For the birds: the FCC and avian mortality at communications towers

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to analyze the contradictions between telecommunications regulation and environmental law in America, via coverage of the problem of large numbers of birds being killed at communications towers.

Design/methodology/approach

Via statutory, legal, and qualitative analysis, this article provides an analysis of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) compliance with environmental statutes and the conflicts that arise between the agency's mandate to maintain a robust telecommunications network and its statutory responsibilities for environmental protection.

Findings

Every year, millions of birds are killed at communications towers. In 1999, the US Fish and Wildlife Service issued guidelines urging the FCC to take action on this problem, as required by various environmental statutes. The FCC ignored the guidelines for several years and defeated the American Bird Conservancy in court when that group sued for observance of the guidelines, but this ruling was later overturned on appeal. The FCC has exhibited a pattern of responding to these developments years after the fact while obfuscating its previous history of non‐compliance and non‐cooperation. As of early 2012 no viable solution to the avian mortality problem has been proposed.

Practical implications

The FCC is required to comply with federal environmental statutes and regulations. However, citizens wishing to dispute FCC environmental compliance will face challenges arising from conflicting statutes and inconsistencies in federal agency behavior.

Originality/value

There has been very little research on the intersection of environmental law and telecommunications regulation, and the particular matter of avian mortality at communications towers has only been analyzed by ornithologists and environmental scientists.

Citation

Cramer, B.W. (2012), "For the birds: the FCC and avian mortality at communications towers", info, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 3-15. https://doi.org/10.1108/14636691211223193