HARDWICK, Vt.-Federal Communications Commission Chairman Bill Kennard, facing Vermont citizens hostile to the prospect of losing control of cherished land-use oversight, resoundingly reaffirmed his opposition last week to federal pre-emption as a quick fix to antenna-siting disputes between wireless carriers and communities.
At the same time, Kennard warned that blatant blocking of antenna-siting applications by cities and states could trigger federal pre-emption because such intransigence would violate the congressional mandate for a seamless wireless national network.
“Pre-emption is not the immediate answer,” said Kennard at a town meeting last Monday in a packed Hazen Union High School auditorium here.
Kennard shared a panel with Sens. James Jeffords (R-Vt.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Antenna siting collocation and stealth technology were mentioned as two possible solutions to siting gridlock where aesthetics and property-value devaluation are concerned.
Kennard recommended model ordinances for small communities that do not have resources or information to handle the flood of siting requests that are besieging communities across the country with the rollout of new personal communications services systems and expansion of cellular telephone networks.
Responding to health concerns raised by citizens, Kennard said federal health and safety government agencies had tightened radio-frequency radiation exposure guidelines.
“It’s my belief that the FCC should only consider pre-empting local zoning authority as a very last resort,” said Kennard, a position he espoused at his Senate confirmation hearing last fall and at several telecom industry gatherings more recently.
Kennard added, “I do not believe fundamentally that the heavy hand of federal government in pre-empting local authority is going to solve this problem. I don’t want to convert this agency into super zoning authority.”
Indeed, after a day-and-a-half with outspoken citizens and politicians in this small, environmentally minded state, Kennard reinforced a growing view that a cellular industry-inspired federal pre-emption proposal at the FCC is all but dead.
Even Congress appears unwilling to stick its neck out to help the wireless industry, except to the extent that lawmakers might be able to improve antenna siting on federal property. And even there, the odds of getting such a bill introduced, much less passed, in Congress during this brief legislative session remains iffy.
Meanwhile, Vermont lawmakers are pushing bills in the House and Senate that would repeal a telecom act provision that pre-empts local and state regulation of tower siting because of health concerns. The bills also would prevent the FCC, under Kennard or any future FCC chairman, from pre-empting local and state regulation of antenna tower siting.
The backdrop to Hazen Union High of fiery controversy here is Buffalo Mountain, an evergreen-covered piece of land that is proudly pictured on the town seal and on local police badges. Bell Atlantic Mobile wants to erect a 150-foot tower on the land.
Many of the town’s citizens have declared war on Bell Atlantic, but others insist cellular telephone service is needed in Hardwick for public safety.
Cellular One, for example, turned down a request for phones from an organization for abused women because of inadequate service coverage in Hardwick.
“I support anything that gets rid of dead zones,” said Deb Moore of the Vermont chapter of the Emergency Nurses Care Association and a member of the ComCare Alliance that the cellular industry helped organize to promote the public-safety benefits of wireless communications.
Kennard, for his part, wants the wireless industry and local governments to try harder to resolve siting disputes before he will entertain any notion of federal intervention.
As for the more than 200 siting moratoria around country, the FCC chief seemed to blame the wireless industry for making a lackluster effort to engage local and state officials in dialogue.
Indeed, during a meeting with industry representatives shortly before flying back to Washington, sources said Kennard-without mentioning names-suggested Bell Atlantic had turned a public-relations snafu in Hardwick into a national problem.
A Bell Atlantic official said the firm has tried to cooperate with Hardwick in siting a tower on Buffalo Mountain.
“What I’m finding is that some of the people who thought they lost battles on Capitol Hill (leading to the 1996 telecom act) are now trying to re-fight those battles at the FCC. And one of them is the battle that brings you all together today,” said Kennard.
Kennard arrived in Burlington late Sunday afternoon and dined with the Vermont congressional delegation Sunday evening at the Thatcher Brook Inn in Waterbury.
The next morning, Kennard had a working breakfast with Vermont politicians and citizen activists strongly opposed to proposed federal pre-emption of local zoning laws. Afterward, he joined Jeffords and his staff to briefly tour AM radio towers located on Blush Hill mountain in Waterbury.
Following a press briefing at Hardwick Town Hill, where he viewed the Buffalo Mountain antenna site sought by Bell Atlantic, Kennard and the Vermont delegation arrived at Hazen Union High to speak and hear from local residents.
He then lunched with Vermont elected officials.
Vermont lawmakers left no ambiguity about their disdain for federal government interference in local affairs.
“The 1996 law undermined local control, and we want that control back,” said Leahy, one of five senators to vote against the 1996 telecom reform bill. “We’re not asking Vermont to be left out of telecom age. It is extremely important to us in creating jobs and continuing our quality of life. But we Vermonters want to be able to determine where the towers are located.”
Likewise, Jeffords, co-author of a Vermont law that requires citizen input in balancing competing interests in land-use matters, vowed to resist attempts by the wireless industry to force unwanted antennas on citizens of his state.
“I’m here and we’re here because of you and other people in Vermont who shouted as loud and clearly as anyone could speak out and said, `This cannot happen to Vermont.’ It won’t happen to you.” Jeffords promised.
He added, “Vermont would not be Vermont unless we have the control of our destiny.”
Sanders offered the most searing criticism of industry and demonstrative defense of Vermont localism.
“What we’re saying to local communities is that we’re standing with you and that we’re going to make sure that siting of these towers are determined by the people themselves and not multibillion dollar companies that have a slew of fancy lawyers telling you what they think you should be doing,” said Sanders.
