Categorical Exclusion

Network Deployment Activities

Exclusion Text

[B.1.] Actions related to network deployment that are subject to and satisfy the environmental requirements established under 47 C.F.R § 1.1306 as described below: (a) Except as provided in 47 C.F.R. § 1.1307 (c) and (d), the FirstNet Authority’s actions not covered by 47 C.F.R. § 1.1307 (a) and (b) are deemed individually and cumulatively to have no significant effect on the quality of the human environment and are categorically excluded from environmental processing. (b) Specifically, any FirstNet Authority action with respect to any new application, or minor or major modifications of existing or authorized facilities or equipment, will be categorically excluded, provided such proposals do not: (1) Involve a site location specified under 47 C.F.R. § 1.1307(a)(1) – (7) (2) Involve high intensity lighting under 47 C.F.R. § 1.1307(a)(8). (3) Result in human exposure to radio frequency radiation in excess of the applicable safety standards specified in 47 C.F.R. § 1.1307(b). (c) Any FirstNet Authority action with respect to any new application, or minor or major modifications of existing or authorized facilities or equipment, will be categorically excluded, subject to the following: (1) Unless 47 C.F.R. § 1.1307(a)(4) is applicable, the provisions of 47 C.F.R. § 1.1307(a) requiring the preparation of Environmental Assessments (EAs) do not encompass the construction of wireless facilities, including deployments on new or replacement poles, if: (i) The facilities will be located in a right-of-way that is designated by a Federal, State, local, or tribal government for communications towers, above-ground utility transmission or distribution lines, or any associated structures and equipment; (ii) The right-of-way is in active use for such designated purposes; and (iii) The facilities would not: (A) Increase the height of the tower or non-tower structure by more than 10 percent or 20 feet, whichever is greater, over existing support structures that are located in the right-of-way within the vicinity of the proposed construction; (B) Involve the installation of more than four new equipment cabinets or more than one new equipment shelter; (C) Add an appurtenance to the body of the structure that would protrude from the edge of the structure more than 20 feet, or more than the width of the structure at the level of the appurtenance, whichever is greater (except that the deployment may exceed this size limit if necessary to shelter the antenna from inclement weather or to connect the antenna to the tower via cable); or (D) Involve excavation outside the current site, defined as the area that is within the boundaries of the leased or owned property surrounding the deployment or that is in proximity to the structure and within the boundaries of the utility easement on which the facility is to be deployed, whichever is more restrictive. (2) Such wireless facilities are subject to 47 C.F.R. § 1.1307(b) and require EAs if their construction would result in human exposure to radiofrequency radiation in excess of the applicable health and safety guidelines cited in 47 C.F.R. § 1.1307(b). (d) The provisions of 47 C.F.R. § 1.1307(a) requiring the preparation of EAs do not encompass the mounting of antenna(s) and associated equipment (such as wiring, cabling, cabinets, or backup-power), on or in an existing building, or on an antenna tower or other man-made structure, unless 47 C.F.R. § 1.1307(a)(4) is applicable. Such antennas are subject to 47 C.F.R. § 1.1307(b) of this part and require EAs if their construction would result in human exposure to radiofrequency radiation in excess of the applicable health and safety guidelines cited in 47 § 1.1307(b). The provisions of 47 C.F.R. § 1.1307 (a) and (b) of do not encompass the installation of aerial wire or cable over existing aerial corridors of prior or permitted use or the underground installation of wire or cable along existing underground corridors of prior or permitted use, established by the Applicant or others. The use of existing buildings, towers, or corridors is an environmentally desirable alternative to the construction of new facilities and is encouraged. The provisions of 47 C.F.R. § 1.1307(a) and (b) do not encompass the construction of new submarine cable systems. (e) The specific height of an antenna tower or supporting structure, as well as the specific diameter of a satellite Earth station, in and of itself, will not be deemed sufficient to warrant environmental processing, see 47 C.F.R. § 1.1307 and § 1.1308, except as required by FirstNet or the FCC pursuant to the note to 47 C.F.R. § 1.1307(d). (f) The construction of an antenna tower or supporting structure in an established “antenna farm” (i.e., an area in which similar antenna towers are clustered, whether or not such area has been officially designated as an antenna farm) will be categorically excluded unless one or more of the antennas to be mounted on the tower or structure are subject to the provisions of 47 § C.F.R. 1.1307(b) and the additional radiofrequency radiation from the antenna(s) on the new tower or structure would cause human exposure in excess of the applicable health and safety guidelines cited in 47 C.F.R. § 1.1307(b).