Regulators tell Jindal to act to save rural Internet grant
Feds say grant not on offer
State regulators Wednesday said they wanted the Jindal administration to do whatever was necessary — even if it requires the governor to personally ask President Barack Obama — to resurrect a federal funding grant that would extend high speed internet into rural areas of Louisiana.
Even as the five elected members of the Louisiana Public Service Commission pored over what to do about the loss of the $80 million grant from federal stimulus funds, an official with the U.S. Department of Commerce told The Associated Press that it’s too late, the money would be returned to the federal treasury.
The Commerce department withdrew the grant in October questioning whether the state could complete the plan before the 2013 deadline and whether the changes proposed by the Jindal administration met the goals of the program.
The money was to be used to lay about 900 miles of fiber optic cable needed for broadband internet services in rural portions of 21 parishes, many areas with sparse population.
Commerce Department Assistant Secretary Lawrence Strickling said in a statement to The Associated Press: “The Louisiana project, as originally submitted, promised great benefits to unserved and underserved areas of the state.
However, after the state determined it was unable to implement the original project plan and fell significantly behind schedule, it proposed major modifications to its original proposal without adequate technical and financial details and a viable schedule for completing the project.”
PSC Commissioner Foster Campbell, of Bossier Parish, said late Wednesday news that the Commerce department foreclosed any appeal underscored his call during the earlier hearing for Jindal to become personally involved. Campbell ran as a Democrat and lost to Jindal in the 2007 gubernatorial election.
“The governor needs to put his hat in his hand and ask the president’s help in rescuing this project,” Campbell said, adding that giving rural schools, hospitals and other institutions access to high speed Internet “is bigger than any partisan politics.”
Jindal’s press secretary, Kyle Plotkin, said the governor would not phone the president. Plotkin released a statement in Jindal’s name late Wednesday, which said, in part: “This grant called for a heavy-handed approach from the federal government that would have undermined and taken over private businesses.”
Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater, Jindal’s chief budget officer, testified to the PSC that the administration supports bringing broadband Internet coverage to rural areas but had a number of questions about how the program initially was put together.
In some areas, for instance, a government-run provider would have competed with privately-owned companies, he said.
Commissioner of Higher Education Jim Purcell, who took over organizing the project, said he and Rainwater’s office tried to involve private companies as well as public agencies, the way Arkansas did.
He said another big issue was that the engineering consultant hired to handle the early steps of the project failed to submit the necessary documents by the federal deadline.
Purcell told commissioners at the hearing that he thought the federal government would allow an appeal. Later in the day, he released a statement saying he was saddened that Commerce would not accept an appeal.
“We delivered an alternative plan that was more effective in its approach, saved money, met the deadlines and accomplished all of the goals of the grant,” Purcell stated.
“This morning we were led to believe that there was a chance for an appeal,” said PSC Chairman Jimmy Field, a Republican from Baton Rouge. “If that door is closed, then everything should be exhausted. … I would think he (Jindal) would do anything he could do.”
The PSC does not have regulatory authority over broadband but oversees some of the business activities of private communications companies that also do Internet business.
PSC Commissioner Lambert Boissiere, of New Orleans, said he wants the governor to get personally involved. A Democrat, Boissiere also represents parts of Baton Rouge.
“I am concerned because it appears we are putting special interests over the interests of schools, hospitals, small businesses and rural residents,” Boissiere said in a prepared statement.
PSC Commissioner Eric Skrmetta, a Republican from Metairie, wrote in an email late Wednesday, “The leadership of the governor can only serve to help express the unanimous request of our state’s leaders to have the Secretary of Commerce reconsider the cancellation of the grant. There is no reason why the action of a federal agency cannot be changed.”