FCC Seeks Comments on Wireless Tower Bird Deaths
The FCC released a public notice seeking comment on a new study on bird deaths and wireless towers by Avatar Environmental. The study calls for a multiyear research program and asks for industry groups and others interested to file comments by Jan. 13 on its findings. The latest study is expected to reignite the debate on bird deaths and wireless towers.
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The report found that no study has shown “an unambiguous relationship” between wireless towers and bird deaths, but it also concluded that more needs to be known on the effect on populations, as well as such issues as why birds are attracted to lighted towers. “Although biologically significant tower kills have not been demonstrated in the literature, the potential does exist, especially for threatened and endangered species,” the report said.
An FCC source said the notice is a follow-up to an Aug. 2003 Commission notice of inquiry. “We did the NOI,” the official said: “We had the biologists look at all the submissions that were received and respond to the NOI. They came up with a report after looking at the studies that’s basically a lay of the land, where the science stands now.” The source added: “We're throwing it back to the industry to respond to what the scientists have concluded.”
FCC Chief of Staff Bryan Tramont announced that the notice would be published in a speech to a CTIA forum Tues. on tower siting. Tramont said last year the FCC would seek comment on scientific findings on bird mortality. A wireless industry source said the issue was “one more box that the FCC had to check off” in a series of tower siting orders.
The report draws preliminary conclusions, including that taller towers are more dangerous to birds than shorter towers, that lighted towers cause more deaths and that guy wires also can be deadly. The study found that some bird species, including vireos, warblers and thrushes, are more susceptible than others. Avian mortality tends to increase significantly during fall migrations, with a smaller peak in the spring. Most deaths occur on nights with low visibility, especially fog, low cloud ceilings or overcast skies.
Environmentalists have criticized the FCC for being too slow to react on bird deaths. An attorney for Friends of the Earth criticized the 2003 inquiry as a “stall-and- delay tactic” by the FCC. - Howard Buskirk