Cable One Says Long Wait to Run Fiber Near National Forest Is 'Case Study' in Hurdles
Cable One said its continuing wait, almost three years, to put a fiber link to Payson, Arizona, which is surrounded by the Tonto National Forest, "is a case study in the difficulties working with Federal agencies to build-out fiber to…
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communities located within or near federal lands." Getting National Forest Service OK to send fiber to the city and through another national forest "has been frustratingly slow," the operator said Thursday in FCC docket 17-84. More than a year after the service indicated the project didn't need a complete environmental assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act, it reversed course, the company said. It then did get NEPA leeway, but "the Forest Service was dragging its feet" on a National Historic Preservation Act report, with four versions needed. More recently, the company was told that report was nearing acceptance, and then staff "pushed the timeline for next action to mid-January 2019 at the earliest, after Forest Service staff returned from annual leave." The company thinks at most 12 months should be enough for the 22 involved Forest Service staffers to do the review. It provided the information after company General Counsel Peter Witty met FCC staff Dec. 6, and an aide to Commissioner Brendan Carr asked for any details of such hurdles. The aide didn't comment right away. Such projects "tend to require thorough research, review, and coordination," a Forest Service spokesperson noted Friday.