Here are Communications Litigation Today's top stories from last week, in case you missed them. Each can be found by searching on its title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
DHS published its fall 2023 regulatory agenda for CBP with only one new trade-related action mentioned. The department listed a new proposed rule that could mandate electronic export manifest for all cargo leaving the U.S. by rail.
The Border Trade Alliance requested a meeting with Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas to discuss the "quickly deteriorating situation at the Texas-Mexico border," according to a BTA letter dated Dec. 29. The business group called the Texas Department of Public Safety’s inspections of commercial vehicles entering the state from Mexico "duplicative and costly" due to CBP being assigned to the same task.
The U.S. District Court for Eastern Wisconsin in Milwaukee should deny Verizon’s motion for “the extraordinary remedy” of an immediate injunction ordering the city to permit Verizon to install three poles to host small wireless facilities on leased property, said the city’s opposition brief Tuesday (docket 2:23-cv-01581). Deer District LLC (see 2312050022), an entity affiliated with the Milwaukee Bucks, controls the property.
Walla Walla, Washington, denies that the 65-foot faux pine tree cell tower that AT&T proposes to install is needed to close a service gap and provide wireless services, said the city’s answer Tuesday (docket 4:23-cv-05162) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington in Richland to AT&T’s Dec. 1 complaint (see 2312040002). All of AT&T’s claims, other than federal claims "cognizable" under Section 332 of the Telecommunications Act, are time-barred under Washington’s Land Use Petition Act because AT&T didn’t timely file a petition, said the city’s answer. AT&T also failed to satisfy the requirements of the Walla Walla municipal code, it said. The code’s provisions are imposed on “a competitively neutral basis,” and are consistent with Section 254 of the TCA, it said. The code is necessary “to preserve and advance universal service,” protect the public safety and welfare, ensure continued quality of telecommunications services “and safeguard the rights of consumers,” it said. The city urges the court to dismiss AT&T’s complaint with prejudice, and to declare that it didn’t violate any provision of the TCA’s Section 332, it said.
The Colorado Transportation Commission aims to streamline broadband deployment on state land along roadways with a new fee schedule for accessing the right of way, the department said Dec. 20. Colorado will have lower rates than surrounding southwest states, it said. The schedule charges an annual property use surcharge and a one-time permitting fee, “set as low as possible to only cover some administrative costs,” the department said. The method is akin to what the U.S. Forest Service uses for accessing federal lands, it said. Broadband providers annually will pay 10 cents per foot of fiber optic line in urban counties with populations exceeding 200,000 and 3 cents per foot in rural counties. Also, they will pay a one-time charge of 5 cents per foot to cover permitting costs. “The Transportation Commission has heard the perspectives of local communities throughout the state as well as industry concerns, and the proposal that we approved today offers greater opportunities for broadband development, competes favorably with our neighboring states on costs, and meets the state’s existing legal obligations to care for the public land under our responsibility,” said Transportation Commission Chair Karen Stuart.
The Court of International Trade on Dec. 19 upheld the Commerce Department's decision to revert to the calculation of a previously used land benchmark as part of a countervailing duty review. Judge Jane Restani said that since no parties contest the move, the court will sustain the agency's third remand results.
The National Tribal Telecommunications Association (NTTA) raised concerns about tribal broadband issues in separate meetings with aides to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioners Geoffrey Starks, Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington. The group also met with Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff. NTTA emphasized the need for "additional steps to address the tribal digital divide" and "sustainability funding" to ensure services remain available once they are built, said an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 10-90. The group also urged the FCC to ensure providers obtain "affirmative tribal consent from the tribal government" if they want to deploy networks on tribal lands.
A senator who is pushing against reductions in the scope of the Section 301 tariff action against China (see 2311210048) said that while he "had some good conversations with the administration about it," he doesn't know when the administration will announce the results of its review.
The Court of International Trade in a Dec. 19 opinion denied two quartz surface product exporters' bid to partially dissolve an existing injunction on liquidation after finding the companies did not make a "sufficient showing" for the motion. Concurrently, Judge Mark Barnett denied antidumping petitioner Cambria's motion for an injunction on liquidation, which was filed following the consolidation of its action with the exporters' suit so the relevant entries would be covered if the judge granted the motion to dissolve. Barnett denied Cambria's motion related to the entries for which liquidation is currently enjoined since he denied the motion to dissolve the injunction. The judge also denied Cambria's motion in relation to the entries not currently enjoined because the motion was untimely filed.