Communities are fighting back against telecom and FCC abuses of local control in several ways. In Marin County several communities are actively engaged in encouraging elected officials to pass ordinances that protect cities and towns from the adverse effects of 5G technology and to help maintain local control and decision making.
Despite the September 26 FCC ruling, the 1996 Federal Telecommunications Act and other federal and state laws that attempt to preempt local control, having such ordinances in place will provide stronger protection from telecom corporations seeking to push unwanted technologies in our communities.
Your local, state and federal elected officials have taken an oath to uphold the US and State Constitutions and in doing so to protect the health, well being and privacy of the community. As members of the community, we are working with elected officials to ensure such protection.
As part of our 5G Free Marin efforts, we have compiled and continue to gather campaign resources to help fight these technologies from invading our communities. Below are some resources that have aided us in our efforts to create high quality, protective ordinances.
ORDINANCE SUPPORT DOCUMENTS
Fairfax, California’s Wireless Telecommunications Ordinance
After nearly a year of public meetings and intense community process, the Town of Fairfax passed Ordinance No. 833 in July, 2019. This ordinance contains some of the strictest provision in the country to protect the local community from future wireless exposure.
While the California courts have ruled as of June, 2018 that “small cells” are exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the specific elements of CEQA can be added to local ordinances to prevent harm to natural and human communities. This CEQA checklist can provide ideas for adding elements in the development of local ordinances.
Mendocino Community Rights Ordinance FAQ
Community rights efforts have staved off fracking in communities around the country. This FAQ shows how community rights laws can protect jurisdictions from corporate efforts to impose technologies on local communities.
Radiofrequency Radiation Injures Trees Around Mobile Phone Base Stations
This long-term (2006-2015) field monitoring study was performed in the cities of Bamberg and Hallstadt (Germany). During monitoring, observations and photographic recordings of unusual or unexplainable tree damage were taken, alongside the measurement of electromagnetic radiation.
Property Values Reductions from Cell Tower Installations
An overwhelming 94 percent of home buyers and renters surveyed by the National Institute for Science, Law & Public Policy (NISLAPP) say they are less interested and would pay less for a property located near a cell tower or antenna. Of the 1,000 survey respondents, 79 percent said that under no circumstances would they ever purchase or rent a property within a few blocks of a cell tower or antennas, and almost 90 percent said they were concerned about the increasing number of cell towers and antennas in their residential neighborhood.
American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA)
The United State Access Board describes its recommendations for accommodation those with electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS).
EMF Safety Network
This well researched and thoroughly referenced letter to the Sebastopol Planning Commission from the EMF Safety Network is powerful and comprehensive and can be used as a template for other communities.
Nation Magazine Expose’ on Wireless Safety
This article is an excellent expose on how the telecoms have systematically covered-up safety concerns of wireless technologies using much of the playbook from Big Tobacco.
A Moral Obligation to Disobey Unjust Laws
This letter Letter by Dr. Ronald N. Kostoff was written to the Montgomery County Zoning Committee in February of 2018. Dr. Kostoff strongly admonishes the County to protect public rights even when these are in conflict with Federal law. Kostoff discusses Nazi German, sanctuary cities here in the US, the WWII Japanese internment and conflicts of interest to make his powerful points.
Find and Contact your US Senator and Representative
Use this link to find your national representative in the US House and Senate. Let them know you are concerned about this technology and urge them to ask the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to prove this technology is safe.