Excerpted from Cell Towers: Wireless Convenience? or Environmental
Hazard?
By B. Blake Levitt. Copyright © 2001.
Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 1
Telecommunications Technologies - An Overview: Wireless Convenience? Or
Looming Environmental Problem?
By: B. Blake Levitt
Towering Questions
Cell Towers. They seem to be popping up everywhere, like inter-galactic
mushrooms. We see them inappropriately placed in residential neighborhoods, on
school grounds, on pristine ridgelines, along beautiful country roads and scenic
highways - usually over the vehement objections of neighbors, parents, and
environmentalists. Towers are often reluctantly sited in these hallowed places by
the very people we have elected to protect our communities.
Many of our municipal agents have been intimidated by an onerous provision in a
federal law - called Section 704 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and by an
aggressive telecommunications industry that threatens to sue at the hint of a
rejected application. Towns, fearing staggering legal bills, have come to think their
hands are tied and that somebody's neighborhood must be sacrificed for the sake
of the larger community.
But with so many new antenna arrays needed to support more and more wireless
buildout, everybody's neighborhood now faces "sacrifice." No neighborhood,
scenic vista or historic structure is off-limits.
Municipal agents feel maddeningly frustrated and powerless in the face of a
multi-billion dollar industry that appears to have Congress on its side. It is as if we
have become candles in the wind of the wireless juggernaut, even though serious
scientific uncertainty about the safety of this technology continues to exist.
No community is unaffected by cell towers today. Siting them is one of the most
contentious areas of land-use law in America, as well as in many European
countries where far more stringent exposure standards have been set for ambient
environmental radio frequency radiation - the area of the electromagnetic
spectrum used for this wireless technology.
Just a few short years ago this was not the case. Indeed, the rapacious build out of
this technology caught most communities completely by surprise.
How did we get to this place where we feel we have lost fundamental control over
our most cherished right to protect the health, safety and welfare of our
communities, and to preserve our property values? How real are health concerns
regarding this technology? How can we restore our rights? What is reasonable to
ask in light of the fact that many Americans want cellular service?
A one day conference was held in Litchfield County, Connecticut, on December 2,
2000, featuring speakers with extraordinary expertise, to help answer such
questions. This proceedings book from that conference hopes to share that
expertise with a broader audience. No community should be without this
information because one thing is certain - millions of people love cell phones, but
no one loves the infrastructure needed to support a wireless, civilian phone
system. New wireless technologies are already out of the gate - wireless TV,
wireless computers, wireless faxes, wireless modems, to name a few. All will
require additional spectrum and antennas with accompanying radiation - with no
clear understanding of the biological consequences to humans or to other
species. It is imperative that we acquire far more wisdom in balancing the
competing needs of those who want such services with those who do not want to
live near the infrastructure, including the recognition that it may be time to fine tune
the technology away from ground-based networks all together.
Hazard?
By B. Blake Levitt. Copyright © 2001.
Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 1
Telecommunications Technologies - An Overview: Wireless Convenience? Or
Looming Environmental Problem?
By: B. Blake Levitt
Towering Questions
Cell Towers. They seem to be popping up everywhere, like inter-galactic
mushrooms. We see them inappropriately placed in residential neighborhoods, on
school grounds, on pristine ridgelines, along beautiful country roads and scenic
highways - usually over the vehement objections of neighbors, parents, and
environmentalists. Towers are often reluctantly sited in these hallowed places by
the very people we have elected to protect our communities.
Many of our municipal agents have been intimidated by an onerous provision in a
federal law - called Section 704 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and by an
aggressive telecommunications industry that threatens to sue at the hint of a
rejected application. Towns, fearing staggering legal bills, have come to think their
hands are tied and that somebody's neighborhood must be sacrificed for the sake
of the larger community.
But with so many new antenna arrays needed to support more and more wireless
buildout, everybody's neighborhood now faces "sacrifice." No neighborhood,
scenic vista or historic structure is off-limits.
Municipal agents feel maddeningly frustrated and powerless in the face of a
multi-billion dollar industry that appears to have Congress on its side. It is as if we
have become candles in the wind of the wireless juggernaut, even though serious
scientific uncertainty about the safety of this technology continues to exist.
No community is unaffected by cell towers today. Siting them is one of the most
contentious areas of land-use law in America, as well as in many European
countries where far more stringent exposure standards have been set for ambient
environmental radio frequency radiation - the area of the electromagnetic
spectrum used for this wireless technology.
Just a few short years ago this was not the case. Indeed, the rapacious build out of
this technology caught most communities completely by surprise.
How did we get to this place where we feel we have lost fundamental control over
our most cherished right to protect the health, safety and welfare of our
communities, and to preserve our property values? How real are health concerns
regarding this technology? How can we restore our rights? What is reasonable to
ask in light of the fact that many Americans want cellular service?
A one day conference was held in Litchfield County, Connecticut, on December 2,
2000, featuring speakers with extraordinary expertise, to help answer such
questions. This proceedings book from that conference hopes to share that
expertise with a broader audience. No community should be without this
information because one thing is certain - millions of people love cell phones, but
no one loves the infrastructure needed to support a wireless, civilian phone
system. New wireless technologies are already out of the gate - wireless TV,
wireless computers, wireless faxes, wireless modems, to name a few. All will
require additional spectrum and antennas with accompanying radiation - with no
clear understanding of the biological consequences to humans or to other
species. It is imperative that we acquire far more wisdom in balancing the
competing needs of those who want such services with those who do not want to
live near the infrastructure, including the recognition that it may be time to fine tune
the technology away from ground-based networks all together.
Cell Towers....
First Chapter
First Chapter
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