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65 <br />Three factors influence bird tower mortality. First, lit towers over 200 feet in height <br />attract migrating birds, particularly if the structure uses red strobe warning lights with a <br />short, regular pulsing rate. Secondly, electromagnetic towers emit energy in the <br />microwave spectrum, which may disrupt migrating bird's ability to navigate at night, by <br />creating force fields and resonating with avian magnetite, the bird's internal navigation <br />system There may be a trade off between lesser tower heights, which increase human <br />exposure to electromagnetic radiation, and greater tower heights, which increase <br />migratory bird exposures. Finally, the towers pose a physical obstacle in which birds can <br />become entangled or into which they may collide. <br />Piedmont is addressing the issues by first using white strobe lights on the tower and <br />shielding the lights from below instead of using the red strobe lights. Second, the <br />electromagnetic energy level will be well within the FCC peak power limits. The FCC <br />regulations limit power output to 1,640 watts and this tower will have a peak output of <br />less than 160 watts. Therefore, this should help to eliminate the disruption of the birds <br />ability to navigate at night by generating a lower level of electromagnetic fields. Finally, <br />Piedmont has proposed a self - supporting tower, which will eliminate the need for any <br />guy wires. This will eliminate the amount of clutter in the air and'should reduce the <br />number of contacts with this structure when compared to a similar tower that has guy <br />wires. <br />The tower is not in a wildlife habitat, wetlands, or natural resource corridor. There is also <br />minimal disruption of the natural habitat since the only additional area to be cleared is for <br />the tower itself The existing communication building will be used for the new tower. <br />The tower can accommodate up to 5 antenna arrays and no additional on ground security <br />lighting will be added. <br />Let me know if you have an ditional questions. <br />Robin W. Blanton, PE <br />Manager of Engineering <br />Piedmont EMC <br />