Federal Government Suspends Deployment of EAGLE-Net, Its Fifth-Largest BTOP Grantee

"NTIA has suspended the project and required EagleNet to stop work in order to address concerns about its adherence to environmental and cultural resources requirements,” BTOP Program Director Anthony Wilhelm told us in a statement. “Our expectation is that EagleNet will resolve these issues so that the project can quickly resume and continue to deliver broadband benefits to communities statewide.”

Wilhelm praised the grantee’s “considerable progress in achieving its objectives to construct a statewide high-speed broadband network to connect schools and libraries across Colorado” but noted NTIA’s commitment to program oversight and “stewardship of taxpayer dollars.” EAGLE-Net is designed to provide “1,600 miles of terrestrial fiber and 3,000 miles of microwave wireless broadband expanding services across each of Colorado’s 64 counties,” NTIA said in its grant description online.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) sent the suspension letter to EAGLE-Net. The grant was placed “under a Corrective Action Plan” Aug. 9 due to “certain programmatic and financial issues,” said Arlene Simpson Porter in the letter (http://xrl.us/bn5b54). NTIA and NOAA received EAGLE-Net’s response to inquiries Sept. 14 but it “raised additional concerns” about a failure to “consult with NTIA in advance of its new network design,” according to the letter. It’s in “material noncompliance with the terms and conditions of its award” and its documents on recent changes show “deficiencies,” Porter told EAGLE-Net Vice President-Operations Perry Movick. The letter raised four concerns: compliance with the original environmental assessment terms; completion of consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as well as with the State Historic Preservation Office and “appropriate federally recognized Native American tribes”; and demonstration that the project received the necessary permits required from other federal agencies.

The suspension is unrelated to charges of EAGLE-Net overbuilding, an NTIA spokesperson told us. Multiple telcos and officials raised that charge earlier this year, which led to NTIA visits with concerned parties in September (CD Sept 27 p6). Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., as well as local broadcaster Jeremy Jojola tied the suspension to the overbuilding allegations, which Gardner showcased in a video he uploaded Friday (http://xrl.us/bn5b65). The grantee has strayed from the environmental assessment (EA) plan it had submitted to the federal government earlier in the grant process, the NTIA spokesperson said. “NTIA issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) and authorized project construction,” the spokesperson said in an email. NTIA granted that finding July 28, 2011. NTIA then learned the grantee “constructed on routes not analyzed in the original EA or described in the FONSI” and “requested further clarification on the routes” and “did not receive an adequate response,” the spokesperson explained. An EAGLE-Net spokesman affirmed that the suspension was separate from the overbuilding charges and reaffirmed the grantee’s commitment to complying with NTIA and providing any necessary documentation.

EAGLE-Net said in a Friday statement “our current customers and community anchor institutions will not be impacted.” Construction was “already winding down for the 2012 build schedule” and “non-construction related operations will not be affected,” it said. “To fulfill NTIA’s requests, we have been and will continue to provide updated project information to finalize all compliance requirements,” the grantee said. “EAGLE-Net is working diligently to get construction started as soon as possible.” The project was scheduled for completion Aug. 31, 2013.

It’s been racing to finish the three-year grant in two years due to the environmental assessment process, which took about a year, spokeswoman Gretchen Dirks told us earlier this year. EAGLE-Net’s Q3 report, posted to NTIA’s website at the beginning of December, affirms the delay of this process when noting the project is 55 percent complete, short of the projected 87 percent completion. The actual completion rate is about 66 percent, the report added, when taking full account of the billing. It has 527 subscribers now, that Q3 update said. The project has created 203 jobs as of the third quarter of 2012, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act website showed (http://xrl.us/bn5b56). EAGLE-Net released 12 press releases Nov. 14 and 15 showing the endorsement of many Colorado boards of education and school districts.