Broadband Infrastructure Solutions

"Continuing his efforts to improve broadband connectivity in rural America, Rep. Greg Walden (R-Hood River) led a hearing to examine legislation aimed at bridging the "digital divide" for rural communities across the country. The hearing, entitled "Closing the Digital Divide: Broadband Infrastructure Solutions," focused on bipartisan proposals to expand broadband infrastructure to underserved areas.

"If you want to talk about rural areas, my district would stretch from the Atlantic Ocean to Ohio. It is 69,341 square miles. I have places in my district where there is one person for every nine miles of power line," said Walden. "We live this gap every day and we are trying to close it. There are multiple ways to close it, but one of the best ways is to make sure we can expedite closing that gap through reforms in siting, targeting financial resources of ratepayers and the government to those areas that are underserved, and helping move this country forward to connectivity like we've never seen before."

During the hearing, Walden stressed the need to reduce unnecessary roadblocks to siting new broadband deployment projects in rural areas. Specifically, Walden raised concerns over the burdensome Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process that rural communities must complete before expanding basic broadband infrastructure on federal land."