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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 243 / Wednesday, December 22, 2021 / Proposed Rules
communications use program under the proposed rule. Administrative costs of the program under the existing regulations are covered by federal budget allocations; under the proposed rule, administrative costs of the program would be covered by revenues from the annual programmatic administrative fee for communications use authorizations i.e., payment for the annual cost of administering the program would be transferred from the Federal government to communications use authorization holders. Benefits, including programmatic modernization, efficiencies, and enhancements, are addressed qualitatively.
As of 2019, a total of 4,159 wireless and fiber optic cable communications use authorizations were held by 1,448
unique entities, including 765
businesses, 384 governments or agencies, 266 organizations, and 33
individuals or households. Of the 4,159
communications use authorizations, 3,715 were for wireless communication uses, and 444 were for fiber optic cable.
Based on an annual programmatic administrative fee of $1,400 per communications use authorization for wireless uses and $400 per communications use authorization for fiber optic cable, the Agency would collect a total of approximately $5.4
million annually from communications use authorization holders. The revenue generated from the annual programmatic administrative fee would cover the annual costs of administering the Agencys communications use program. Based on the costs of a more modernized, efficient, and enhanced program, annual programmatic administrative costs under the proposed rule are estimated to be $1.8 million greater than annual programmatic administrative costs under the current regulations. Assuming annual incremental costs of $1.8 million are constant over a period of 15 years, the present value of these costs is estimated at $18 million using a 7% discount rate and $22 million using a 3% discount rate. Providing present value costs using these assumptions is consistent with Office of Management and Budget Circular A4 implementing E.O. 12866
when there is uncertainty about discount periods.
The annual programmatic administrative fee would provide the funds necessary to support a more modernized, efficient, and enhanced communications use program.
Programmatic administrative fee revenues would be used to reduce the backlog of expired communications use authorizations; streamline implementation by fully staffing the
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program; enhance automated applications; improve internal and external outreach, including training for employees; fund the national billing team; conduct national oversight; and obtain or improve access to communications sites. The benefits from a more modernized, efficient, and enhanced communications use program funded by the annual programmatic administrative fee for communications use authorizations are expected to exceed the incremental annual programmatic administrative costs of $1.8 million per year.
The benefits that would be achieved under the proposed rule are consistent with the objectives E.O. 13821, Streamlining and Expediting Requests to Locate Broadband Facilities in Rural America 2018, which encourages Federal agencies to reduce barriers to capital investments, remove obstacles to broadband services, and more efficiently employ Federal resources. The benefits from implementation of the proposed rule would also be consistent with the goals of the 2020 Secretarial Memorandum to the Chief of the Forest Service, which directs the Agency to expedite broadband development on NFS lands to increase connectivity in rural America. The proposed rule is also required by section 8705 of the 2018
Farm Bill, which directs the Agency to charge an annual programmatic administrative fee for communications use authorizations to cover the Agencys costs to administer its communications use program. Section 8705 of the 2018
Farm Bill, as amended, authorizes the Agency to retain and spend programmatic administrative fee revenues.
Costs associated with potential loss of other resources or environmental goods and services foregone by the presence of communications uses on NFS lands opportunity costs are assumed to be no different and could be lower under the proposed rule compared to baseline administrative conditions.
Requirements to identify and mitigate environmental impacts from communications uses through National Environmental Policy Act compliance and Agency land management planning would remain unchanged under the proposed rule. More modernized, efficient, and enhanced program administration supported by the annual programmatic administrative fee charged under the proposed rule would provide greater opportunities to ensure environmental and resource protection.
Average annual programmatic administrative fees incurred by communications use authorization holders are projected to range from
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$3,400 to $4,800 per entity, given that a single entity often has more than one authorization. There is potential for existing or future customers to alter their decisions about obtaining a communications use authorization in response to the cost of the annual programmatic administrative fee or anticipated benefits e.g., time-valued revenue gains. However, the effect of these disincentives and incentives on decision making is likely to be small or hard to measure in comparison to the magnitude of other operating costs or expenditures, annual revenues, or other market factors affecting management and investment decisions. In many cases, a decision to pursue a communications use authorization is also driven by the comparative operating advantages of locating communications uses or facilities on NFS lands versus locating them on nonNFS lands. The proposed rule is therefore not expected to trigger significant changes in the number of communications use authorizations or the output of communications services under those authorizations. Economic or distributional impacts i.e., changes in jobs and labor income of communications use authorizations are likewise not expected to be significant.
Congressional Review Act Pursuant to Subtitle E of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 known as the Congressional Review Act 5 U.S.C. 801
et seq., OIRA has designated this proposed rule as not a major rule as defined by 5 U.S.C. 8042.
National Environmental Policy Act The proposed rule would establish procedures for charging an annual programmatic administrative fee for communications use authorizations to cover the costs of administering the Agencys communications use program.
Agency regulations at 36 CFR
220.6d2 73 FR 43093 exclude from documentation in an environmental assessment EA or environmental impact statement EIS rules, regulations, or policies to establish Service-wide administrative procedures, program processes, or instructions. The Agency has concluded that the proposed rule falls within this category of actions and that no extraordinary circumstances exist which would require preparation of an EA or EIS.
Regulatory Flexibility Act Analysis Consistent with the Regulatory Flexibility Act RFA, 5 U.S.C. 602 et seq., as amended by the Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Enforcement
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