02/25/2014 01:30 PM Senate TRANSPORTATION

                  SB 177-REGULATION OF TOWERS                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
1:54:38 PM                                                                                                                    
CHAIR EGAN announced SB 177 to be up for consideration.                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
1:54:43 PM                                                                                                                    
DAVID SCOTT,  staff to  Senator Donald Olson,  sponsor of  SB 177,                                                              
explained  that  this  bill  is about  aviation  safety.  He  said                                                              
section  1 relates  to registering  and  marking of  communication                                                              
structures,  wind towers,  and extreme weather  towers (EWT)  with                                                              
the  Department of  Transportation and  Public Facilities  (DOTPF)                                                              
15 days before installation (now 20 days) if this bill passes.                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
1:57:13 PM                                                                                                                    
Tower owners  have to comply with  all federal laws  and standards                                                              
related  to  lighting,  painting  and visibility  of  the  towers.                                                              
Enforcement  is still  a question,  but he was  looking into  that                                                              
and  violators would  be punished  as  provided by  AS 12.55,  the                                                              
criminal code.                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
MR. SCOTT  said the  sponsor put  this forward,  because he  is an                                                              
active pilot  and feels  Alaska needs  standards for  construction                                                              
and marking of towers.                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
1:58:42 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR DYSON  said he was struck  by the fact that  towers aren't                                                              
required  to have  a strobe  light,  because of  all the  darkness                                                              
here.                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
MR. SCOTT said he would get an answer.                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR  DYSON said  he thought  there already  was existing  law,                                                              
maybe   federal,  about   transmission   towers   in  and   around                                                              
airstrips.                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
MR.  SCOTT said  that  was correct;  the FAA  has  purview if  the                                                              
towers are over 200 ft.                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
2:00:34 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR FAIRCLOUGH  said Anchorage  has a tower ordinance  already                                                              
and asked  if other  cities already have  local ordinances  and if                                                              
we had collaborated with them to know what is going on.                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
MR. SCOTT  replied that  he hadn't  talked to any  municipalities,                                                              
but he would reach out to them.                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR   FAIRCLOUGH  echoed   Senator   Dyson's  comments   about                                                              
possibly  working   with  existing   FAA  requirements.   She  was                                                              
concerned   about   the   costs  associated   with   marking   and                                                              
registering  having  noticed  that   it  would  cost  $120,000  to                                                              
upgrade a  wind project  that cost $120,000  to build.  They might                                                              
think about giving  people a period of time to  change rather than                                                              
penalizing them if they don't have everything done in one year.                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR EGAN  said Juneau now has  a prohibition on  construction of                                                              
towers  until the  city adopts  an ordinance  that regulates  cell                                                              
tower use and one of the main issues is lighting.                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
2:03:09 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR FRENCH said  everyone knows what a tower is,  but it might                                                              
need  a definition  to exclude,  for example,  buildings over  100                                                              
ft. in height.                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
2:03:51 PM                                                                                                                    
ROBERT  DAY,  Homer Electric  Association  (HEA),  Homer,  Alaska,                                                              
said he  thought SB 177 still  needed tweaking. In  his particular                                                              
business,  he was  concerned  that it  may  cause quite  a bit  of                                                              
expense  and for  utilities  throughout  Alaska.  HEA members  had                                                              
indicated  that most of  their towers  are less  than 100  ft. and                                                              
wouldn't fall  under this  bill, but the  towers that  feed Juneau                                                              
from  Snettisham,  for instance,  would.  He  said there  is  also                                                              
quite a body of  regulation from the FAA that  requires marking of                                                              
structures near airport facilities.                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
He was also  concerned that transmission towers  traversing remote                                                              
areas near  some small airport or  waterway could also  fall under                                                              
this bill.  It sounds silly,  but their transmission  towers carry                                                              
electricity but not  the kind of electricity that  is conducive to                                                              
powering signal  lights. So, placing  signal lights on  each tower                                                              
would be pretty  expensive and any kind of maintenance  would more                                                              
than likely  require an  outage on  that transmission  line, which                                                              
would cost a lot.                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
MR.  DAY  said he  was  more  concerned  over registering  50  ft.                                                              
structures  and keeping  them up  to date, because  many of  their                                                              
distribution  poles and  all of  their  transmission towers  would                                                              
fall under the 50  ft. regulation and that also  falls under "make                                                              
them  visible when  close to  the airport,"  for which  a body  of                                                              
safety rules and regulations already exists.                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
2:06:47 PM                                                                                                                    
He  said  the  requirement  for   registration  and  putting  that                                                              
information  on a public  web page  could fall  afoul of  critical                                                              
infrastructure  Homeland Security  rules  and that  they had  been                                                              
being a  "lot more  coy" about putting  information in  the public                                                              
area  about  electrical  systems   and  how  they  are  built  and                                                              
interconnected   since  9/11,  so   they  would  find   themselves                                                              
possibly in a position of obeying one law and breaking another.                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
For  marking  of guy  wires,  Mr.  Day  explained that  people  in                                                              
Alaska  often use  a  steel transmission  structure  that has  guy                                                              
wires on  both sides and  that would be a  lot of marker  balls if                                                              
they were  required to mark  all of them  from, say,  Bradley Lake                                                              
all the way into Soldotna Substation.                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
MR. DAY suggested  amending language to simply  exempt towers that                                                              
are primarily for  the transmission or distribution  of electrical                                                              
power, but he added  that putting a communication tower  on top of                                                              
an   electrical  transmission   tower   would   fall  under   this                                                              
legislation.                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
2:08:27 PM                                                                                                                    
JANE  DALE,  Alaska  Air  Carriers  Association,  Willow,  Alaska,                                                              
supported SB  177. She  appreciated the  comments of the  previous                                                              
speaker and  related that the FAA  does have requirements  for the                                                              
public to  submit notice of  proposed construction when  the tower                                                              
or obstruction  is greater than 200  ft. or within 2-4  miles of a                                                              
public use airport, in general, depending on its length.                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
She  said the  Federal Communications  Commission  (FCC) would  be                                                              
responsible   for   enforcement   on  communication   towers   and                                                              
statewide  and local  regulations  appear  to be  the  enforcement                                                              
tool for other obstructions.                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
MS. DALE  said they  support this bill,  because it  would provide                                                              
some predictability  in the  air space  for carriers and  aviators                                                              
statewide,   so  that  they   would  be   able  to  visually   see                                                              
obstructions  greater than 100  ft., day or  night, or  could look                                                              
up obstructions greater than 50 ft. in a registry.                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
2:10:27 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR DYSON asked  what the process is for  structures like this                                                              
to start  showing up on aeronautical  charts and how soon  it gets                                                              
done.                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
MS.  DALE responded  that not  every obstruction  is charted,  but                                                              
the FAA could best  address that issue. There are  towers that are                                                              
unmarked  and unlit  within close  proximity to  an airport,  some                                                              
within  the  approach of  an  airport,  and often  members  become                                                              
aware of  that only  after they  fly into an  airport and  see the                                                              
tower.                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR  EGAN said  he  used to  own radio  stations  and they  were                                                              
required to light  their towers and to file with  the FAA and NOAA                                                              
the name  of the  station and  the tower  height  to put on  their                                                              
charts.                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR DYSON  said NOAA  had made all  of their charts  available                                                              
on line  and real time  for nothing and  he was really  interested                                                              
in timeliness  for Alaska's  aviators. Aside  from that,  mariners                                                              
had been using years' old charts.                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
2:14:24 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR FAIRCLOUGH  asked at what height a small  plane travels in                                                              
Alaska and  if they  could consider raising  the elevation  of the                                                              
flight pattern to not have the infrastructure issues.                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR FRENCH, referring  to language on page 2, asked  if it was                                                              
the intent  to have four spherical  marker balls attached  to each                                                              
outer guy wire.                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
MR. SCOTT answered four balls per guy wire.                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR EGAN  remarked that  Juneau's Taku winds  would put  "a heck                                                              
of a drag on those guy wires."                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
2:16:24 PM                                                                                                                    
MAX  MCGRATH,  Enterprise  Technology Services,  Manager  for  the                                                              
State  of  Alaska  Telecommunication  System,  Anchorage,  Alaska,                                                              
said he was available to answer questions on SB 177.                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
2:17:04 PM                                                                                                                    
ERIC  ERIKSEN, Vice  President,  Alaska Electric  Light and  Power                                                              
(AELP),   Juneau,    Alaska,   wanted   to    exclude   electrical                                                              
transmission  towers from SB  177. He  acknowledged the  intent to                                                              
protect  public  safety, but  additional  unintended  consequences                                                              
may be exposed  without this exclusion. Implementing  this type of                                                              
marking  on transmission  towers  would  expose those  towers  and                                                              
their electrical  service to liability  issues and  endanger their                                                              
personnel  who are  maintaining  and implementing  the devices  on                                                              
the towers that are very remote and at high elevations.                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
2:18:29 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR  DYSON  said  he assumed  that  transmission  towers  were                                                              
already  operating under  strict rules  near established  airports                                                              
that  addressed the  issue of  aircraft  encountering power  lines                                                              
and asked what they are required to do now.                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
MR. ERIKSON  answered before  installing a  new structure  near an                                                              
airport the permitting  process has a review to  determine whether                                                              
additional  navigational   aid  markings  on  maps   or  structure                                                              
requirements  like lighting  are needed.  The requirements  lessen                                                              
the  farther away  you get  from  the airport.  For instance,  the                                                              
Snettisham  lines  went  through  FAA review  since  they  are  on                                                              
federal property  and they would place the  necessary requirements                                                              
on that line.                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
2:20:15 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR  DYSON observed  that every  transmission  line in  Alaska                                                              
that crosses a river has balls on it.                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
MR. ERIKSON said the Snettisham line does as well.                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR  DYSON asked  whose  responsibility it  was  to get  those                                                              
lines on the maps and charts.                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
MR. ERICKSON  said those lines had  been in existence for  quite a                                                              
while and  he wasn't  directly involved  in their permitting,  but                                                              
his  experience  in  permitting   similar  projects  was  that  he                                                              
provides the  information to  the entities that  then will  put it                                                              
on the maps and charts.                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
2:21:53 PM                                                                                                                    
BOB  HAJDUKOVICH,  President  and   CEO,  Era  Alaska,  Fairbanks,                                                              
Alaska,  said this  issue came into  his world  when they  started                                                              
seeing  a  proliferation  of  cell   towers  and  wind  generation                                                              
devices.  He explained that  meteorological  towers (MET)  are put                                                              
up in advance  of wind farms  to measure wind speeds  to determine                                                              
their viability.  They can  go up very  quickly and are  very thin                                                              
with invisible  wires. So,  there is an  MET concern in  the rural                                                              
areas along with  the proliferation of cell towers.   The FAA does                                                              
not require  towers below  200 ft.  tall to  be registered  and if                                                              
they  are   not  in   the  airport   environment  they   are  also                                                              
unregulated.                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
Era's concern is  that the most likely place to put  towers of any                                                              
sort is  near runways,  especially in  rural communities,  because                                                              
that's  generally  where  the power,  utilities,  maintenance  and                                                              
roads  are. Many  communities they  serve  might have  one or  two                                                              
roads that  go through  the entire  town and  so the most  obvious                                                              
place  to put  a  cell tower  or  wind generator  is  on the  path                                                              
towards  the runway.  Probably  most of  the  accidents that  have                                                              
happened in aviation  occur with low level  helicopter activities.                                                              
The average  height of carriers  going into airports  is generally                                                              
1500-2000  ft.  in  the  immediate   vicinity  and  goes  down  on                                                              
approach to  the runway, and  that is where  the FAA does  its job                                                              
of maintaining the  obstruction clearances to make  sure operators                                                              
have an angled glide path.                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
Generally, he  said Era is not  as concerned about  the approaches                                                              
to  airports  as  much  as  they   are  about  the  approaches  to                                                              
communities.  Private aviation  in  low weather  conditions  would                                                              
tend  to follow  roads -  like from  Fairbanks to  Anchorage -  as                                                              
opposed to looking  out the front window for  unmarked towers. So,                                                              
it's important  that the state engage  in registration of  all the                                                              
new activity around  cell towers and wind generators.  They knew a                                                              
lot  of stakeholders  would engage  in this  conversation and  the                                                              
electric folks had brought up some great points.                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
2:25:16 PM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR FAIRCLOUGH  said she served  on Alaska's  Renewable Energy                                                              
Advisory Board  that was permitting  23 projects now and  that she                                                              
would take  this information  to them  and maybe  get in  front of                                                              
this  issue   and  then  fix   the  cell  tower   problem  through                                                              
legislation.                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
MR. SCOTT said he would reach out to that board.                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR EGAN said SB 177 would be held in committee.