T-Mobile defends its right to ignore EMF health concerns as it pushes for a cell tower at a NJ high school

parents need your support

The quiet town of Wanaque, NJ is embroiled in a fierce battle over the installation of a T-Mobile cell tower next to the local high school as a coalition of families confronts the entrenched interests of the Board of Education (BOE) and local government.

If you’re available tomorrow evening, the community could use your support at their Planning Board Meeting, where the board is expected to vote its students and community under the bus for the benefit of corporate/industry interests.

Thursday, February 15, 2024 @ 7:00pm

Wanaque Municipal Building

79 Ringwood Ave, Wanaque, NJ 07465

From the Wanaque, Haskell, Ringwood Families Coalition press release:

On February 15th, 2024, the planning board will be voting to approve the plans for the construction and installation of a 130 ft tower on the high school grounds, only 150 feet from the school building. This enormous structure will tower over the students as they spend 8-10 hours or more in class and playing sports inside and outside. Not to mention the residents who will live at the foot of this cell tower 24/7.

Here are the key points that underscore the urgency of our situation:

National Trend of Corporate Overreach: The proliferation of cell towers in residential neighborhoods has become a troubling national trend. Telecom giants like T-Mobile often exploit regulatory loopholes to erect towers with minimal community input, disproportionately impacting working-class neighborhoods like ours…

Outdated FCC Guidelines: The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) outdated guidelines have allowed telecom companies to operate with impunity, disregarding the concerns of local communities. Our fight against the cell tower installation at Lakeland Regional High School highlights the urgent need for regulatory reform and greater accountability in telecommunications infrastructure development.

Legal Battles and Bureaucratic Stonewalling: Despite retaining legal counsel and filing Open Public Records Act (OPRA) requests, our efforts to obtain transparency and accountability from town officials have been met with resistance and silence. The lack of responsiveness from town officials, legislators, and the Board of Education underscores the systemic challenges we face in holding those in power accountable for their actions.

But according to a letter from T-mobile’s attorneys, concerns about health are not their problem and they seek to prohibit any testimony that addresses those concerns.

Wanaque Planning Board Letter 2 12 24

3.15MB ∙ PDF file

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The Co-Applicants reiterate the law set forth in their legal memorandum ot the Board dated January 9, 2024, and remind the Board that the New Jersey Supreme Court has made it clear that "the Telecommunications Act . . . has preempted local consideration of EMF radiation emissions…

The Telecommunications Act is clear:

"No State or local government or instrumentality thereof may regulate the placement, construction, and modification of personal wireless service facilities on the basis of the environmental effects of radio frequency emissions to the extent that such facilities comply with the Federal Communications] Commission's regulations concerning such emissions."

.."Similarly, the Radiation Act, like the Telecommunications Act, preempts local regulation of EMF radiation emissions, so long as those emissions comply with applicable regulations."

In other words, as long as T-Mobile complies with outdated FCC rules from 1996, environmental and health concerns be damned. The company can look the other way because the industry facilitates it.

Sadly, the Town Council, Planning Board, Board of Education, Lakeland High School, and Wanaque’s mayor have also largely dismissed the valid concerns of residents regarding potential health risks and the impact on property values. According to WHRF Coalition member, Raul Perez, local leadership has taken an “It’s not my decision” position in response to the appeals of parents.

Follow the $$$

Perhaps this is because they are beholden to a decision that was made in 2009. The local coalition has learned that T-mobile has been paying the BOE, which owns the high school property, $4000/month for 14  years to lease the property where they plan to build their cell tower. Residents are outraged that plans have quietly been put in place over many years in the absence of meaningful community engagement. (This has become increasingly common as corporations and globalists zero in on the power of local leadership, especially mayors.)

Is Your Town Being Transformed into a "15 Minute City"?

The Wanaque situation mirrors a growing national trend of corporate giants like T-Mobile targeting small towns with limited resources, where communities are ill-equipped to resist their advances. This case underscores the urgent need for greater oversight and protection of local interests in the face of corporate influence.

Industry Rules Against Humanity

While there are many calls for updates to the FCC rules, and regular acknowledgements that today’s technological landscape is vastly different than it was decades ago, most calls for change are about making way for MORE technology.

The industry considers our health concerns an obstacle, NOT a priority.

https://www.vox.com/2017/2/8/14500978/telecommunications-act-1996-regulation-update-telecom-policy

Of course, two decades is a long time in the world of technology, and telecom is vastly different today than it was then. In 1996, just 16 percent of Americans had mobile phones, which only supported voice communications, with simple text messaging just beginning to appear. Apple’s iPhone, which kicked off the smartphone era in 2007, was still a decade away.

Additionally, less than one-fifth of U.S. households in 1996 were connected to the internet, all of them via dial-up modems with a maximum speed of 33.6 Kbps. It was not until 2004 that the number of homes with broadband exceeded the number of homes with narrowband connections.

…Ensuring timely deployment of 5G will require unprecedented cooperation between industry and federal, state and local governments.

,,,5G will also require more spectrum, especially in the ultra-high frequency (millimeter wave) bands… the FCC needs to continue to open access to more bandwidth, including large swaths of spectrum now controlled by federal agencies.

Building the advanced broadband environment that will keep America in the forefront of innovation and spur economic gains will require substantial investment in new facilities, most of which will be privately funded. Creating a regulatory climate that is supportive of these investments will be another priority. (emphasis mine)

Health NEVER comes up in these discussions.

And this is what happens when it does:

https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/4437988-why-did-nih-abruptly-halt-research-on-the-harms-of-cell-phone-radiation/

In a shocking reversal, the National Toxicology Program (NTP) of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has quietly disclosed that it will stop studying the biological or environmental impacts of cell phone radiofrequency radiation.

This decision comes despite results from the program’s carefully engineered and reviewed decade-long $30 million animal studies that found cancer, heart damage and DNA damage associated with exposure to cell phone radiofrequency radiation at levels comparable to those experienced by Americans today. 

The sudden end of civilian government efforts to study potential health impacts of wireless radiation constitutes a glaring abdication of responsibility.

Unhealthy Ambition

According to the Environmental Health Trust, there are no health standards:

Currently there are no national or international “standards” for safe levels of the radiation emitted by wireless or microwave devices.

As stated by the FCC, there are no federally developed safety standards.  After years of a robust research effort by US agencies, the US EPA was tasked to develop proper safety standards and was developing two tiered guidelines on both thermal and biological effects. Then in 1996 it was defunded. Instead of proper safety limits, the US government adopted “guidelines” developed by industry based on decades old research.

Furthermore, existing exposure limits are based on false assumptions. The FCC considers heating the only adverse biological effect from exposure to electromagnetic radiation despite hundreds of studies that link electromagnetic radiation exposure to cancer, heart damage, sperm damage and DNA damage among other things.  The FCC exposure limits also fail to consider the health impacts of regular and prolonged exposure to EMRs and the increased vulnerability of children.

But T-Mobile, and the industry in general, doesn’t care. They will put their towers up and wait for our children to get sick. And even then, they’ll point to bogus “safety limits” while children suffer.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cell-tower-shut-down-some-california-parents-link-to-several-cases-of-childhood-cancer/

Sprint shut down a cellphone tower on the campus of a California elementary school after some parents said it may be linked to several recent cases of childhood cancer. Those families at Weston Elementary School in Ripon claim the tower could have exposed their kids to harmful radiation. Sprint said the tower is safe and has operated well below federal safety limits, but the company turned it off anyway and plans to move it to a new location. 

Don’t wait for tragic “mysteries” that take decades and the lives of children to solve.

The telecommunications industry and captured regulatory authorities, at increasingly local levels, are prioritizing the next generation of technology over the next generation. It’s up to us to stop it.

If you’re in the neighborhood, please consider showing up for this NJ community:

Thursday, February 15, 2024 @ 7:00pm

Wanaque Municipal Building

79 Ringwood Ave, Wanaque, NJ 07465

Here are some additional resources:

Take action to stop industry from building cell towers on school property: https://secure.everyaction.com/MtBrFxfy50KZdrE7AQV9UQ2

EMF (lack of) Safety standards: https://ehtrust.org/policy/fcc-safety-standards/

https://bioinitiative.org/updated-research-summaries/

https://live.childrenshealthdefense.org/chd-tv/shows/good-morning-chd/radiation-horrors--captured-agencies/