“Cell tower OK raises some health concerns” |
| Cell tower OK raises some health concerns Posted: 30 Sep 2010 01:12 PM PDT Staff Reporter September 30, 2010 On Tuesday, despite assurances from a cell phone company representative that the FCC continually regulates the amount of radiation emitting from cell phone towers, some Martinez Planning Commissioners questioned the safety of another tower going up in a residential neighborhood. However, in the end the Commission approved the application. Associate City Planner Anjana Mepani said Wednesday she did not know when construction of the new facility would begin. "Is this something the City is concerned about … looking at the potential effects on the surrounding neighborhood with regards to health?" asked Commissioner Rachel Ford. "We are always concerned about these types of issues for our citizens. We as a staff have to look to the FCC's reports … and things that are required for the applicant … and as long as they meet their specifications, there is no additional studies … that the City can impose," replied Planning Manager Terry Blount. Buried near the end of the 128-page federal 1996 Telecommunications Act is the mandate that no state or local government can prohibit, based on health concerns, cell phone companies from erecting wireless facilities wherever they chose. Moreover, local jurisdictions can't stonewall such "requests for authorization," as long as the facilities don't emit more electromagnetic radiation than what the FCC says is safe. The FCC established those safety guidelines in 1997, when cell phones were nowhere near as powerful as they are today and infrequently used. Section 704 of the Telecommunications Act stipulates, "No state or local government … may regulate the placement, construction, and modification of personal wireless service facilities on the basis of the environmental effects of radio frequency emissions to the extent that such facilities comply with the Commission's regulations concerning such emissions." In 2008, cell phone company T-Mobile asked the City's permission to build a 12-foot-eight antenna wireless telecommunications facility immediately adjacent to an existing 121-foot PG&E structure at 5000 Hiller Lane, on the 2.7 acre-property of the Concord Korean Baptist Church. When the City deemed the application incomplete, the company did not pursue the request again until May of this year. The request went before the Design Review Committee, which approved it while offering a couple of visual tweaks to the facility, such as making the fence surrounding the equipment at the bottom of the tower higher. The T-Mobile addition would bring the tower, which also sports Sprint/Nextel equipment, to total height of 133 feet. Hiller Lane is a private street off of Arnold Drive. In response to questions about radiation emissions from the proposed tower, as well as the existing Sprint/Nextel operation, T-Mobile employee Matt Veazey avowed to the Commission his industry was highly regulated. "The FCC drives around, and you may have seen them, in a little car and they have a test, a little piece of equipment, that measures the output combined … they also know our frequency so they can measure a specific carrier's frequency," said Veazey, explaining that the FCC slaps heavy fines on companies that operate out-of-compliance facilities. Veazey said that if neighbors are concerned about the amount of electromagnetic radiation being sent out from tower, "in the [contract between T-Mobile and the City] there is language to allow for the City to request a study if they have concerns … if someone raises an issue, but right now, as it is proposed, we are well within our guidelines in this highly-regulated area," said Veazey. Speaking as the former Public Advisor for the California Public Utilities Commission, Planning Commissioner Harriett Burt said Wednesday there has been "a ton of studies done on possible health concern issues from cell phone towers, and not one of them can either support or refute a health impact," said Burt. "I've been hoping for some kind of final word we can all accept for years." Burt pointed out that leading up to its enactment, more wireless communication lobbyist monies were spent persuading the Legislature to pass the Act than were ever spent in the past. The number has been set at $39 million. "The industry has set what they say are "safe levels" of radiation exposure, but there are a growing number of doctors, physicists, and health officials who strongly disagree, and foresee a public health crisis," said author Karen J. Rogers of the Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center, in a widely-quoted whitepaper entitled Health Effects from Cell Phone Tower Radiation. "The current U.S. standard for radiation exposure from cell phone towers is 580-1,000 microwatts per sq. cm., among the least protective in the world. More progressive European countries have set standards 100 to 1,000 times lower than the U.S. Also, once a cell tower is erected, it has proved very difficult to verify the radiation is within legal limits. There are no safety measures in place to ensure that the towers are not emitting higher radiation levels than legally allowed." Rogers told an anecdote of "one frustrated resident who finally spent $7,000 purchasing his own equipment to test a cell phone tower near his home, and found it emitting radiation at levels 250 percent over the legal limit." Mepani confirmed there is a 10-day widow now open if any resident wishes to file an appeal to the Commission's decision. Appeals can be filed at City Hall and more information can be obtained from the Planning Department. If an appeal is filed, the matter will be slated for a public hearing before the City Council.
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