At last year’s workshop, expert FCC staff and staff members of invited Tribal Historic Preservation Offices provided guidance to the FCC’s licensees, those who construct communications facilities for FCC licensees, and their consultants.
The FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau will host its annual educational workshop on the environmental compliance and historic preservation review process required for the construction of wireless communications facilities on Wed., May 4, 2016 at 9:00 a.m. in the Commission Meeting Room at FCC Headquarters, 445 12th Street, SW, Washington, DC.
This year’s workshop will include information relevant to the construction of all new communications towers and to the collocation of communications equipment on towers and other structures.
At the workshop, FCC staff and other experts will provide guidance to the FCC’s licensees, those who construct communications facilities for FCC licensees, and their consultants.
Presentations will cover a wide variety of topics under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), and other federal environmental statutes. Part of the workshop will focus on NEPA compliance, Including Endangered Species Act review. The remainder of the workshop will address NHPA Section 106 compliance under the Nationwide Programmatic Agreement for Review of Effects on Historic Properties for Certain Undertakings Approved by the Federal Communications Commission.
In the morning, the workshop will include a session on the industry’s tower siting process. In the afternoon, there will be a session devoted to archeology and communications towers. A central topic will be professional qualifications and practice and appropriate decisions on reasonable and good faith efforts.
Another FCC workshop will be held on May 3, 2016 exploring distributed antenna systems (DAS) and small cells.
TENTATIVE AGENDA
9:00 AM: Introductions
Jon Wilkins, Chief, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau
Steve DelSordo, Federal Preservation Officer (FPO), FCC
9:15 AM: Tower Siting Process from an Industry Perspective
Steve DelSordo, FPO (moderator)
Panelists from carriers, tower companies, and environmental consultants
10:30 AM: Break
10:45 AM: FCC Policy and Regulation Updates
FCC Infrastructure Team Staff
TCNS Updates
MOA Processing
DAS and Small Cells
Non-Compliant Towers
11:30 AM: The FCC’s NEPA Process
Erica Rosenberg, Associate Chief, Competition and Infrastructure Policy Division, FCC
12:00 PM: Lunch
1:00 PM: Best Practices for Consulting on Wireless Infrastructure in Railroad Rights-of-Way
Jill Springer, Deputy FPO, FCC
1:30 PM: Biological Reviews, FAA Tower Lighting, and Northern Long-eared Bats
Joelle Gehring, Biologist, FCC
2:15 PM: Break
2:30 PM: FCC Section 106 Process and the Archeology of Tower Siting
Steve DelSordo, FPO and Jill Springer, DFPO (moderators)
Panel of Archeologists
4:00 PM: Wrap-Up and Adjourn
This workshop is open to the public. All interested attendees are requested to arrive promptly. Inperson and webcast attendees are encouraged to pre-register but are not required to do so. Please send an e-mail to Maira.Delao@fcc.gov to pre-register.
The FCC will live stream the workshop on its website. To view the workshop live, please go to www.fcc.gov/live the day of the workshop. Viewers may submit questions by e-mail to livequestions@fcc.gov.
