TOWERS.

On July 19, PCIA filed with the FCC a petition for expedited declaratory ruling to clarify the meaning and application of a provision in the commission's environmental rules regarding FCC actions that are categorically excluded from environmental processing. FCC rules require environmental processing for wireless and broadcast authorizations and tower structure registrations. One provision, known as "Note 1," exempts from most environmental requirements antennas that are to be mounted on existing buildings or towers, or in other words collocated.

In its filing, PCIA noted that disagreements between industry members and some local and federal officials as to the meaning and scope of the exemption in Note 1 have caused delays in the processing of authorization applications and unproductive diversion of the time and resources of both industry and regulatory agencies.

Authoritative clarification by the FCC of this issue is urgently needed to resolve these problems and allow both efficient, timely buildout of the national wireless network and appropriate compliance with the ...