Monday, February 20, 2012
During his weekly video address, Senator Chuck Grassley explains why the Federal Communications Commission should provide documents about its preliminary approval of the LightSquared broadband project now that the agency has withdrawn its approval. Senator Grassley has been seeking full disclosure for nearly a year, arguing that the public's business ought to be public. He said he is seeking accountability for the way the FCC administers valuable spectrum space.
Click here for audio.
Here is the text of Senator Grassley's address:
Since last April, I've asked the Federal Communications Commission for documents related to the agency's decision to fast-track the LightSquared broadband wireless project, despite concerns of widespread interference with global-positioning system devices.
The agency has refused to provide any documents.
This week, the FCC withdrew the preliminary approval it gave to LightSquared saying it was because of interference with GPS devices.
The FCC's action seems to acknowledge the point I've been making since April. Prematurely granting a conditional waiver in a rush process is not the way to get the right result.
Now that the interference issue is settled, we need to find out more than ever why the FCC did what it did. The agency put this project on a fast track for approval with what appears to have been completely inadequate technical research. After all of this time and expense, still, no one outside of the agency knows why.
That's not the way the people's government should work. The public's business ought to be public. The FCC has backtracked on LightSquared. If we don't find out how and why the FCC failed avoid this controversy, then it will keep operating as a closed shop instead of the open, publicly accountable agency it should be.
