The FCC has refused to order a moratorium on wireless transmitter towers in the Gulf Coast that environmental groups say kill migrating birds.

The ruling responded to an August 2002 petition filed by the Forest Preservation Council, the American Bird Conservancy, and the Friends of the Earth asking the FCC to stop registering new communications towers until the completion of an environmental review.

"While I am sympathetic to a number of issues raised in the petition before us today, the petition just is not the right vehicle for these overarching concerns," FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said in response to the decision. "This is particularly true when you consider the rebuilding efforts that will be so critical to the Gulf Coast area over the next several months, particularly with a new hurricane season rapidly approaching."

The Commission responded to the 2002 petition with a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) asking for public comment on the matter. The three groups denounced the move as a delaying tactic.

"There are no time limits for the completion of the NOI and no proposed actions to benefit birds and prevent the annual killing of millions of birds," their response to the NOI, filed in November of 2003, charged. "The NOI could proceed indefinitely, thus providing another convenient excuse to continue the FCC's years of delays in addressing the killing of millions of migratory birds at towers."

The groups charge that the FCC is in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act for failing to more vigorously ensure the safety of birds when authorizing new towers.

There have been several recent filings on this issue. Two days ago, Congressmember Edward Markey of Massachusetts urged the FCC to its update wireless tower safety standards along lines advised by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Markey's April 10th letter said that the FAA recommends placing white strobe lighting on wireless towers, presumably as a way of scaring birds away from them.

But on March 31st representatives for the National Association of Broadcasters, CTIA–the Wireless Association, and two other trade organizations met with a senior FCC official and urged the Commission not to change its tower construction rules until it had reviewed a number of scientific studies commissioned by the agency.

In today's decision, the FCC said that it would issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to further explore the impact of communications towers on migrating birds.