PEER Sues National Park Service for Disclosure of Wi-Fi, Cell Tower Records in 3 Parks

The public interest organization, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), sued the National Park Service (NPS) under the Freedom of Information Act Tuesday to compel the agency to disclose records related to Wi-Fi or cellular proposals and installations across three parks that are “now between three months and three years overdue,” said the Tuesday complaint (docket 1:23-cv-03690) in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

PEER submitted FOIA requests to NPS for records detailing wireless communications facility proposals and installations in Glacier, Zion and Bryce Canyon national parks, it said. NPS’ failure to provide the advocacy group with the requested records and its failure to make a final determination on PEER’s various FOIA requests within 20 working days “are violations of FOIA,” the complaint said.

PEER sought seven items in a request to NPS for Zion, including copies of SF-299 applications and required attachments such as photo simulations and drawings, before and after coverage maps, applicants' buildout plans and copies of applications received since Jan. 1, 2015, the complaint said.

The organization also requested Zion’s written responses to wireless companies for each SF-299 application; National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliance documents prepared for any cellular or Wi-Fi proposal in Zion; National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) compliance documents prepared for cellular or Wi-Fi proposals in the park; copies of all rights-of-way (ROW) permits issued from Jan. 1, 2015, to the present; records created during that period pertaining to proposed wireless facilities in the park, including emails, attachments, meeting minutes, phone messages and memos; and records documenting the quality of cell phone coverage in Zion vs. coverage prior to installation of the latest cell tower in the park, it said.

NPS never responded or provided a tracking number to PEER’s first FOIA request to Zion on July 9, 2020; PEER submitted a second request July 28, 2023, superseding the first, and NPS gave it tracking number DOI-NPS-2023-05782, said the complaint.

NPS provided “no responsive records” to PEER’s Oct. 7, 2020, FOIA request for Glacier National Park, which was assigned tracking number DOI-NPS-2021-000138, the complaint said. PEER sought similar SF-299, NEPA and NHPA materials as in the Zion request, plus copies of ROW permits issued by NPS for cellular or Wi-Fi facilities in Glacier from Jan. 1, 2017, to the present.

Receiving no response, PEER submitted a second request on June 18, 2021, for the same material, with a request for “expedited processing” because Glacier National Park had “recently published a draft telecom plan, the public review period for which was set to close” in 24 days, the complaint said. Without the internal details of this proposal, the organization wouldn’t be able to submit “informed public comments and to properly inform the public” about the plan, it said. PEER also “reminded NPS that the agency had never provided any responsive records from PEER’s initial request in the fall of 2020.”

On June 29, 2021, Alison Yamato, NPS FOIA officer for Intermountain region, sent a “partial response” to PEER’s first Glacier National Park FOIA request, saying NPS was continuing to review documents and hoped to have them by the following week, the complaint said. The partial response comprised 286 pages, “released in full,” that were “scoping comments from the public from February-March 2020 and “only partially responsive” to PEER’s request, the complaint said. PEER received an email Oct. 19, 2021, denying expedited processing of its June request.

The following July, Yamato told PEER that NPS was still “winding through review,” the complaint said. On Dec. 9, 2022, Yamato updated PEER, saying its second request was “closed as a duplicate and we searched for additional records that would meet the new search criteria,” the complaint said. “This is being reviewed right now and I truly hope to get it out soon,” it said. About a year since that communication, “PEER has yet to receive the rest of the responsive records regarding Glacier National Park for this request,” the complaint said.

PEER’s March 21 FOIA request for Bryce Canyon National Park (BRCA) requested Verizon Wireless coverage maps the carrier submitted for a cell tower in the park, the complaint said. The FOIA request sought all comments BRCA received from the public following the release of an October 2019 environmental assessment, “Cellular Telecommunications Tower with Power and Fiber Optic Connection.” PEER believes there were over 400 comments, the complaint said.

PEER requested ROW permits issued by BRCA from July 2020 to the present related to the Verizon facility, which was activated in September 2022, according to park officials. The request covered any ROW permit issued to any wireless or cellular company, any fiber optic cable company, and/or any electric utility company, the complaint said.

NPS acknowledged it received the March 21 FOIA request on the same day it was sent and assigned it tracking number DOI-NPS-2023-003505, said the complaint. On July 17, PEER emailed Yamato about the request's status but “received no response,” it said. To date, "PEER has yet to receive any responsive records regarding Bryce Canyon National Park for this request,” it said.

PEER seeks a permanent injunction directing NPS to disclose to PEER “all wrongfully withheld documents"; requests that the court maintain jurisdiction over the action until NPS is in compliance with the FOIA and every order of the court; and seeks an award of attorneys’ fees and costs, the complaint said.