The FCC Gets It Wrong on “Small Cells”

Important announcement on behalf of ‘The 5G Crisis team’: (Email notification from today):
The FCC Gets It Wrong on “Small Cells”

(and why this may significantly set back the nationwide 5G rollout)

Dear Friend,

Every once in a while we have good news to share, and this is one of those times!

The FCC has been reprimanded by the Washington DC Federal Court of Appeals for overstepping its authority, and now, most pending applications for “small cell” antennas in your community will need to be revised and re-submitted for consideration. 📷 Here’s the story:

There is a federal law called the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) which requires all federal agencies, like the FCC, to analyze and report on the environmental impact of any major action it takes.

Pretty much every application to install an antenna requires some type of environmental impact assessment. So the FCC delegates the responsibility of conducting an environmental assessment to the wireless companies and their contractors that install the antennas.

In 2017, wireless companies complained that the NEPA process was expensive, time-consuming, and unnecessary. So the FCC decided to release wireless companies from submitting the environmental analyses required under NEPA in March of 2018.

“Not so fast,” said the Judges in Federal Court in Washington DC. The court ruled that the tremendous deployment of “small cell” antennas could have major environmental impacts. Now, the wireless companies have to do NEPA analyses for “small cells” whether they like it or not. You can read the final court decision here (https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/4001BED4E8A6A29685258451005085C7/$file/18-1129-1801375.pdf).

Lawyers are still scratching their heads about whether or not “small cells” that were approved and/or installed without the proper NEPA paperwork need to be redone. We will keep you informed as events unfold.
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So as of right now, what’s the bottom-line? All pending applications for “small cell” antenna permits may need to be redone and re-submitted with the proper environmental assessments.
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”’The 5G Crisis team suggests the following”’
Take Action:

Today we’re asking that you please spread the news about the recent NEPA court decision by calling or emailing any of your local officials who may be considering applications for “small cells.”

Sample The Email below to Your Local Officials:

Dear _______,

I wanted to bring to your attention a recent court decision by the Washington DC Circuit Court of Appeals that vacates a recent FCC order to exempt “small cell” wireless installations from the environmental review process required by the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA).

As per the August 2019 ruling, any application for a “small cell” installation is incomplete if it does not include the required NEPA assessment.

*In your email, include this link (https://ehtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/Court-Opinion.pdf) to the court order.

Thank you for you consideration of this important matter.

https://ehtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/Court-Opinion.pdf