FLA. ADOPTS RULES ON UNDERWATER CABLE CORRIDORS
Fla. Gov. Jeb Bush (R) and his Cabinet unanimously approved Tues. a long-awaited plan designed to encourage telecom companies to safeguard coral reef systems by using designated gaps in the reefs to install and connect cables to information networks in S. America and the Caribbean. The new guidelines were developed by the Fla. Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) following a request by Bush and his Cabinet in Dec. The rule will go into effect 20 days after filing with the Dept. of State.
Under the new plan, telecom companies that lay fiber cables in one of the 5 identified corridors off the coast of Broward and Palm Beach counties will be eligible for an expedited approval process by the DEP. Previously, requests for laying cables in offshore state waters required approval by the Fla. Cabinet. However, the Cabinet still will have to oversee and approve the proposals that use alternative undersea routes under the new rules. The new plan also prohibits laying cables in the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve and in the coastal waters off Monroe County, the only barrier reef in the continental U.S. “By using designated reef gaps, the plan protects precious natural resources, reduces regulatory burdens and ensures our state receives high- quality communications services,” DEP Secy. David Struhs said: “The plan protects the environment and benefits the economy.”
The new rules contradict those adopted by the FCC in 1974, which declare that cable doesn’t have any negative impact on environment, said Dan Meyer, gen. counsel of Fla.’s Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER): “What is especially problematic for the FCC is that Florida has recognized in its rules that there is environmental damage going on and it needs to be mitigated.” Meyer said the FCC should begin a rulemaking immediately “to determine whether the rule from 1974 is compatible with the Florida rules.” He said PEER planned to file a law suit against the Commission “if the FCC doesn’t change their laws based on Florida’s actions. The U.S. District Court, D.C., will force the Commission to do it” under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. Meyer said with the new rules in hand, “it’s going to be hard for the Commission to say that they don’t have to make an environmental review.”
“Florida is now the nationwide model,” Meyer said: “Every time each individual [cable] permit is reviewed in Florida, we'll take those lessons to other jurisdictions.” He said other countries, such as Australia, Malaysia and Thailand “should be looking at the Florida experience” as a model to follow.
However, Meyer said “the governor chronically undervalued the reefs” by keeping a requirement that companies pay a fee of $5.44 per linear foot for crossing coral reefs. He said PEER believed the fee should have been raised to $344 per linear foot. “The state-owned underwater property is leased to fiber optic companies at cut-rate prices,” he said, and Fla. was one of only 3 coastal states that didn’t collect a fee based on fair market value. He said fiber cables could generate more than $5,000 per min. in profit to operators. “Florida, however, treats fiber optic cable companies as if they were state-regulated public utilities even though the industry has long been deregulated with cable access awarded to the highest bidder,” he said. “The $5.44 fee per linear foot is a much more favorable deal for the industry than $344,” he said: “The money that is received ought to go back to [restore] the reefs that have been affected by cable.” Meyer also criticized the part of the rule identifying parts of the state excluded from laying cable. He said the rules ignored PEER’s request to ban cable installations below Cape Canaveral. However, he said: “Other exclusions are very significant. This is better than no rule at all.”
An AT&T spokesman said the company had “always supported environmental concerns. We'll work with the government agencies to keep with the adopted rules.” The N. American Submarine Cable Assn. (NASCA), which includes companies such as AT&T, MCI and Global Crossing, declined to comment.