close “a sad chapter in regulatory history,” he said. Estimates are they could accommodate an additional 6,500 antennas, he said.
Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said the notice addresses a “confounding” issue and doubts those who worked on the 2001 and 05 agreements thought the towers would be part of a 2017 proceeding. Tribal nations must be able to participate in the process and the program comment will allow direct consultation by a tribe at any time on a twilight tower or collocation, she said.
Brendan Carr, designated by Pai as lead commissioner on wireless infrastructure siting issues, said after the meeting the FCC will move forward on similar items. “There are big-ticket items that we’re doing something on, there are smaller ones,” he said. Carr said now that the net neutrality order is complete (see 1712140039), he’s going to start thinking about which items to address next and how to package them.