State representatives have introduced a bill banning cell towers within 750 feet of schools and day-care centers in Connecticut. From Assistant Republican Leader Livvy Floren’s announcement:
The Greenwich Delegation proposed this bill due to the potential of several proposed sites that are adjacent to school grounds.
Health professionals on both sides of the issue differ on the effects of radiation from cell towers and whether they are harmful to children. However, the legislators would prefer to err on the side of caution.
Rep. Camillo, whose Assembly District includes the North Mianus School said, “Cell towers should not be sited in close proximity to schools considering the possible harmful effects on children and on neighboring homes from radiation emissions.”
“Our children should be protected at all cost. It is my hope that the Chairmen of the Legislature’s Energy and Technology Committee raise our bill for public hearing,” said Rep. Livvy Floren.
“We are not endorsing any one site; that is the job of the Connecticut Siting Council. We are only proposing that proximity to schools be taken into account when a decision is rendered,” added Rep. Lile Gibbons.
Sen. Frantz concluded, “Notwithstanding the intricacies of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, we are proposing that school and daycare facility location is considered in any deliberations concerning the siting of a cell tower.”
Erring “on the side of caution”, and employing the “precautionary principle”, are goals far more consistent with protecting public health than Section 704 of the 1996 Telecom Act, which has the effect of forcing wireless infrastructure into communities and locations that don’t welcome it, via this provision:
“[n]o 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 [FCC’s] regulations concerning such emissions.”