Copps Salutes Bird Tower Decision

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps is pleased with a decision by a federal appeals court to vacate the commission’s denial and dismissal of the Gulf Coast migratory bird petition.

Instead, the court ordered the commission to conduct a study of the effect of communications towers on migratory birds. Copps called the decision a wake-up call: “It is time to stop acting as if a problem will go away if we just keep kicking it down the road.”

The commission has an open proceeding on the issue of whether communications towers, such as radio, TV, cell and two-way towers, cause or contribute to migratory bird deaths. Environmentalists say they do; broadcasters say they do not or that the problem is overstated.

The FCC has not decided whether to appeal the decision.

From Radio World.