§ 1.1306 - Actions which are categorically excluded from environmental processing.

§ 1.1306 Actions which are categorically excluded from environmental processing.

(a) Except as provided in § 1.1307 (c) and (d), Commission actions not covered by § 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 Commission 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 § 1.1307(a) (1)-(7), or

(2) Involve high intensity lighting under § 1.1307(a)(8).

(3) Result in human exposure to radiofrequency radiation in excess of the applicable safety standards specified in § 1.1307(b).

(c)

(1) Unless § 1.1307(a)(4) is applicable, the provisions of § 1.1307(a) requiring the preparation of 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% or twenty 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 twenty 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 § 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 § 1.1307(b).

Note 1:

The provisions of § 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 § 1.1307(a)(4) is applicable. Such antennas are subject to § 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 § 1.1307(b) of this part. The provisions of § 1.1307 (a) and (b) of this part 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 § 1.1307(a) and (b) of this part do not encompass the construction of new submarine cable systems.

Note 2:

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 § 1.1307 and § 1.1308, except as required by the Bureau pursuant to the Note to § 1.1307(d).

Note 3:

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 § 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 § 1.1307(b).

[51 FR 15000, Apr. 22, 1986, as amended at 51 FR 18889, May 23, 1986; 53 FR 28393, July 28, 1988; 56 FR 13414, Apr. 2, 1991; 64 FR 19061, Apr. 19, 1999; 77 FR 3952, Jan. 26, 2012; 80 FR 1268, Jan. 8, 2015]