Lawmaker: Broadband funds exclude Appalachia

Rural areas are slated to receive a lopsided amount of federal stimulus grants for broadband, but mountainous regions -- likewise short on broadband access -- are in danger of having grants withheld, according to Rep. Rick Boucher, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications. Boucher noted that in mountainous areas of his West Virginia home state, grant funding can be withheld because communities are near cities, even though they are cut off from easy broadband access by mountains. Boucher is conducting a hearing Friday on oversight of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act involving broadband access.

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