Starks Raises Concerns on Pending SCOTUS Decision in EPA Case
FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks warned of the potential effects from the Supreme Court’s expected decision (see 2206240061) in West Virginia v. EPA, in remarks Monday at an Ericsson broadband conference. “The Court’s ruling could alter the larger legal landscape of…
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federal efforts to address climate change, and even our core understanding of administrative law,” Starks said. The batch of opinions released Monday didn't include the decision, which is now expected Wednesday. Broadband deployment must be “vibrant, innovative, and inclusive” but also “environmentally sustainable,” Starks said. He emphasized the importance of spectrum efficiency. “We need to squeeze the most out of a finite resource while at the same time building networks that draw less power,” he said: “Bandwidth efficiency and energy efficiency are both must-haves if we want to manage spectrum in the public interest.” Industry has made a “strong start” with 5G, Starks said. “We know that through beamforming, micro-sleep, and other power-saving techniques, migrating to 5G can drive a 10-fold reduction in the amount of energy required to transmit a given amount of data -- even as it also packs more users, more data, and more throughput into each unit of bandwidth,” he said. “This is the type of jump in efficiency that can make wireless innovation both cost and climate sustainable, and we must continue to reach for it as traffic demand picks up,” he said.