Source: United States Senator for Oklahoma James Inhofe
U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) spoke on the Senate floor today and confirmed the bipartisan opposition of the April 2020 Ligado Order from the FCC, which would create devastating effects to public safety, national defense and everyday life, and urged his Senate colleagues to consider the Recognizing and Ensuring Taxpayer Access to Infrastructure Necessary for GPS and Satellite Communications Act of 2021—the RETAIN Act.
Click here to watch Inhofe’s full remarks.
As Prepared for Delivery:
I’m here today to share some important news about a key subject: Ligado.
After the Ligado Order was rushed through over the weekend in April of 2020, there was widespread disagreement, frustration-and frankly-outrage at the decision.
Quickly, 15 government departments and agencies signed a petition for reconsideration of the flawed decision with the FCC with the NTIA, or National Telecommunications and Infrastructure Administration because they manage federal spectrum.
When the new administration was sworn in this January, the petitions were still pending, so I got to work.
The NTIA is part of the Department of Commerce, so I spoke with Secretary Gina Raimondo ahead of her confirmation about the importance of continuing the petition for reconsideration. I also followed up with a letter.
I wanted to make sure that even with a change in administration, government departments and agencies still wanted to see the harmful order repealed.
Here is the breaking news – I just got a letter from Secretary Raimondo, confirming that “there has been no change to the Department of Commerce’s or NTIA’s opposition to the FCC’s Ligado Order.”
She also pledges that the NTIA will continue to pursue the petition for reconsideration—the petition that represents the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Interior, Justice, Homeland Security, Energy and Transportation – not to mention NASA, FAA and more.
This is huge. This shows, once again, that there is bipartisan concern about the Ligado Order that is continuing into the Biden administration.
It is not an exaggeration when I say that the Ligado Order would be devastating to public safety, our national defense and even our way of life.
The reliability of GPS and satellite communications is necessary for safety of life operations, national security and economic activity.
Here are some of the day to day activities that will be difficult when we’re experiencing GPS interference from Ligado.
A big one – using your credit or debit card. When you are making a purchase or using an ATM, our financial systems rely on GPS timing to work.
Another – making a phone call. Cell phone networks rely on GPS to synchronize cell towers so calls can be passed seamlessly. If they experienced interference, your call could drop when moving from tower to tower.
Here is one most people don’t expect: energy, whether that is filling up your tank at the pump or managing electrical grids to light our homes. We rely on GPS timing to safely operate underground pipelines and our electricity grid,
Farmers and ranchers depend on GPS and satellite communication when planting crops, applying fertilizer, and during harvesting operations to move large and critical machinery with precision.
Working out. A study last year found that one-fifth – 20 percent – of all Americans use a fitness tracker or smartwatch, the majority of which use GPS to count steps and track distance.
Taking a flight. Commercial and civil aviation rely on GPS navigation and satellite communications to operate safely.
Driving around. Each day, countless Americans rely on Google Maps, Waze, Apple Maps, or any of the other navigation systems to get them from point A to point B.
And, while no one hopes they ever need a fire truck, ambulance or other emergency services – 9/11 operators and EMS use GPS and satellite communication to locate a caller and navigate as quickly as possible. We know in these instances that every minute is critical.
There is more: weather forecasting; the movement of goods on our highways; surveying maritime harbors and channels; operation of construction and mining equipment—the list goes on and on.
Because the FCC Order allows Ligado to repurpose spectrum to operate a terrestrial-based network, Ligado signals on Earth’s surface will be much more powerful than GPS, causing substantial and harmful interference.
How do we know that Ligado will cause interference? The FCC told us when they approved the Ligado Order.
The FCC said: “Ligado shall expeditiously repair or replace as needed any U.S. Government GPS devices that experience or are likely to experience harmful interference from Ligado’s operations.”
That alone should be enough to overturn the Order – but if not, we need to make sure federal agencies, state governments and all others negatively impacted by the actions of Ligado are not left holding the bag when it comes to costs – and worse, aren’t put in the position where they have to push the costs onto American consumers.
That’s why I introduced legislation, the Recognizing and Ensuring Taxpayer Access to Infrastructure Necessary for GPS and Satellite Communications Act of 2021—the RETAIN Act to do just that.
Just last week, companion legislation was introduced in the House by Reps. Jim Cooper, Mike Turner, Frank Lucas, GT Thompson, Ken Calvert, Nadia Velazquez, Abigail Spanberger, and Don Beyer.
As of last week we have more than 100 organizations who signed a letter of support for the RETAIN GPS Act to hold Ligado accountable for the interference they cause.
Clearly, the momentum is with us – and the letter from Sec. Raimondo I announced today is a great example of that.
That’s why I am going to keep fighting – but today’s announcement is a big step for the good guys.