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By GRAHAM JAEHNIG
Daily Mining Gazette
EAGLE RIVER -- In a Monday afternoon email from Pasty.net, General Manager Charlie Hopper responded to an article that was published in the August 18, 2023 edition of the Daily Mining Gazette.
"The hazard you referenced in the August 18 story was removed that morning (August 18)," Hopper reported. "The electricians installing the conduit required by the Board of Commissioners had several technical delays, but they completed the corrections on the same day the story was published."
The article Hopper referred to was that of the regular August meeting of the Keweenaw Board of Commissioners, during which Board Vice Chairman Del Rajala brought up the safety issue of an exposed electrical cable.
Rajala said at the meeting that there is a power line on the ground near the tower coming from an UPPCO pedistal feed, that had been chafed by a weed eater, lawnmower or other device, that left live electrical wires exposed, adding that he had mentioned it to Hopper several times over the past year.
Board President Don Piche added that he had said last month, prior to the July 19 regular Board meeting that he spoke with Electrical Inspector Ron Ekdahl about the hazard. Piche said Ekdahl told him that he had been in contact with the local company that was supposed to repair the issue. Ekdahl reported that the company communicated that its workers were scheduled to arrive the following week to repair it.
The Board passed the motion to place the approval under Unfinished Business for the September meeting until Pasty.net eliminates the hazard.
Hopper said in his email that repairs were completed and the electrical hazard has been eliminated.
Hopper also offered comment on the tower use agreement between Keweenaw County and Pasty.net.
"In many ways," Hopper said in his email, "the original wireless network started in 2001 in Keweenaw County was a joint effort by Pasty.NET, the Board of Commissioners, and our dial-up members who wanted broadband service."
Dial-up service, he said is long obsolete, and the time is coming when satellite and wireless will be made obsolete when fiber reaches every home and business.
Fiber optic technology transmits data by sending light along thin glass fibers. Fiber broadband or fiber internet is an internet service that is powered by fiber optic cables
"Grant funds for fiber in Keweenaw County have actually been awarded," said Hopper. "The recipients of the funding have made some progress toward that goal, but until it reaches our area, Pasty.NET is committed to safely maintaining and improving wireless broadband delivery in every way possible for the County's residents, businesses, school and government offices."
That was a topic Hopper discussed with the Board during its regular July meeting in 2022. Hopper told the board at the time that the area has been targeted with funding from the Rural Digital Opportunities Fund and his company has been in touch with companies involved with extending the fiber optic network to the western Upper Peninsula, including the Keweenaw.
The RDOF is an FCC initiative designed to inject billions of dollars into the construction and operation of rural broadband networks.
The fund is targeting rural areas across the country where residents currently lack access to adequate broadband and would deploy high-speed broadband to millions of rural Americans.
On June 16, 2023 Governor Gretchen Whitmer's Office announced that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration awarded a $61 million grant to Peninsula Fiber Network (PFN) to improve high-speed internet access for unserved and underserved communities across Michigan. The grant is being awarded with funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), and will help ensure Michigan residents have access to quality internet no matter where they live.