As Companies Build Thousands of Cell Towers, Indigenous Nations are Faced with Difficult Choices

Promised to be a faster, more reliable cell network, 5G requires the construction of thousands upon thousands of small cell towers just a few blocks apart. Indigenous nations like the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas are in a difficult situation. The offices are woefully underfunded, which makes it impossible for Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPOs) to process the hundreds of 5G requests each week, and if tribes don’t respond, construction of a tower could damage religious places, cemeteries, or other historic sites. “Tribes are inundated with requests for consultation and because there is so much expansion happening with our telecommunications in the United States, that means that any given tribe might be getting anywhere from a couple to a couple hundred requests over the course of a month,” said Shasta Gaughen, a board member for the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers. “The risk is that there’s just so much going through the system, that a tribe, especially an under-resourced tribe, runs the risk of missing the opportunity to comment.”

The construction of cell towers in Indigenous territories has long been an issue. In 2018, Ajit Pai, the Trump administration’s appointment to the Federal Communications Commission, circumvented the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) by exempting small cell towers under 50 feet from review, and blocking tribal governments from reviewing and regulating tower construction. 5G cell towers are built under 50 feet. In response, more than 20 tribes nationwide filed a lawsuit in 2019 claiming the FCC didn’t have the authority to exempt tower construction from NHPA or NEPA review. A U.S. court of appeals ruled in favor of the tribes, but it allowed the FCC to block tribes from charging consultation or administrative fees. Indigenous nations are not getting paid for consulting and are not even benefiting from the work they are doing.