[TowerTalk] Fwd: Fwd: New FAA regulations affecting towers

[Roger (K8RI) on TT]

1st, this "legislation" was brought about by lobbying after the 
aforementioned collisions with meteorological towers. The tower heights 
were presented in the light that the companies using the towers were 
doing things on the cheap by taking advantage of the 200 ft "loophole" 
in the "regulations". The interested parties presented the tower users 
in the most negative light they could use.

Please note: This is legislation has the power of law directing the FAA 
to enact specific regulations. Plus it gives the FAA the power to add to 
the rules, not subtract.  The FAA "may" choose to add reason to the 
regulations with help from the ARRL. Lets hope so, but these regulatory 
agencies are becoming highly politicized and do their best to please 
their masters. Just look up the FCC and "Light Squared Vs GPS" with 
retiring FCC personnel going directly to light squared.
Congress makes laws, regulatory agencies are required to follow laws, 
not that has reigned in either the executive, or regulatory branches of 
the past few administrations. 
http://www.forbes.com/sites/fredcampbell/2015/08/31/fccs-lightsquared-scandal-another-solyndra-in-the-making/#33f6425472b6 
Each one has seemed to be testing how far they can push the boundaries

One correction, farm land is farm land, whether it's in a soil bank in, 
or out of production, who or how it is owned. There is range land, 
pasture and crop land, but in most states they are all a form of farm 
land.  The Western states may and probably do handle open range land 
(public/govt land leased by the ranchers) differently.

This area is mostly wood land with some parcels of farm land. Most of 
this soil is not suitable for cash crops, so much of what exists is used 
to raise silage rotated with beans or Hay to put the nutrients back in 
the soil.  There is a pig farm about a half mile to the E of us. 
Thankfully the prevailing winds are from us to them, but not always.  I 
never knew that "stuff" could spoil until Europe exported the "Honey 
Wagon" to the states.  They only have 24, or 48 hours to work it in, but 
there is no doubt which way the wind is blowing.  Real farm land starts 
pretty much with the Southern border of Midland County.  Just look it up 
on Google Earth

Much of lower Michigan including the Saginaw Valley ( a more 360 sq 
miles) is covered by a huge network of drainage ditches. (10' wide by 8 
or 10 feet deep) that require constant dredging to keep them 
operational.  Without them this entire area would revert to wetlands.  
Wet lands? It'd be an everlovin swamp.  Under today's rules, none of 
this land could be developed into farm land.

I was raised on that flatland and still own what is left of the old 
family farm.

Unfortunately, MOST of the crop land in lower Michigan will revert to 
"wetlands" if not properly taken care of. Plants and grasses that define 
the land on which it grows as wet lands.  Just three miles from me there 
was a small farm of 60 to 100 acres.  The county redid the road that 
borders his land on two sides.  In doing so, they cut the major drainage 
pathways for excess water, rendering the land unsuitable for what little 
it did produce.  By the time he managed to get the state and feds 
involved, those plants had sprouted resulting in his land being 
immediately labeled, wetlands, preventing anyone from doing anything to 
change that.  Now, the farm land he had planned on subdividing for 
retirement can not even be properly drained.  It's just a big swamp!

Even if your neighbors on 3 sides have the same land, if it has not 
reverted, they will usually leave them alone.  I forget the family's 
name or state, but there is a prime example where their neighbors on 
either side have the same soil, the same frontage on a lake, and the 
same drainage.. All permits were obtained ahead of time including 
federal, yet after they had done considerable work and spent a lot of 
money, the feds *_changed their minds_* and are leveling huge fines per 
day that the land is not put back into pristine shape. IOW the feds 
changed their friggin minds after giving their blessings and letting 
work proceed.

So how this turns out depends on how much the FAA will listen to the 
ARRL and IF they have the will and the leeway to exempt ham towers.

73

Roger (K8RI)


On 7/18/2016 Monday 1:24 AM, Larry Loen wrote:
> Another interesting consideration is that a lot of this out of town
> property is likely to be _zoned_ agricultural.  An interesting distinction
> for regulators and lawyers to consider.  A lot of farm land is in various
> land banks and so on, so it isn't necessarily the case that you can spot a
> farm or its land simply by looking for crops even before we consider
> grazing land.
>
> I would not try such an interpretation on my own without spending a few
> bucks on some learned counsel.  But, depending on how the regulations shake
> out, it might matter.
>
>
> Larry WO7R


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