Members of the Bird Conservation Alliance (BCA) and national environmental groups have submitted comments stating their opposition to a proposed Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rule that would exempt construction of communication towers from our nation’s environmental laws. The comments reflect the groups’ concern over potential negative impacts the rule change could have on birds and on the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other bedrock environmental laws.

“Bird conservation groups are strongly opposed to exempting towers from environmental analysis. Millions of birds are harmed by colliding with towers each year, and other species avoid tall structures such as towers because they serve as perches for predators.” said Steve Holmer, American Bird Conservancy’s Vice President of Policy and Director of the BCA.

The FCC has considered communication towers to be subject to NEPA for the last 43 years. As a result, current protocols for environmental analysis are used to protect at-risk species when new towers are built; for example, taking the needs of Greater Sage-Grouse into consideration in tower siting. Sage-grouse are among the species that avoid tall structures and lose use of nearby sagebrush habitat when towers are placed nearby.

Exempting towers from environmental review would have other negative effects as well. “Without NEPA, the public loses its ability to comment on proposed tower locations, or to ask that the environmental risks those towers pose to migratory birds or species of conservation concern be minimized,” said Holmer.

Bird conservationists are also concerned about changes to recently adopted lighting guidelines to help reduce the number of birds that die at towers — an estimated seven million birds every year. The new lighting standards can reduce collisions by as much as 70 percent while also reducing energy costs.

“We are making great progress to reduce risks to migratory birds from outdated lighting on existing towers,” said Holmer. “We appreciate that hundreds of tower operators have already adopted the new standards, and urge the operators of the remaining towers to change their lights to save birds and to save energy.”

This story was provided by American Bird Conservancy, a 501(c)(3), not-for-profit organization whose mission is to conserve native birds and their habitats throughout the Americas.

Read other articles by American Bird Conservancy

 

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Originally Published June 20, 2017