[Scan-DC] Local Control of 5G Cell Towers

[Alan Henney]

This message is from a Takoma Park neighborhood listserv.  I'm not
condoning the message, just has some useful info and links to the proposed
legislation in Maryland.

Just how dangerous is 5G in the community?

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State of Maryland Bill HB 654 Would Severely Restrict Local Control of Cell
Towers --

Other Pending State Bills HB 1020 & HB 474 Also Undermine Local Control

Please Call and Send Emails to Key State Legislators to Oppose These Bills.

And speak out at Public Hearing in Annapolis Thursday, Feb. 21st -- Must
sign up in person before Noon. (Contact info and hearing details below)

Save our new Takoma Park City Ordinance and Montgomery County rules that
place at least modest limits on the siting of small cell towers! Our local
laws will be pre-empted by the State of Maryland, if a new bill, HB 654, is
passed by the Maryland General Assembly. This proposal is reportedly the
darling of the wireless industry. Why? Because it would wipe out many of
our City and County protections and replace them with much weaker statewide
rules!

For example: It would eliminate our County requirements for small cell
towers to be certain distances from our homes. And goodbye to tree
protections, annual tests to monitor radiation levels emitted from cell
antennas, adequate public notice and public input, and most of the other
public-interest provisions in our new City ordinance.


This truly horrible bill seems to have opened the gates to other state
cell-tower bills, like HB 1020 (SB 713) and HB 474. Whether intended or
not, those are also likely to undermine local authority over the siting of
small cell towers -- just as our City, County, and many other localities
are fighting the Federal Communications Commission in court to recognize
our authority. Local communities have a right to make our own zoning and
land-use decisions, and regulate the use of our public Rig hts of Way. If
the State imposes some new authority over us now, it will reinforce the
industry’s position that we locals are yokels – with no right to interfere
in their roll-out of a dense network of new cell towers wherever and
however they like in our urban neighborhoods. Despite the growing body of
scientific evidence that emissions of radio frequency radiation pose real
health and environmental risks!

http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?id=hb0654&stab=01&pid=billpage&tab=subject3&ys=2019RS

http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?id=hb1020&stab=01&pid=billpage&tab=subject3&ys=2019RS

http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?id=hb0474&stab=01&pid=billpage&tab=subject3&ys=2019RS