PAL

Over the past decade, the effort to expand the nation’s cellular telephone and fiber optic and broadband cable networks has resulted in a tremendous amount of development in the telecommunications industry. The most visible elements of this expansion are the telecommunication towers that have become a ubiquitous element of the nation’s landscape. Because the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) licenses these installations, each proposed tower facility is subject to review under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. The large number towers necessary to provide coverage throughout the country required a streamlined approach for addressing impacts to historic properties. Consequently, in 2004, the FCC, in consultation with the National Council of State Historic Preservation Officers (NCSHPO), Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPO), and other interested parties, developed programmatic agreements that establish the process by which the projects are reviewed in compliance with Section 106. Covering new and collocated telecommunication facilities, the agreements define the areas of potential effect (APEs) for the projects based on their size, and establish the procedures for consultation, project notification, historic property identification, and the assessment of project effects.

PAL provides the wide range of services necessary to comply with the FCC programmatic agreements for telecommunication facilities, as well as all other types of communication projects that require Section 106 review. These services have included:

• preparing Forms 620 and 621 in accordance with the FCC programmatic agreement
• SHPO/THPO consultation
• defining APEs for proposed project locations
• conducting archaeological and historic architectural studies to locate, identify, and evaluate properties within the established APEs that are listed or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places
• assessing direct and indirect impacts on historic properties
• archaeological monitoring of underground cable installations
• developing avoidance and mitigation strategies for projects that have the potential to impact historic properties