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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 243 / Wednesday, December 22, 2021 / Proposed Rules facility. Section 8705 of the 2018 Farm Bill, as amended, also authorizes the Agency to retain and spend annual programmatic administrative fee revenues to cover the costs of the Agencys communications use program.
The proposed rule would implement the statutory requirement to charge an annual programmatic administrative fee for communications use authorizations to cover the costs of administering the Agencys communications use program.
Current Forest Service regulations at 36 CFR part 251, subpart B, govern the processing of special use applications and issuance of special use authorizations for uses of NFS lands, including communications uses. Forest Service Handbook FSH 2709.11, Chapter 90, provides direction for communications use management, including processing of communications use applications and administration of communications use authorizations. The following is a description of the proposed regulatory and directive revisions needed to comply with section 8705 of the 2018
Farm Bill.

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Proposed Revisions to Existing Regulations Section 251.54g5 of the Agencys current regulations sets forth the Agencys procedures for authorization of a special use. The Agency proposes to implement section 8705c3B of the 2018 Farm Bill by adding a new subparagraph to 251.54g5, which governs the issuance of special use authorizations. Consistent with section 8705c3B, new paragraph g5iii would require that an annual programmatic administrative fee be charged for communications use authorizations to cover the costs of administering the Agencys communications use program.
Section 8705f4 of the 2018 Farm Bill provides that programmatic administrative fee revenues are to be used to cover any costs incurred by the Agency in administering its communications use program, including but not limited to the costs of on-site reviews of communications sites, developing communications site management plans, hiring and training personnel for the communications use program, conducting internal and external outreach for and national oversight of the communications use program, and obtaining or improving access to communications sites on NFS
lands. This annual programmatic administrative fee would be in addition to land use fees assessed based on the fair market value of the rights and
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privileges granted by each communications use authorization, as provided for in existing regulations at 36 CFR 251.57. The Agency does not have authority to retain and spend the land use fees it collects for communications uses, which must be deposited into the United States Treasury. In addition, the Agency charges fees to recover the Agencys costs for processing communications use applications and monitoring compliance with communications use authorizations, as provided for in existing regulations at 36 CFR 251.58.
Cost recovery fees are charged to specific applicants for and holders of a communications use authorization to cover costs associated with processing their application and monitoring compliance with their communications use authorization. Neither of these existing fees covers the programmatic costs of administering the communications use program.
To meet the requirements of section 8705 of the 2018 Farm Bill, the Agency proposes to charge an annual programmatic administrative fee of $1,400 per communications use authorization for wireless uses such as television and radio broadcasting, cellular telephone, and microwave and $400 per communications use authorization for fiber optic cable. The annual programmatic administrative fee for authorizations for fiber optic cable would be lower because authorizations for this type of use have lower programmatic administrative costs, as explained below. These two programmatic administrative fees reflect the Agencys total estimated annual costs of administering its communications use program, allocated as deemed applicable by the Agency between communications use authorizations for wireless uses and communications use authorizations for fiber optic cable, and prorated to split the cost evenly among the authorizations of each type. This allocation and proration would provide for programmatic administrative fees for communications use authorizations that are equitable to the extent possible within the constraints of the 2018 Farm Bill, which requires the Forest Service to recover the programmatic administrative costs for its communications use program. The Agency will include in the rulemaking record documentation of the estimated costs upon which the $1,400 and $400
annual programmatic administrative fees are based. The two annual programmatic administrative fees would be updated annually based on the
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difference in the U.S. Department of Labor Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, U.S. City Average CPIU, from July of one year to July of the following year, rounded up or down to the nearest dollar. The Agency would review the two annual programmatic administrative fees no later than 5 years after the effective date of the final rule and at least every 5 years thereafter and would revise the fees as needed to ensure they continue to reflect the Agencys total estimated annual costs of administering its communications use program.
In the last decade there has been a significant increase in the volume, complexity, and types of communications uses in the United States, including on NFS lands.
Additional Agency personnel, improved efficiencies, and current technology are critical for meeting this increased demand for communications uses on NFS lands, as well as the Administrations goal of enhancing access to high-speed broadband on Federal lands. Per direction in the 2018
Farm Bill, the Agency would use the annual programmatic administrative fee revenues to cover the costs of administering its communications use program, including but not limited to the costs of on-site reviews of communications sites, preparation of communications site management plans, and program oversight and management. This includes reducing the backlog of expired communications use authorizations, streamlining program implementation, enhancing automated applications, hiring and training personnel for the communications use program, conducting internal and external outreach and enhanced training for employees, and obtaining or improving access to communications sites on NFS
lands.
Estimated costs for administering the Agencys communications use program are $5.4 million per year, equivalent to the total programmatic administrative fee revenues that would be collected using the proposed fee structure from existing communications use authorization holders as of 2019. The revenues would cover the personnel and other resource costs needed to administer a more modernized, efficient, and enhanced communications use program, thereby enhancing deployment of wireless and wired communications services.

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