Tribes Make Case at DC Circuit Against FCC's March Wireless Infrastructure Order

“For decades, Tribes, carriers and other parties worked cooperatively to ensure that construction of cell phone infrastructure did not desecrate sacred or historic locations,” said the lead pleading. The Order exempted tens of thousands of expected antenna facilities” from environmental and historic reviews, the filing said. Tribes are no longer notified of small-cell deployments, the tribes said. “The FCC shortened the timeline for Tribal review, hindering Tribal ability to meaningfully participate in the review process. It reversed policy on Tribal fees, contrary to guidance by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, by providing carriers need not pay upfront fees to support the cost of Tribal review.” A brief led by the Blackfeet tribe also asked the court to overturn the March order. Plaintiffs “challenge FCC’s attempts to excuse itself from its most basic federal legal obligations to consult with Indian tribes on a government-to-government basis, as both the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), and their corresponding regulations plainly require.”