Groups File Suit to Halt Mass Bird Deaths at Gulf Coast Communication Towers

ARCHIVED 2003–2016 — Originally distributed via eWire press wire service] HOME | ABOUT US | CONTACT US | SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE | THE ARCHIVE Search Circuits Alternative Energy Alternative Health Conservation & Wildlife Corporate Responsibility Eco-Tourism Events Food & Agriculture Government Legal & Regulatory Natural Resources Science & Technology Transportation Benefits Products & Services Distribution List Syndication Partners Global Clients Testimonials FAQs ************************************************************************** E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE ************************************************************************** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Groups File Suit to Halt Mass Bird Deaths at Gulf Coast Communication Towers DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 -/E-Wire/-- Three conservation organizations today filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Washington, D.C. against the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC"). The groups, Forest Conservation Council (Santa Fe, NM), American Bird Conservancy (Washington, D.C.), and Friends of the Earth (Washington D.C.) seek to enjoin the FCC from issuing any new licenses for the building of communication towers in the Gulf Coast region until their impact on migratory birds has been fully assessed and mitigated. In the suit the plaintiffs cite violations by the FCC of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA"), and Endangered Species Act ("ESA") in the deaths of thousands of migrating birds at towers along the Gulf Coast. Attracted to the structures, particularly at night and during periods of low visibility, birds collide with the towers, their guy wires, and related structures. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ("USFWS") estimates that as many as 50 million birds are killed each year in tower collisions throughout the United States. The specific structures at issue are located in the general region of the Gulf Coastal Plain, a 100-mile wide belt along the southern Gulf Coast from Port Isabel, Texas to Tampa Bay, Florida, a region of recognized critical stopover points for neotropical migratory birds. These points represent the first landfall after the long flight across the Gulf of Mexico each spring. The birds are often exhausted and weakened by the migration and are particularly vulnerable to sources of mortality. One Florida tower studied has killed more than 44,000 birds of 186 species. The lawsuit documents that 5,820 towers were illegally authorized using a loophole in environmental regulations called a Categorical Exclusion. This blanket exemption allows companies to build towers harmful to migratory birds, with no environmental review or public oversight, while escaping NEPA requirements. As a remedy, the lawsuit seeks a Court order preventing any new towers from being built until the FCC completes a comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement ("EIS") on its tower licensing decisions in the Gulf Coast, implements requirements for bird protection measures before issuing future licenses, and initiates public participation procedures. "The unregulated jumble of communication towers littering the coastal forests, wetlands, farmlands, and barrier islands of the Gulf Coast region are killing tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of migratory birds each year," said John Talberth, Forest Conservation Council's Director of Conservation. "Today's lawsuit is the first step in a broader campaign to reform the haphazard and illegal way the FCC and the communications industry do business and to bring the public into the decision-making process." The USFWS has already recognized the need for a comprehensive EIS on the FCC's tower licensing program and has objected to the Categorical Exclusions from NEPA claimed by the FCC. In a November 2, 1999 letter to then FCC Chairman William Kennard, the USFWS Director wrote: "The Service believes that FCC should prepare a programmatic Environmental Impact Statement to delineate the true impacts of tower construction and to identify ways to