Subject: [NEXTEL-1] The Bird Nuts Are At It Again!

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2003 21:32:10 -0500

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13 TH 2003

WASHINGTON -- Three conservation organizations today filed a lawsuit in the D.C.
Court of Appeals seeking to stop the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from issuing
any new licenses for building cellular communication towers in the Gulf Coast region until
their
impact on migratory birds has been fully assessed and mitigated.

The groups – the Forest Conservation Council of Santa Fe, N.M., and the American Bird
Conservancy and Friends of the Earth, both with headquarters here – allege that the FCC is

violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and
the
Endangered Species Act (ESA) by turning its back on the deaths of tens of thousands of
migrating birds at towers along the Gulf Coast.

Attracted to the structures, particularly at night and during periods of low visibility,
birds
collide with the towers, their guy wires and related structures. The U.S. Fish and
Wildlife
Service estimates that as many as 50 million birds are killed each year in tower
collisions
throughout the United States.

The specific structures at issue are located in the general region of the Gulf Coastal
Plain,
a 100-mile wide belt along the southern Gulf Coast from Port Isabel, Texas, to Tampa Bay,
Fla.,
a region of recognized critical stopover points for neotropical migratory birds. These
points
represent the first landfall after the long flight across the Gulf of Mexico each spring.
The birds
are often exhausted and weakened by the migration and are particularly vulnerable to
sources of
mortality. One Florida tower studied has killed more than 44,000 birds of 186 species.
The lawsuit documents that 5,820 towers were illegally authorized using a loophole in
environmental regulations called a “categorical exclusion.” This blanket exemption allows
companies to build towers harmful to migratory birds, with no environmental review or
public
oversight, while escaping NEPA requirements. As a remedy, the lawsuit seeks a court order
preventing any new towers from being built until the FCC completes a comprehensive
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on its tower licensing decisions in the Gulf Coast,
implements requirements for bird protection measures before issuing future licenses, and
initiates public participation procedures.

“The unregulated jumble of communication towers littering the coastal forests,
wetlands,?farmlands, and barrier islands of the Gulf Coast region are killing tens, maybe
hundreds of
thousands of migratory birds each year,” said John Talberth, Forest Conservation Council’s

director of conservation. “Today's lawsuit is the first step in a broader campaign to
reform the
haphazard and illegal way the FCC and the communications industry do business and to bring

the public into the decision-making process.”

The Fish and Wildlife Service has already recognized the need for a comprehensive EIS
on the FCC’s tower licensing program and has objected to the categorical exclusions from
NEPA
claimed by the FCC. In a November 2, 1999 letter to then FCC Chairman William Kennard,
former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Jamie Clark wrote, “The Service believes
that
FCC should prepare a programmatic Environmental Impact Statement to delineate the true
impacts of tower construction and to identify ways to reduce those impacts by
incorporating
measures in the applicant’s permits to minimize potential losses to migratory birds.”
A comprehensive report published by American Bird Conservancy documents 230
species killed at towers – representing nearly 40 percent of all U.S. bird species - 52 of
which are
listed as being of conservation concern. With more than 60,000 registered towers over 199
feet.
nationwide and an estimated 50,000 additional towers to be constructed in the next decade,
the
impacts on protected avian species will continue to be significant.

“The 5,800 plus towers in the Gulf Coast region are potential avian death traps in a major

migratory area. Our repeated efforts to work with the FCC and industry have not produced
change and our law suit is critical to ending the slaughter of millions of birds,” said
Gerald
Winegrad, Vice President for Policy at American Bird Conservancy. “American Bird
Conservancy has long been concerned about the millions of birds killed unnecessarily at
communication towers. Many of the birds most commonly killed--neotropical migratory
songbirds such as warblers, vireos, and orioles--are already in decline and this added
mortality to
protected species must be addressed.”

Today’s lawsuit comes on the heels of a lengthy battle with the FCC over its
communication tower decisions. Since 1999, the plaintiffs have been seeking a remedy
through
administrative avenues. Plaintiffs have participated in the Fish and Wildlife Service
Communication Tower Working Group, held repeated meetings at the FCC with FCC officials,
formally challenged individual towers harmful to migratory birds, and, most recently,
filed a
formal petition asking the FCC to prepare an EIS on its Gulf Coast communication tower
decisions.

“For years, Friends of the Earth has pressed numerous requests for the FCC to end this
slaughter but instead the agency has authorized thousands of new towers that have killed
millions of birds,” said Norman L. Dean, executive director of Friends of the Earth. “And
they’ve done it behind closed doors, without environmental review and without public
participation.”

For a copy of the legal complaint, visit: www.forestconservation.org/whatsnew.htm
For a color photo of a Northern Harrier hawk split in two on a tower guy wire and more
details
on tower kills visit www.abcbirds.org and www.abcbirds.org/policy/towerkillweb.pdf
For background news releases about the history of the case, visit www.foe.org

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From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2003 21:50:20 -0500

I heard next week they are petitioning to save the Rats (the 4 legged ones) from
extinction due to a population decrease, many have evolved into 2 legged ones and are now
standing up right. Some are now perpetrating as humans or is that the other way around?

:) :)

Dave Schmidt wrote:

> And just to think ... in the summer, I sweep up the
> carcasses of at least 2 to 5 birds a week who go
> smacking into my windows on my house. What next... the
> Bird-brains are going to petition to put a ban on the
> installation of windows on new homes???
>
> Yeesh ... people with too much time and money...
>
> Dave