Opinion: Proposed legislation would litter national parks with cell towers radiation
The U.S House of Representatives recently passed HR 6492, a bill co-sponsored by Rep. Chuck Edwards which includes legislation that would litter our national parks and wilderness areas with cell towers. This omnibus bill incorporates the “Connect Our Parks Act” and purports to “improve recreation opportunities on, and facilitate greater access to, federal public land.”
This legislation would do far more than just ruin the view in our nation’s beautiful parks, which include the Appalachian Trail, Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
For nearly 20 years, biologists studying migratory and wild nesting bird and pollinators have documented that radiofrequency radiation from cell towers is harmful across hundreds of species of flora and fauna. Nest abandonment and reduced survivorship are documented among house sparrows, white storks, collared doves and the endangered northern bald ibis. Field studies of honeybees have documented navigation problems and hive abandonment following placement of cell towers near bee colonies and habitats.
RF radiation is emitted by all cell towers, cell phones, 5G antennas, Wi-Fi and all “smart” devices.
In 2014 the U.S. Department of Interior stated in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission that a “significant issue associated with communication towers involves impacts from non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation emitted by these structures,” and advised that the commission “address cumulative impacts on those 241 species for which the incremental impact of tower mortality…is most likely significant.”
Faulty telecommunications equipment has been implicated in a number of large U.S. wildfires. The California Public Utilities Commission determined that a series of events involving communications wiring led to the Woolsey fire of 2018, considered the worst in California’s history, with $6 billion in damages, 100,000 acres destroyed, 295,000 people evacuated and several deaths. In 2013 the CPUC fined AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and the electric utility a combined $99 million for the role of communications and utility wiring in the Malibu Canyon Fire, which burned over 3,800 acres.
In 2021, the D.C. Court of Appeals found the FCC guilty of ignoring thousands of pages of evidence showing serious harm to both environmental and human health, challenging the FCC’s decision not to review its 1996 guidelines. In Environmental Health Trust et al. v. FCC, judges stated, “We find the Commission’s (FCC) order arbitrary and capricious in its complete failure to respond to comments concerning environmental harm caused by RF radiation.”
The FCC has still not complied with the court’s mandate to “provide a reasoned explanation” for its determination that its guidelines protect against harmful effects of RFR exposure.
Last week news broke that the FCC knew cell phones’ RFR emissions exceeded the agency’s 1996 safety limits during internal testing, yet hid this from the public and the courts, according to data obtained by the Environmental Health Trust via Freedom of Information Act requests.
Seeking serenity, 325 million people flocked to national parks in 2023. Yet more than 10,000 peer-reviewed studies over seven decades demonstrate that RFR has biological effects on all living things. In humans, serious effects include physical and mental health conditions. The National Toxicology Program, based in N.C.’s Research Triangle Park, found “clear evidence of carcinogenesis” in the 2018 final report of its gold-standard study of cell phone radiation. Reliable websites to find these studies include EHtrust.org and MDsafetech.org.
Given the growing evidence of harm to humans and our environment, why would Congress quietly green light the vast proliferation of cell towers across delicate wildlife habitats? Since we already have emergency response available on smart phones via satellite, thousands of new towers would be redundant at best.
House Bill 6492 – now awaiting a vote in the Senate – could be amended to exclude wireless facilities (sections 141 and 142) and remove section 143, which gives the telecom industry oversight of wireless facilities in federal lands. Let’s protect the health of all species. Ask our U.S. Senators to amend HR 6492.
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Diane Douglas, Fairview; Elizabeth Foley, Hillsborough; Anne Hines, MD, Winston-Salem; Jamie-Lee Nix, Asheville; Mary Anne Tierney, RN, MPH, Fairview.
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Mary Anne Tierney, RN, MPH, of Fairview, is executive director of SafeTech NC, a nonprofit sharing why and how to use technology safely. She is certified as an Electromagnetic Radiation Specialist by the Building Biology Institute.
Anne Hines, MD, of Winston-Salem, is a board member of SafeTech NC and has practiced medicine for the past 35 years, specializing in the treatment of autism spectrum disorder.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Opinion: Bill would litter national parks with cell tower radiation
