The FCC’s Environmental Obligations

The Federal Communications Commission has a specific set of environmental rules that must be followed when building any telecommunications infrastructure. Broadband providers that haven’t built on park lands or were funded by certain federal broadband grants probably never heard of these rules. But the rules apply to all telecommunications construction. The reason providers probably haven’t heard about these specific rules is that the FCC has largely put providers on the honor system to meet these guidelines. The only times that a provider might be required to follow these rules is if they were funded by a federal broadband grant or if they tried to get a permit to build on federal land. Those situations often require some level of environmental review to get the funding or the permit. Many of the broadband providers who will be pursuing the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grants will be required to comply with these rules. The obligation for the FCC to enforce environmental rules was put in place in 1969. The agency has rarely taken its environmental obligations seriously and didn’t issue any fines for breaking the rules until the early 2000s. Even now, the FCC only learns about most infractions after infrastructure has been built. The agency only issues fines in about 10% of the cases brought before it by local governments, states, or the public.