Greetings all,
I thought I'd follow up the depressing news of the big blackbird kill in
Arkansas with a bit of positive news regarding the long standing problem of
bird kills at communications towers. First, the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) is currently holding another public comment period on the
issue. This stems from a lawsuit led by the American Bird Conservancy &
Forest Conservation Council, and a decision by the D.C. Circuit Court that
prevented the FCC (under pressure from corporate lobbying) from dismissing
the avian towerkill issue. Second, behind the scenes the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) has conducted tests and found it no longer necessary
for towers taller than 350-ft to have steady-burning lights, which are a
primary factor in causing bird kills at towers. Tower owners apparently will
soon be able to switch off these steady-burning lights (just having flashing
lights) and save electricity and maintance costs while also preventing the
needless slaughter of perhaps 100s of thousands of night migrating songbirds
across the US annually. This is a simple win-win situation that took more
than a decade to bring about, and appears close to becoming a reality.
While comments submitted during the previous FCC comment periods regarding
this issue are still in play, this current comment period regards input on
whether the FCC should conduct a programmatic Environmental Impact
Assessment (EIS) on its Antennae Structure Registration program. The answer
is clearly yes, because the avian towerkill issue is not as much site
specific as it involves all towers -- the impact to birds is cumulative and
the primary mitigation would involve a change in aviation obstruction
lighting regulations for all towers. The FCC currently abides by an
Environmental Assessment (EA) program on a tower by tower basis, but this
does not address cumulative impacts. Elevating the environmental review of
the FCC's antennae structure regulation program to an EIS would help assure
that the avian towerkill issue gets the appropriate mitigative attention for
cumulative impacts. [e.g., by some estimates, more than 1% of the Cerulean
Warbler population is killed at towers annually]
So, one of the more significant direct conservation actions for songbirds is
before us right now and the comment period ends in 10 days. One of the
easiest ways to support this effort is to sign the petition at the Defenders
of Wildlife webpage
https://secure.defenders.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1769
As with other issues involving Federal Agencies and big corporations,
success in instituting strong environmental regulations is dependent upon
teamwork of large conservation organizations -- in this case American Bird
Conservancy, Defenders of Wildlife, Forest Conservation Council, and
National Audubon Society are all worthy of our support.
For those with more time you can find out more information and submit your
own comments directly to the FCC at: http://www.fcc.gov/pea All comments
submitted to the FCC on this issue since 2003 are available on the FCC
webpage http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/comsrch_v2.cgi entering 03-187 in
box #1, and then clicking the Retrieve Document List button. If you go back
a few years you can read comments by several current and former members of
the Cayugabirds-L community including Marie Read and Dan Lebbin.
Finally, anyone who does take the time to submit a formal comment to the FCC
will be cordially invited to a party at my house this spring with gratis
Nines pizza and beer.
Yours in bird,
Bill Evans
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ARCHIVES:
1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html
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