Re: SB 649 (Hueso): Wireless Telecommunications Facilities As Amended — OPPOSE
The National Association For Children and Safe Technology (NACST) works to educate the public and support public health policy to protect the safety, health, and well being of children and youth from radio frequency / microwave (RF/MW) radiation exposure originating from wireless technology and infrastructure. NACST opposes CA SB649 legislation based on health and agricultural science, with human and animal physical injuries and impairments, violation of federal and state laws, and violation of the powers of local government.
This is what will be on the power poles, and street light poles all over Fullerton, including the ones in your front and back yards.
It is essential that you vote NO on CA SB649 Wireless telecommunications facilities. This bill is an unnecessary taking of public funds and property values, alongside losses of public health and safety, and human and agricultural productivity. California has strong interest in protecting its economic base and residents’ and visitors’ freedom from physical injury and impairment. The 4G/5G Distributed Antenna System (DAS) would result in scientifically established hazardous radiation exposure with often immediate and therefore provable adverse effects, particularly immediate neurological and cardiologic effects.
CA SB649 involves telecoms installing powerful microwave radiation antennae, misleadingly called “small cells” to conceal their radiation power and concentration, on light poles and utility poles in the public right of way for 5G. Poles may be only 15-20 feet from homes and offices. Thousands of these antennae and large power supplies would be placed on residential blocks and farms, deploying radio frequency / microwave (RF/MW) radiation penetrating homes and bodies 24/7/365 forever.
Pulse-modulated RF/MW radiation, particularly this close to homes, offices and farm animals, is a “hazard”, as acknowledged by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and FCC in 1991 in the guideline-setting process.
Although proponents claim a financial bonanza from DAS 5G deployment, there is no evidence to support it. In fact, the Russians refused 5G as badly engineered (as also US engineers have admitted) and instead provided fiber optics, which works much better, to all homes and apartments in large cities. Furthermore, cell phones are a mature industry: everyone who wants a cell phone already has one, including California’s children and youth.
Health and agricultural science, and physical injury/impairments to human, animals, insects:
The Chair of the original FCC guideline Committee himself (John Osepchuk) acknowledges >20,000 scientific studies, with immediate, short-term and/or long-term adverse effects from RF/MW radiation.
5G RF/MW radiation has a 20-inch wave that penetrates the body deeply and is particularly harmful to babies and children. Four wavelengths, each 2-4 inches, are optimally absorbed by the human brain, heart, liver, thyroid, kidneys, and reproductive organs, impairing their functions. Effects include headaches, insomnia, tinnitus, heart arrhythmia, suppressed melatonin production (essential for sleep, productivity and the immune system), DNA damage and much more. The final ten simultaneous wavelengths of 1/10 to 1⁄2 inch target the eyes, ears and skin, and fall within the resonance of pollinating insects’ antennae, producing bee colony collapse. The U.S. National Institutes of Health, National Toxicology Program’s 16-year, $25 million study concluded in 2016 that cell phone RF/MW radiation causes cancer of the brain (glioma) and the heart (schwannoma). 5G radiation is even worse.
Incredibly, no monitoring of actual radiation emissions from 5G antennae in homes or public places is intended. The relevant FCC guideline was based in fraud from the start and has not been updated since 1996 to reflect current scientific knowledge. It does not protect against biological harm, and is based on a false absorption model of a doll head filled with water! It utterly fails to protect children whose brains are still developing and whose skulls are thinner than an adult skull. Studies show RF/MW radiation even less potent than 5G is harmful to every human, animal, insect and plant.
Proponents misrepresent the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (TCA) as preempting all state and local regulation of wireless facilities. State and local governances are preempted only from regulating the “placement, construction, and modification” of wireless facilities based on their “environmental effects”. Preemption includes neither health effects nor health science. Nor is regulation of operations preempted on any basis. State and local governments remain authorized and obligated to regulate every activity not preempted by TCA, and on every basis not preempted.
Violation of federal laws:
Allowance of any 5G wireless facilities would not only violate TCA, it would violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Federal Fair Housing Act. These laws guarantee equal access for all, but 5G would make public places and federal housing, not to mention all housing, uninhabitable for already injured, impaired and/or electromagnetically sensitive (EMS) persons. California says it requires compliance with ADA, but given 5G’s multiple simultaneous wavelengths, its intensities, and its 15-degree, near-maser (direct-energy weapon) arc of radiation concentration, compliance is impossible.
Massive industry liability shift to the State of California:
In the July 19, 2017 letter from attorney Harry Lehmann to Jennifer Galehouse, Deputy Chief Consultant, Assembly Appropriations Committee, Lehmann makes the point that SB 649 is an Appropriations matter. Furthermore, the letter documents incorrect data given by the Telecom industry in testimony and analysis of the shifting of the massive Industry liability to the State of California. Please see Mr. Lehmann’s letter here: https://ehtrust.org/law-letter-small-cell-bill-will-shift-liability-reasonably-result-bankruptcy-california-sb649/
The State of California must protect health, safety, agriculture and its own economy. CA SB649 would sacrifice it all, with resulting chronic health problems and loss of productivity by some degree to all Californians, right where they live and work, and the permanent loss of agricultural pollinators.
Time is running out for all Californians and demands that you, as our elected officials, oppose SB 649.
Sincerely,
Diane Hickey, California resident, Co-founder
National Association For Children and Safe Technology
[i] Sept. 2013 letter to FCC requesting reassessment of radio frequency exposure limits and policies
cc:
Martin Blank, Ph.D, Spokesperson, EMF Scientist Appeal
Mary Beth Brangan, Co-director, Ecological Options
Susan Clarke, Founder, Environmental Health Advocacy League (ENHALE)
Carolyn Coleman, Executive Director, League of California Cities
Devra Davis, Ph.D., Founder and President, Environmental Health Trust
Josh Del Sol, Director, Take Back Your Power
Victoria Dunkley, MD
Lennart Hardell, MD, Ph.D.
Zen Honeycutt, Founder, Moms Across America
Toril Jelter, MD
Olle Johansson, Ph.D.
Harry Lehmann
Ellen Marks, Director, California Brain Tumor Association
Joel Moscowitz, Ph.D., Center For Family and Community Health, UC Berkeley
Kevin Mottus
Martin Pall, Ph.D.
Ron Powell, Ph.D.
Cindy Russell, MD
Zonya Townsend, President, California Nurses For Ethical Standards
Scientists For Wired Technology
Center For Electrosmog Prevention
Southern Californians Against Smart Meters (SCASM)
Wireless Radiation Alert Network
Consumers For Safer Cellphones
Empower Family California
Electromagnetic Safety Alliance
Center for Safer Wireless
California Department of Public Health
Karen Smith, MD, MPH, Director and State Public Health Officer
Mark Starr, Deputy Director, Center for Environmental Health
Ali Bay, Deputy Director, Office of Public Affairs
Steve Woods, Division Chief, Division of Food, Drug & Radiation Safety
California Department of Food and Agriculture
Karen Ross, Secretary
Jim Houston, Undersecretary
Annette Jones, Director, Division of Animal Health and Food Safety Services
California Environmental Protection Agency
Linda Adams, Acting Secretary
Deborah Raphael, Director, Department of Toxic Substances Control
George Alexeeff, PhD, Acting Director, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment
#1 by Mccain got his own tower ten years ago on July 27, 2017 - 2:18 pm
Early in 2007, just as her husband launched his presidential bid, Cindy McCain sought to resolve an old problem – the lack of cellphone coverage on her remote 15-acre ranch near Sedona, Ariz., nestled deep in a tree-lined canyon called Hidden Valley.
Over the past year, she offered land for a permanent cell tower, and Verizon Wireless embarked on an expensive public process to meet her needs, hiring contractors and seeking county land-use permits.
Verizon ultimately abandoned its effort to install a permanent tower in August. Company spokesman Jeffrey Nelson said the project would be “an inappropriate way” to build its network. “It doesn’t make business sense for us to do that,” he added.
Instead, Verizon delivered a portable tower known as a “cell site on wheels” – free of charge – to the McCain property in June, after the Secret Service began inquiring about improving coverage in the area. Such devices are used for providing temporary capacity where coverage is lacking or has been knocked out, in circumstances ranging from the Super Bowl to hurricanes.
GRAPHIC: After a request from Cindy McCain, Verizon Wireless proposed installing a cell tower close to the couple’s home near Sedona, Ariz.
In July, AT&T followed suit, wheeling in a portable tower for free to match Verizon’s offer. “This is an unusual situation,” AT&T spokeswoman Claudia B. Jones said. “You can’t have a presidential nominee in an area where there is not cell coverage.”
Ethics lawyers said Cindy McCain’s dealings with the wireless companies stand out because her husband is a senior member of the Senate commerce committee, which oversees the Federal Communications Commission and the telecommunications industry. He has been a leading advocate for industry-backed legislation, fighting regulations and taxes on telecommunication services.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his campaign have close ties to Verizon and AT&T. Five campaign officials, including manager Rick Davis, have worked as lobbyists for Verizon. Former McCain staff member Robert Fisher is an in-house lobbyist for Verizon and is volunteering for the campaign. Fisher, Verizon chief executive Ivan G. Seidenberg and company lobbyists have raised more than $1.3 million for McCain’s presidential effort, and Verizon employees are among the top 20 corporate donors over McCain’s political career, giving his campaigns more than $155,000.
McCain’s Senate chief of staff Mark Buse, senior strategist Charles R. Black Jr. and several other campaign staff members have registered as AT&T lobbyists in the past. AT&T Executive Vice President Timothy McKone and AT&T lobbyists have raised more than $2.3 million for McCain. AT&T employees have donated more than $325,000 to the Republican’s campaigns, putting the company in the No. 3 spot for career donations to McCain, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
“It raises the aura of special consideration for somebody because he is a member of the Senate,” said Stanley Brand, a former House counsel for Democrats and an ethics lawyer who represents politicians in both parties.
McCain campaign spokesman Brian Rogers said that the senator is not a regulator and that Cindy McCain received no favors from Verizon or AT&T.
“Mrs. McCain’s staff went through the Web site as any member of the general public would – no string-pulling, no phone calls, no involvement of Senate staff,” Rogers said. “Just because she is married to a senator doesn’t mean she forfeits her right to ask for cell service as any other Verizon customer can.”
Verizon spokesman Nelson said. “I am not going to talk about individual customers and their requests.”
Verizon navigated a lengthy county regulatory process that hit a snag on environmental concerns (see document). The request ultimately prevailed when a contractor for the company invoked the Secret Service after John McCain secured the Republican nomination.
After checking with Verizon and the McCain campaign, Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren said an e-mail sent in May by the service’s technology manager could be perceived as a request for temporary coverage under the service’s contract with Verizon.
“This was something that was being addressed before we were out there,” Zahren said. The agency could have made do with existing cell coverage in the area, he said, because it uses multiple layers of communication, including a secure land radio network. Zahren said the contractor was not authorized to invoke the Secret Service in dealings with the county.
Documents that The Washington Post obtained from Arizona’s Yavapai County under state public records law show how Verizon hired contractors to put a tower on the property (see letter). At that point, many counted McCain out of the race.
On Sept. 18, 2007, a Mesa, Ariz., contractor working for Verizon surveyed the McCain property. Another contractor drafted blueprints (see document – note large file size) calling for moving a utility shed and installing a 40-foot tower with two antennas and a microwave dish, surrounded by a six-foot wooden fence.
Construction costs would be $22,000, records show. Industry specialists said the figure probably only covers the tower and fence because the antennas, the dish and power source would run the cost into the six figures. On Dec. 4, Cindy McCain signed a letter (see document) authorizing Verizon Wireless to act on her behalf to seek county land-use permits.
Coverage maps submitted by Verizon to the county show that the tower would fill gaps in unpopulated parts of Coconino National Forest and on about 20 parcels of land, including a handful of residences, and two small businesses open only by appointment. “We are not big cell phone users,” said neighbor Linda Kappel, who runs a small gift shop.
“It is a fairly sparsely populated in that pocket along Oak Creek,” said Kathy Houchin, the Yavapai County permitting manager.
Three telecommunications specialists consulted by The Post said the proposed site covers so few users that it is unlikely to generate enough traffic to justify the investment. Robb Alarcon, an industry specialist who helps plan tower placement, said the proposed location appeared to be a “strategic build,” free-of-charge coverage to high-priority customers. A former Verizon executive vice president, who asked not to be named because he worked for the company, agreed with Alarcon, saying, “It was a VIP kind of thing.”
Verizon spokesman Nelson declined to comment when asked if this had been considered to be a “strategic build.”
Cindy McCain signed a contract with Verizon on May 6 (see document), granting free use of her property for a year in exchange for “the benefits of enhanced wireless communications arising from operation of the Facility.”
Over Memorial Day, McCain hosted potential vice presidential running mates at the ranch, but the area still lacked coverage. Richard Klenner, then the wireless communications chief of the Secret Service, which had recently started providing protection, sent an e-mail to Verizon. “Is there any way of speeding up the process?” he asked, adding that he wanted Verizon to “explore every possible means of providing an alternative cellular or data communications source in the referenced area and provide any short-term implementation of any type as a solution in the interim.”
#2 by Anonymous on July 30, 2017 - 9:48 am
Senator John McCain’s glioblastoma diagnosis is proof positive that his cell phone gave him cancer. How much more proof do you need? Look what side of his head his tumor is on and look where it is is growing. Hardell’s findings supported warning labels at the very least. I fear most people will never act until it is far too late to do so. This bill is moving through the halls quickly.