FCC Streamlines Review Process for Replacement Utility Poles to Advance Wireless Infrastructure Deployment

FCC Streamlines Review Process for Replacement Utility Poles to Advance Wireless Infrastructure Deployment

Background:  On November 16, 2017, the FCC adopted an order eliminating historic preservation review requirements for the deployment of replacement utility poles that are substantially identical to the ones they replace. By adopting this exemption, the FCC made it easier to replace utility poles with poles capable of accommodating antennas or other wireless communications equipment that will be critical to support the small cell technologies needed for the rollout of next-generation services.  The FCC defined certain conditions that, if met, render replacement poles so similar to the poles they are replacing that the replacement poles have no potential effect on historic properties, and therefore, require no historic preservation review under the National Historic Preservation Act. 

QUICK FACTS

• The construction of replacement utility poles – a new pole in place of a preexisting pole that is being removed – without historic preservation review, is subject to certain conditions, including that:

1. The original pole can hold utility, communications or related transmission lines and is not a historic property;
2. The deployment does not cause new ground disturbance;
3. The replacement pole is put in a hole no more than 10 feet away from the original pole; and
4. The replacement pole is no more than 10% higher or five feet higher (whichever is greater) than the previous pole.

• The replacement of poles must cease if there is a discovery of any historic artifacts or other historic properties and appropriate consultation with the Commission, State/Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, and any affected Tribal Nations must ensue.
• The order consolidates the Commission's historic preservation review rules and procedures, which had previously been adopted through a variety of rules and orders, into a single rule.
• To learn more about the FCC's streamlined review process for replacement utility poles, see:
  Full text of the Report and Order