NTIA announced a $10.6 million stimulus grant in New Mexico. The grant to the North Central New Mexico Economic Development District will fund the deployment of high-speed Internet infrastructure across Rio Arriba, Los Alamos, and northern Santa Fe counties and in five Native American tribal communities. The project is planned to directly connect to broadband service more than 120 community anchor institutions -- including public safety facilities, K-12 schools, community colleges, government buildings, healthcare providers and libraries -- and support uses like distance learning, telemedicine and improved public safety communications. The project will promote energy efficiency by enabling smart grid applications for regional rural electric cooperatives. In addition, local Internet service providers will be able to use the new infrastructure to deploy new or improved high-speed Internet service to consumers and businesses. The funding is part of the second round of Broadband Technology Opportunities Program awards, which will continue on a rolling basis. NTIA is to make all BTOP awards by Sept. 30.
The FCC made good on a commitment to launch an Office of Native Affairs and Policy to promote communications services in tribal lands, the agency said Thursday. Those areas “suffer unacceptably low levels of communications services, especially broadband,” said Chairman Julius Genachowski. Increasing connectivity in those areas is one of the FCC’s top priorities, he said. The office, to be headed by Geoffrey Blackwell, will be part of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. The opening of the office is one of the central objectives in the National Broadband Plan, said Commissioner Michael Copps. “In so many places where Native Americans live, poverty endures, unemployment is at levels no society should tolerate, education languishes, and basic public safety falls far short of what people have a right to expect,” he said. The office will work to increase federal-tribal dialogue and consultations on regulations and policies, Blackwell said in an interview. It’s a challenge to overcome economic, geographic and demographic obstacles, and come up with sustainable business models, he said. The office will work directly with tribal and native communities and fill the need for an educational role for state regulators and industry providers seeking to serve tribal communities more effectively, he said. It will also work on increasing inter-agency coordination on broadband for native Americans, he said.
Wireless has already faced deep cuts in universal support and the goal of the FCC now should be to encourage more deployment of mobile broadband, CTIA said in replies on an inquiry and rulemaking on changes to the high-cost universal service program. As a result of the 2008 cap on support for competitive eligible telecom carriers, wireless carriers and other CETCs have already lost $800 million in funding, the group said. The notices follow up on recommendations in the National Broadband Plan that the Universal Service Fund be restructured to pay for broadband.
The FCC is seeking public input on how to continue improving the data and analysis used to monitor and accelerate progress toward universal broadband, as the commission plans its next report on broadband deployment. A notice of inquiry released Friday set due dates of Sept. 7 for comments, Oct. 5 for replies.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced on August 5, 2010 that more than $5.1 million in Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) funds have been granted to five organizations to aid in diesel emissions reductions in EPA Region 7. The funds are part of $64 million allocated nationwide this fiscal year through DERA’s grant program. Through DERA, EPA provides support for retrofits, engine upgrades, vehicle replacements, idle reduction, cleaner fuels and financing for clean technologies for trucks, buses, and non-road equipment. One recipient is the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association of Grain Valley, Mo., which will receive a $1 million grant to implement a project with a total cost of more than $2.3 million. Through the project, approximately 300 emission-cutting auxiliary power units (APUs) will be installed in long-haul diesel trucks operating in EPA Regions 6 and 7. (Region 7 includes Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and nine tribal nations. Region 6 includes Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and 66 tribal nations.)
Commerce Committee leaders on Capitol Hill seem at loggerheads over the right approach to building a public safety network. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., on Thursday night introduced a bill to give the D-block to public safety, as expected (CD Aug 6 p9). The measure clashes with legislation being drafted by House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who wants to codify the National Broadband Plan’s recommendation to commercially auction the 700 MHz spectrum. Public safety has vocally criticized the FCC and Waxman’s approach.
The FCC approved 5-0 Thursday a notice of proposed rulemaking and notice of inquiry aimed at spurring investments in wireless backhaul, a recommendation of the National Broadband Plan. Neither was particularly controversial. The FCC also unanimously approved an order aimed at increasing the number of wireless handsets available to the deaf and hard of hearing. The monthly meeting was over in less than an hour, and most of the questions in a press conference afterwards by Chairman Julius Genachowski focused on negotiations over net neutrality and broadband reclassification (see related story this issue).
Gambling websites that have been flouting the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) would be denied licenses in a regulated system in the U.S., under an amended bill approved 41-22 by the House Financial Services Committee at a markup Wednesday. Lawmakers approved a handful of amendments to the Internet Gambling Regulation and Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act (HR-2267), sponsored by committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass. The leading foe of the legislation, Ranking Member Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., secured the licensing ban on gambling sites that have knowingly let in U.S. players since UIGEA took effect. An approved amendment by Rep. Gary Peters, D-Mich., would clarify that state and tribal lotteries don’t need separate federal licensing, and accordingly, wouldn’t share their revenue with the federal government. Gambling sites would have to get users to set “loss limits” before playing, and protect customer privacy and security, under an approved amendment by Rep. John Campbell, R-Calif. Operators would have to verify before a bet is placed that the bettor isn’t delinquent on child support payments, under an approved amendment by Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.
A proposed bill, HR-2267, aimed at licensing Internet gambling activities may not be the best way to protect some consumers, said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., author of the bill, during a House Financial Services Committee hearing. “This is a ban on all activity and it’s not an effective way to protect children,” he said. With HR-2267, Congress can legalize Internet gambling and consumers can have protection “that they're not currently getting on Internet sites that are overseas,” said Rep. John Campbell, R-Calif. The bill can also “provide economic growth in this country by making sure that these legal gambling operations are located and cited here.” During his testimony, Michael Fagan, a law enforcement consultant, cautioned against any action that would expand Internet gambling in the U.S. It would be irresponsible to take any steps toward expanding the availability of Internet gambling “before first directing and funding the DOJ and/or the states’ attorneys general to enable a coordinated, systematic approach to enforcing existing laws prohibiting and taxing such conduct,” he said. Enacting HR-2267 could resolve compliance problems faced by credit unions that try to comply with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), said Discovery Federal Credit Union President Ed Williams. “By registering Internet gaming businesses, the legislation provides safe harbor for financial institutions to make payments to these federally registered sites without any risk of violating UIGEA.” There’s likely to be universal agreement among American Indian tribes “that if Internet gaming were to be permitted, Indian tribes must have the ability to participate on a level playing field with other gaming interests,” and the gains the nations have made under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act must not be endangered, said Lynn Malerba, chair of the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut. The tribe supports the bill, but it must be enhanced, she said. The provisions should “make it clear that tribal governments and tribal gaming facilities should be clearly authorized to operate Internet gaming sites.” The bill doesn’t expand gambling, but “simply provides the appropriate government safeguards to an industry that currently exists and continues to grow,” said Annie Duke of the Poker Players Alliance. American poker players want to “play on sites licensed in the U.S., which will provide even greater consumer protections for the player and yield badly needed tax revenue for state and local governments.” The Commerce Casino in California opposes the bill as it’s currently written, said owner, Tom Malkasian. “The bill should be changed to require all facilities and personnel licensed under the Act to be physically located in the U.S,” he said.
Smith Bagley asked the FCC to order the Universal Service Administrative Co. to provide uncapped high-cost support to competitive eligible telecommunications carriers serving tribal lands. In a request filed July 6 and posted docket 08-71 Monday, it sought a declaratory ruling that the interstate access support (IAS) paid to incumbent local exchange carriers be reduced to reflect line losses. Smith Bagley said the commission included an exception of tribal and Alaska Native regions when it enacted a cap on high-cost support. USAC has said the exception applies only to the statewide cap on CETC high-cost support, not to the nationwide cap on IAS. The company said the cap costs it $900,000 per year and has caused it to delay construction on three new cell sites. It also said USAC isn’t reducing IAS payments properly. Price cap ILEC lines decreased by 22 percent since Q1 2008, but payments fell only 7 percent, it said. Reducing support would be in line with the commission’s goals to control the size of the fund and make available new support for broadband, the company said.