God, when will it end!!!
----- Forwarded by Scott Bolton/Enron Communications on 12/23/99 08:06 PM 
-----

	Kevin Kohnstamm
	12/21/99 10:00 AM
		 
		 To: Scott Bolton/Enron Communications@Enron Communications
		 cc: 
		 Subject: Qwest's construction problems


---------------------- Forwarded by Kevin Kohnstamm/Enron Communications on 
12/21/99 10:02 AM ---------------------------
From: Robb Justice on 12/20/99 02:00 PM

To: Scott Smith/Enron Communications@Enron Communications, Kevin 
Kohnstamm/Enron Communications@Enron Communications
cc:  

Subject: Qwest's construction problems


Fiber Optic Network Gets Hung Up on Indian Graveyard 
Posted December 20, 1999 04:00 AM PST 
California officials have slapped a stop-work order on one company's effort 
to wire the state with fiber optic cable, saying the project may be 
threatening traditional Indian burial grounds. Peter Allen, a lawyer for the 
California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), said Friday that Denver-based 
Qwest Communications International Inc.had been instructed to pull its 
construction teams from the field pending resolution of the issue.
"They need to show that they are following the proper procedures and not 
going through any actual Indian burial sites,'' Allen said. The stop work 
order was issued Thursday after local Ohlone Indians spotted a Qwest 
construction crew digging a trench near a well-known tribal burial ground in 
San Jose, California.
"They should have known it was there. It was a recorded site,'' Larry Myers, 
executive secretary of the state's Native American Heritage Commission, told 
the San Jose Mercury News.
The 1,000-year old graveyard was unearthed a decade ago, and has been called 
one of the most important ever found in northern California, providing 
valuable clues about the Ohlone diet, health and social structure long before 
the arrival of European explorers. While the construction crew was operating 
several blocks from the grave site itself, state officials generally consider 
such areas to be surrounded by a "sensitive area'' of up to half a mile 
because bones and artifacts can moved by underground streams and shifting 
soil.
For Qwest, the order means that construction and repair work must stop for up 
to two months in California, an important part of its 24,500 mile network of 
fiber optic cable around the United States. "We're trying to meet this 
aggressively and head on,'' said Qwest spokesman Matt Burkett, adding that 
the stop work order applied only to actual physical installations and would 
not effect the company's existing service.
"We want to be sensitive to whatever issues (Native American groups) have and 
get a resolution that is fair to everyone as soon as possible.'' As part of 
its moves to address the issue, Qwest asked an Ohlone activist to serve as a 
paid monitor at the San Jose construction site.
Allen said the order against Qwest was the latest in a series of actions 
against telecommunications firms which Indian heritage preservation groups 
say are flouting environmental laws and measure designed to preserve 
archeological sites. Other telecoms firms that have been hit with temporary 
stop work orders in the past include Level 3 Communications, Pacific Fiber 
Link and Metromedia Fiber Network , which have been asked to stop 
installation work for periods ranging from six weeks to six months.
Allen said the Public Utilities Commission was concerned that upgrade plans 
within the intensely competitive telecommunications industry could lead to 
more environmental and historical sites being endangered by rampant and 
unsupervised construction.
"There's a lot of competition and a lot of competitive pressure. A lot of 
people are out there building as fast as they can,'' Allen said. "It's tough 
to balance the need to meet the demand for this telecoms infrastructure with 
the need to do an adequate environmental review.''