- Powerful Video Compilation of Health Risks of Wireless Radiation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9TMTexPb_0
- A child featured in that video, Mason Ferulli at age 10 who contracted brain cancer after a cell tower was installed at his elementary school, has recently died. He
endured many surgeries to save his life as chronicled here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-the-ferrulli-family-in-memory-of-mason. After many teachers got breast cancer and 3 other children got cancer, the tower was removed. No cases of cancer since cell tower removal.
- Status on BxCB12 / Consulting
Party
- Opposition -- Avenue C Association in MCB3 https://evgrieve.com/2024/05/block-association-asking-for-removal-of.html
- Misinformation from CityBridge / Boldyn on the harms of wireless radiation and towers. Pamphlets have been published that push false information that
5G is safe. It is not.
- 311 Complaint Campaign - CALL 311 TO COMPLAIN ABOUT THE 5G TOWERS. We need an official city record of complaints that city officials cannot ignore.
6. Sec 106 Review -- NYC Historic Preservation -- Updates
ALERT! Notices are being posted in the New York Post by Crown Castle and Boldyn (formerly CityBridge) to put 4G/5G antennas on utlity poles. You must respond within 30 days after the posting to state any adverse aesthetic effects under federal law, otherwise, you will lose your chance to oppose them. See attached list.
WE NEED MORE CONSULTING PARTIES! THE GENERAL PUBLIC CAN ALSO COMMENT. See attached document entitled "Section 106 Review ... " for instructions. Deadlines to file comments on many 5G Towers have already passed and others are fast approaching. YOU NEED TO ACT NOW!
a.
Your Sec 106 participation is crucial from community boards and civic associations in Washington Heights, Lower East Side, Jamaica, Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, Staten Island. YOU'RE GETTING CLOBBERED WITH 5G TOWERS. The NYS Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) has not objected to Towers in many locations. Those are missed opportunities.
7. 5G Tower Invasion: Proposed sites at Broadway and 62nd, 63rd and 64th Streets, 37 Mott Street in Chinatown. Manhattan CB 12 - Washington Heights/Inwood - will soon be getting clobbered with 5G Towers, but despite many presentations to MCB12, no one has been interested in protecting MCB12. Despite the community furor over 689 Fort Washington Ave last year, a 5G Tower is slated to be installed there. Wired Broadband filed a
report to SHPO opposing its installation there, but SHPO instead concurred with CityBridge/Boldyn.
8. Why are 5G Towers being constructed in a district which issued a moratorium? That is happening in QCB12. CityBridge had already installed 107 towers when it was notified by the FCC in April 2023 that
the towers must undergo environmental and historical preservation review. Construction seemed to have stopped. However, it was reported in March 2024 that 140 towers were installed, and that as of May 2024, CityBridge reported that 160 towers have been installed. It is not clear why an additional 53 towers have been installed while CityBridge is undergoing environmental and historic preservation review on its towers.
9. 5G Towers Will Not Bridge Digital Divide. OTI's assertions of bridging the digital divide are debunked when (1) they are meant for mobility not in-home use and (2) they cannot show that where they are placing the 5G Towers need the service. Their answer has been that the telecom carriers determine where they are placed, but refuse to disclose why they are being
placed in specific locations, claiming that info is proprietary. Sorry, but when telecoms use our public rights of way (sidewalks, utility poles), then there should be NO proprietary info, but full public disclosure. Now, there is NO public disclosure. NEW RULE: no public disclosure, no use of our public rights of way.
10. Opposition to 5G Towers: Council Member Gayle Brewer recently wrote her opposition to the 5G Towers in her district to SHPO and to Commissioner Matt Fraser of NYC's Office of Technology since last year. See attached letter. Council Member Brewer chairs the Committee on Oversight and Investigations. It would be good for her Committee to investigate the entire 5G Tower debacle.
11. OTI Not Interested in Adverse Health Effects: In a recent presentation by OTI and CityBridge, I rebutted with the adverse health impacts proven scientifically and that people are already suffering in NYC.
12. Defend our Landlines! Verizon has been retiring its copper lines in NYC for several years. That means if you can't make a 911 call if your cell service goes down. That recently happened in CA that left over 70,000 stranded. Contact your City Council member and
your US Representative.
US government says that AT&T paid bribes to state of Illinois to allow them to eliminate landlines
13. Letters to the Editor
See examples:
Federal Bills With Impacts for NYC
- Rep. Cammack (FL) of the House Subcom of Communications & Tech submitted the essential question for the record (QFR): Why has the FCC failed to comply with a 2021 federal appellate court order that remanded its outdated 1996 wireless
exposure limits to review for public safety?
- This has far-reaching implications for NYC - if the FCC cannot ensure public safety, then why are 5G Towers and 4G/5G antennas on street poles being placed so close to where we live and work?
- The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals pointed out that, based on the over 1000 scientific studies in the FCC's docket showing harm without heating human tissue, the FCC's premise that heating human tissue is required to cause harm
may now be incorrect.
- Unfortunately, our own Rep. Yvette Clarke also on that Subcom did not respond to multiple requests to submit the question.
2. Federal bills (70+) - will take away local control. See https://ehtrust.org/congress/ . The following bills have passed the House which we need to stop in the Senate:
HR 1339 "Precision Agriculture" will carpet farms with wireless infrastructure that will dessimate bees, insects, cattle, flora (already proven with bees abandoning hives, reduced milk production and deformities and deaths in cattle
HR 1353 will lead to compelled installation of wireless infrastructure
HR 682 compels spectrum availability for satellite launches which will litter the sky with satellite debris (Starlink reported 25,000 collision avoidance maneuvers within 6 mos)
HR 1752 allows Sec of Commerce to give broadband grants to build out wireless infrastructure without community input
HR 6492 4-9-24 Fed Omnibus Bill to carpet natl parks w/ cell towers (incorporates S.2018)
HR 4510 5-15-24 NTIA Reauth Act - subordinates Pentagon and other fed agencies to NTIA
which will filter info to the FCC. For DOD, creates security risks and risks of connectivity interruptions for DOD operators. Incorporates HR 1123 which expressly excludes 5G from a cybersecurity study of mobile networks; 5G is the most insecure of prior networks according to former FCC Chair Tom Wheeler.
Originating in the Senate: S. 4207 S. 3909 increasing spectrum authority and increasing the
FCC budget - should not occur until the FCC complies with the 2021 court order to review its wireless limits for public safety.
S. 2855 will exempt most wireless installations on federal lands from environmental review under NEPA; that includes carpeting our forests where people otherwise go for refuge from technology.
In the House: HR 1513 5-14-24 passed out of committee, ready to be voted by the House; taskforce on 6G; needs to include study of environmental and adverse health effects.
Many other bills are now moving in Congress.
These bills will eliminate our local control over wireless permitting/placement, prohibit moratoria and eliminate environmental and historical preservation reviews. See below for federal bills update.
- SET UP MEETINGS NOW WITH: Reps. Espaillat, Jeffries, Clarke, Malliotakis, Meeks, Meng, Velazquez, Suozzi, Goldman, Torres. Let me know when you do. Unfortunately, our NY delegation is voting for all of the bad bills. Call them today to schedule
a meeting.
- We are setting up meetings with Senators Schumer and Gillebrand.
- See new voting guide at https://thenationalcall.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/voting-guide-federal-bills-3-31-24-1.pdf and att'd fact sheets and https://ehtrust.org/congress/
- See Congressional briefing providing a comprehensive overview of the issues. https://thenationalcall.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Congressional-Briefing-5-19-24-FINAL.pdf
- Federal Bills committee of
the National Call for Safe Technology meets every Thursday, 4-6pm ET; let me know if you're interested.
Our NY delegation is supporting bad federal telecom bills, please contact your Representative today:
- HR 4510 - NTIA Reauthorization Act - vote postponed - ask your US Rep for amendments (requires cybersecurity study but expressly excludes 5G) - see below
- HR 3294 - Nydia Velazquez
sponsor
- HR 5919 and HR 4235 - Lawler sponsor
- HR 1123 - passed House, voted by Nadler, Lawler, Goldman, Jeffries, Malliotakis, Espaillat, Clarke, Meeks, Meng, Velazquez, Torres, Ocasio-Cortez - Now included in HR 4510 NTIA Reauth, ASK: must amend to include 5G in cybersecurity study with required Homeland Security input
- HR 1353 - passed House, voted by ditto
- HR 1339 - passed House, voted by ditto
- HR 6492 - passed House, co-sponsored by Lawler
- Every
success we've had in NYC - disapprovals and moratoria on 5G Towers - are expressly prohibited under HR 3557, and our success in envt'l and historic preservation reviews will be virtually eliminated under HR 3557, HR 4141, etc.
- HR 6492 will carpet our national parks with cell towers, which do catch on fire. CA had 4 major fires from faulty telecom eqpt - Woolsey Fire (2018) caused $6 bil in damages, 295,000 pp evacuated, 100,000
acres of land destroyed and several deaths. See below the fold for "Cell Towers & Fires" at https://thenationalcall.org/advocacy-and-action/.
ARCHIVED NEWS FROM JULY:
- Sec 106 Historic Preservation Review - Success!
- SHPO
disapproves 5G Tower siting at 110 E. 88th St which is inside the Park Ave Historic District.
- SHPO disapproves 5G Tower in Brooklyn Navy Yard, an historic district.
- Stopping childhood addiction to social media by banning cell phones in schools. States are passing legislation. See Virginia https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/10/us/virginia-school-cell-phone-restrictions-youngkin/?dicbo=v2-rQeygqN&hpt=ob_blogfooterold . Should NY do the same?
- Chevron's demise by the U.S. Supreme Court is good news for NYC! That means FCC's rule compelling 5G Tower installation can be challenged based on
the FCC no longer being given deference. FCC is not given automatic deference by the courts and that statutory ambiguity will be determined by the courts, not the FCC. It is grounds for challenging the FCC's 5G "small cell" order on an as applied basis which telecoms have been using as a club against local government to say that their "hands are tied" and that telecoms can place their irresponsible towers wherever they want. However, NYC is ahead of the game, because in 2022 a senior
district court judge in EDNY refused to defer to the FCC on that "small cell" order, ruling that it is the court that interprets the law, not the FCC, and that the law in the Second Circuit is that telecoms must prove a gap in phone service. Moreover, the FCC's "small cell" order does not apply to NY jurisdiction. Extenet v. Village of Flower Hill. Unfortunately, NYC has not preserved our rights under the CityBridge or any of the other 12 telecom
franchise agreements. This should be investigated by the NYC Council's Oversight Committee.
- FCC has failed to comply with the 2021 court order which remanded the FCC's emission limits based on its failure to review 11,000 pages of scientific, peer-reviewed, studies showing biological harm below those limits, long-term exposure and impacts on children. Therefore, until the FCC complies with the court order, the FCC should not be given
additional spectrum licensing authority and their budget should not be increased (see e.g., S. 4207 and S. 3909)
- FCC must comply with new NEPA rules; may have implications for NYC. Need to contact Rep. Nadler to again write to the FCC this time regarding how these more stringent rules will apply to NYC going forward. "To date, the FCC has had neither the personnel nor resources to comply with
NEPA; to comply with 2024 Council for Environmental Quality (CEQ) rules, it must now have both, as well as a designated senior official and a chief engagement officer." https://peer.org/commentary-what-the-fcc-must-do-to-comply-with-new-nepa-rules/ The National Call for Safe Technology
through its individual members submitted comments to the CEQ in 2022. https://thenationalcall.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/CEQ-Submission-5-25-22-CEQ-2022-0002-0023.pdf
- Net Neutrality will be a disaster for NYC because there is a poison pill that will expand preemption and further the
irresponsible placement of cell towers, including 5G towers. By making broadband a Title II telecom service, the FCC will have greater preemption authority on cell tower deployment. Contact your federal Rep and U.S. Senators to write the FCC to forebear from preempting local government.
- GOOD NEWS! NY Budget Passes Without Anti-Municipal Broadband Language https://www.aapb.us/post/news-new-york-budget-passes-without-anti-municipal-broadband-language That means that local communities are free to choose the kind of public broadband network that best serves their residents with universal service, and at more affordable prices than incumbents have provided. Let's apply that to NYC, a municipal
broadband network that doesn't force 5G Towers when 25% of NYC have said they don't want them.
- 5G: Friend or Foe – A New Documentary (5gfriendorfoe.com) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA9zJKc3o88&t=1072s
- Full steam ahead for 5G – and let’s not even think about the damage to health, Gillian Jamieson
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/how-to-shield-yourself-from-the-5g-menace/
- Support Smart Meter Opt-Out Bills in NYS - S-5642-A and A-9148A, https://www.americansforresponsibletech.org/nysmartmeters ; also see, New York Safe Utility Meter Association https://www.nysuma.org/ . Biological risks of wireless radiation from smart meters.
- In case you missed it: NYT Street Wars Article of 6-10-24 on 5G Towers - please comment -- I was interviewed and quoted, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/10/nyregion/street-wars-new-york-city-5g-towers.html#commentsContainer. There were 257
comments. The NYT has closed its online comments but is accepting letters to the editor at letters@nytimes.com.
Please send a letter to the editor on the 2000 5G Towers slated for NYC (160 have already been constructed).
It would be great if you would write about issues that the reporter left out:
- wireless will never bridge the digital divide
- wireless health hazards / bio-effects on people / children
- 5G had no pre-market testing for safety
- environmental impacts
- fire risk
- security risk / surveillance
- the fact that the FCC has failed to comply with the DC Circuit Court of Appeals mandate for the FCC to review
its limits in light of the 11,000 pages of science submitted in its docket
12. NYS Releases Bead PreQualifications https://broadbandbreakfast.com/new-york-releases-bead-prequalification-applications/; see model language to include in these prequalification applications at https://thenationalcall.org/resources/ under the fold
"Additional Valuable Resources" and click on "Suggest BEAD Comments to Your State."
13. National Call for Safe Technology - Sign up to connect with other advocates nationwide. We meet every 2nd and 4th Friday; to sign up, email me or go to thenationalcall.org.
