by Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D., Childrens Health Defense:
Critics say the bills overlook the benefits of fiber internet, strip local communities of the right to reject wireless projects and increase the risk to human health and the environment caused by greater exposure to wireless radiofrequency radiation.
Federal lawmakers are considering 50 bills that promote the expansion of wireless infrastructures on land and in space, according to the scientific research and education nonprofit Environmental Health Trust (EHT).
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Together, the bills stand to increase people’s exposure to wireless radiofrequency (RF) radiation, EHT said.
Research has linked RF radiation with many negative health issues including oxidative stress and DNA damage, cardiomyopathy, carcinogenicity, sperm damage, memory damage and other neurological effects.
The American Broadband Deployment Act of 2023 (H.R.3557), the “most prominent” among the slew of proposed bills, would strip what little remains of local residents’ control over the types of wireless projects that get built next to their homes and their kids’ schools by fast-tracking the application approval process.
The bill also would exempt many wireless projects, such as the installation of 5G cell towers or small cells along city streets, from having to follow the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).
Many national groups — including EHT and Children’s Health Defense (CHD) — oppose the bill. The National League of Cities, the United States Conference of Mayors, the National Association of Counties and the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors said in a joint letter the bill “deprives citizens and their local governments of the ability to preserve property rights and maintain public safety.”
The National Call for Safe Technology, a “coalition of over 100 organizations and individuals advocating for technology that preserves individual privacy and security,” agreed, stating in a position letter that the bill would “eliminate the people’s voice” by prohibiting state and local governments from putting a moratorium on wireless projects.
Commenting on this and the other 49 bills, Miriam Eckenfels-Garcia, director of CHD’s Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) and Wireless program, said, “These bills fly in the face of evidence that cell towers and small cells endanger human health, harm the environment and jeopardize people’s privacy.”
CHD is “closely monitoring these dangerous developments” and has supported grassroots groups’ efforts to defeat the bills via calls to action, Eckenfels-Garcia told The Defender:
“We are particularly concerned about H.R.3557 as this measure proposes the most sweeping and comprehensive changes to the wireless infrastructure permitting process and would essentially remove local control and participation.
“This bill would narrow many of the avenues we are using in our strategic litigation efforts as well.”
CHD opposes H.R.4141, which seeks to give wireless projects the same exemptions from environmental and historical review for wireless projects as H.R.3557, she added.
Susan Foster, a fire and utility consultant, called the bills “draconian” measures. “They give telecom the right to put cell towers pretty much everywhere, exposing us all to RF radiation 24/7 against our will. The fire risk alone should prohibit these towers from residential areas, schools and daycare centers.”
Foster — who co-founded the nonprofit California Fires & Firefighters — told The Defender every cell tower is an electrical device that can fail, and fire is a potential consequence of failure.
“Such electrical fires cannot be extinguished through conventional means,” Foster said. “The grid has to be cut first … some of these fires are taking place in front of people’s homes. People need time to escape and they don’t always have the opportunity to do so.”
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