Vermont FiberConnect Receives Key Environmental Approval to Begin Construction

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) recently issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the Vermont FiberConnect (VFC) project.  As a requirement of the project, 70% funded by the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), Sovernet Fiber Corp. conducted an environmental assessment which resulted in the FONSI. The project will be constructed on existing utility poles and will therefore have relatively little environmental impact. The issuance of the FONSI will allow Sovernet to begin construction activities on the project.

BTOP, a program administered by the NTIA and funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), supports the deployment of broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas of the United States and its Territories. As a condition of receiving BTOP grant funding, recipients must comply with all relevant Federal legislation, including the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). Specifically, NEPA limits the types of actions that the grantee can initiate prior to completing required environmental reviews. Some actions may be categorically excluded from further NEPA analyses based on specific types and scope of work to be conducted. For projects that are not categorically excluded from further environmental review, the grant recipient must prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA) that meets the requirements of NEPA. After a sufficiency review, NTIA may adopt the EA, use it as the basis for finding that the project will not have a significant impact on the environment, and FONSI.

Vermont FiberConnect (VFC) is a new 770 mile fiber optic communications network.   It will be a network, designed to provide wholesale data transport services to other service providers such as Internet Service Providers, telecom companies and cellular companies. In keeping with the Broadband Technologies Opportunity Program (BTOP) grant that funds the project, VFC is also designed to provide high-capacity connections to specific “community anchor institutions” such as K-12 schools, libraries, colleges, state government offices, public safety communications networks. The project will provide data transport service at speeds up to one gigabit per second to institutions, businesses, local broadband service providers, and cellular operators. With the issuance of the FONSI, construction on the project will begin in 2011, and is scheduled to be completed by June 2013.