Judge decides not to decide on cell tower backup power fiasco

What’s worse than a misguided new requirement that every cell tower have a backup generator? How about a judge who can’t decide how to rule on the appeal? Reacting in the “public interest” after hurricane Katrina, faceless FCC bureaucrats demanded that cell towers have backup generators. Never mind that if they had existed, the said generators would be under water in the areas that lost service during the hurricane, rendering them useless. The appeal to overrule the FCC should have been granted immediately.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday put off deciding on the wireless industry’s challenge to the regulations until the Federal Communications Commission gets preliminary clearance for the rules.

After a panel of experts appointed by the FCC pointed out that many cell towers along the Gulf Coast stopped working when they lost power during Hurricane Katrina, the agency proposed in May 2007 that all cell towers have a minimum of eight hours of backup power that would switch on in the event a tower lost its regular energy source.

The loss of power contributed to communication breakdowns that complicated rescue and recovery efforts during the 2005 disaster.

Wireless companies have said the regulations were illegally drafted and would present a huge economic and bureaucratic burden. In particular, they said, the thousands of generators or battery packs required would be expensive and local zoning rules or structural limitations could make installation impossible in some places.

The FCC agreed in October to exempt cell sites that a wireless carrier proved couldn’t meet the rules. The FCC would give companies six months to report on the feasibility of installing backup power and another six months either to bring sites into compliance or explain how they would provide backup service through other means, such as portable cellular transmitters. (Yahoo)