Federal Communication Commissioners Michael Copps and Mignon Clyburn continue to be heroes for the public in the fight to protect the Internet.

At today’s FCC meeting to release a Notice of Inquiry asking for public comment on the best legal framework for restoring the agency’s authority over broadband access, Copps was clear about what the FCC should do: “We need to reclaim our authority.” The NOI is a crucial step toward ensuring the FCC has the ability to carry out the its National Broadband Plan which aims to bring fast, open and affordable Internet access to all Americans.

Watch his testimony:

After a federal court ruled that the FCC did not have legal authority to oversee broadband under its current regulatory framework, the Commission announced in May that it would reclassify aspects of broadband under Title II of the Communications Act. The case put the FCC’s Net Neutrality proceeding and the National Broadband Plan at risk, and the NOI released today is the not the power grab the industry claims, but rather the FCC’s “Third Way” approach to regain broadband oversight.

Since the announcement, industry groups have pounced on the FCC and Congress, pulling out every trick they can to derail reclassification. In today’s speech, Copps responded to companies’ assertions that they can be trusted to oversee themselves:

I, for one, am worried about relying only on the good will of a few powerful companies to achieve this country’s broadband hopes and dreams. We see what price can be paid when critical industries operate with unfettered control and without reasonable and meaningful oversight. Look no further than the banking industry’s role in precipitating the recent financial meltdown or turn on your TV and watch what is taking place right now in the Gulf of Mexico.

Clybrun also called out the misinformation campaign industry groups are waging to calling the efforts attempts to “stifle at all costs our ability to engage in reasonable and productive discussion about these pressing issues.” She continued, “Indeed, it appears that we are a long way from a sincere debate on the merits of these proposals. There is, I believe, a great deal of misinformation being disseminated, which is creating misplaced anxiety.”

Copps was particularly worried about what would happen to the National Broadband Plan and the FCC’s attempts to achieve universal Internet access if the agency does not have a strong legal standing to implement the plan. He said:

Our global competitiveness depends on this new telecommunications infrastructure. Broadband is not technology for technology’s sake—it is important because it really can be our “Great Enabler.” This is technology that intersects with every great challenge confronting our nation—improving energy efficiency, halting climate degradation, improving healthcare for all our citizens, educating our young (and our old, too), helping individuals with disabilities to realize their full potential, creating new public safety tools for first responders and opening the doors of economic and social opportunity for all. Broadband connectivity is about even more than that. Increasingly our national conversation, our news and information, our knowledge of one another, will depend upon access to the Internet.

Each of these challenges I have mentioned has a broadband component as part of its solution. None has a solution without this broadband component. Private enterprise must lead the way with investment and innovation in broadband, to be sure. But only when it is accompanied by visionary public policy and meaningful oversight can we ensure that broadband will get built out to places where business has no incentive to go. We can no longer afford digital divides between haves and have-nots, between those living in big cities and those living in rural areas or on tribal lands, between the able-bodied and persons with disabilities.

As the FCC considers the public comments that will surely be rolling in about the NOI, Copps warned that the industry groups will continue their attempts to deceive the public and Congress about reclassification. He said:

So beware of all the slick PR you hear, and remember that much of it is coming from lavishly-funded corporate interests whose latest idea of a “triple play” is this: (1) slash the FCC’s broadband authority; (2) gut the National Broadband Plan; and (3) kill the open Internet.

And Clyburn reassured the public that, “there is no effort, no matter how well-funded and coordinated, that will undermine my belief in” the FCC’s essential goals.

The FCC’s Third Way proposal presents a measured response to a problem created by a Comcast lawsuit: Without restoring its authority over broadband, the Commission won’t be able to bring broadband to rural and low-income Americans or promote policies that encourage innovation, creativity, free speech and job creation online. These are goals that we can all agree on, and we support the Commission’s effort – and Copps inspiring words – to achieve them by first establishing a sound legal foundation for its policies.