Today, across the state and around the world broadband is changing the way we live our lives, allowing us to stay close with friends and family near and far and have access to limitless information sources at the click of a mouse. Broadband has the opportunity to open doors, to develop our businesses, and connect us in innovative ways- which is why expanding broadband service to all areas of southern West Virginia remains one of my highest priorities.

Likewise broadband has the potential to be a transforming technology for rural America, allowing communities in southern West Virginia to enhance the quality of life for its citizens, creating opportunities for wider and better access to information, education and healthcare resources, and job training and skills development.

Broadband access removes barriers for businesses large and small. From the small shop owner who wants to sell her famous Apple Butter or Blackberry Jam to residents in the next state, to a facility like the Greenbrier which is attracting world class Golf Tournaments and well known athletes from across the globe; it opens doors of opportunity for rural community-based businesses to become more competitive and efficient, while bringing resources for raising a family and living in a rural community.

Over the past nine years I have been working with many of my colleagues in the House of Representatives to enact legislation to support broadband initiatives and help rural communities get broadband up and running. This means working with both private and public entities and supporting diverse technologies such as DSL, wireless, broadband over power lines, and hybrid fiber/coax systems.

Congress authorized a Broadband pilot program in 2000 through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural  Development which initially established a $100 million loan program to rural communities with up to 20,000 residents. The current USDA Rural Development Broadband Program was established by the 2002 Farm Bill and has approved 70 loans in 40 states, totaling over $1.22 billion to serve 1,263 communities with a total of 582,000 household subscribers across the United States.

More recently, the Recovery Act appropriated $7.2 billion and directed the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) to expand broadband access to un-served and underserved communities across the Nation to increase jobs, spur investments in technology and infrastructure, and provide long-term economic benefits.  The result is the RUS Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) and the NTIA Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP).

BIP will make loans and grants for broadband infrastructure projects in rural areas. BTOP will provide grants to fund broadband infrastructure, public computer centers and sustainable broadband adoption projects.

Although these new programs have great potential for developing broadband in our region, some government provisions could prevent funding from being available. Certain rural communities within a 50-mile radius of urban centers would not be considered “remote” and therefore would not be eligible for full federal broadband assistance funding. Areas without the “remote” distinction would only be eligible for up to 50 percent in BIP grant funding.

In response to these provisions, I joined with 42 Democratic and Republican Members of Congress on a letter to U.S. Cabinet Secretary Thomas Vilsack (Agriculture) and Secretary Gary Locke (Commerce), expressing deep concern and urging them to not adopt restrictions hindering the distribution of Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) and the Broadband Technologies Opportunities Program (BTOP) funds to projects in rural areas.

I strongly believe that creating an arbitrary distance away from urban centers is discrimination against small rural communities such as those in southern West Virginia, and it cannot stand. We must protect our rural communities and ensure Recovery Act funding is distributed appropriately, and as congress had intended.

I will continue to push for broadband accessibility for all West Virginians but insist that the federal investments and provisions for broadband development address the realities of the communities and its citizens who desperately need and can highly benefit from access to the tools of the 21st Century.

 U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV) represents West Virginia’s 3rd District

For more information contact Diane Luensmann (202) 225-3452