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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-23-2020 Public Comment - M. Hance - Moratorium on small cells 5GFrom:agenda@bozeman.net To:Agenda Subject:Thank you for your public comment. Date:Thursday, April 23, 2020 7:29:55 AM A new entry to a form/survey has been submitted. Form Name:Public Comment Form Date & Time:04/23/2020 7:29 AM Response #:380 Submitter ID:26214 IP address:97.121.205.19 Time to complete:5 min. , 46 sec. Survey Details Page 1 Public comment may be submitted via the form below, or by any of the following options. Public comment may also be given at any public meeting. Email: agenda@bozeman.net Mail to: Attn: City Commission PO Box 1230 Bozeman, MT 59771 In-person delivery to: Due to City Hall's closure in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, in-person delivery of comments is not available until further notice. First Name Birgit Last Name Hance Email Address hancecamp@yahoo.com Phone Number 4065872043 Comments Dear Chris Mehl & City Council Member, Until studies prove the safety of 5 G Please: I ask that you impose a moratorium on “small cells” and other wireless infrastructure permits process and deployment until the COVID-19 emergency is over. The wireless providers are using the COVID-19 emergency as cover to expand and cement their rapid and virtually unsupervised deployment of harmful wireless infrastructure. Our local leaders should not have to dedicate time and resources to policing whether the wireless companies are following local and state law right now – they need to focus on more important things. The FCC wireless permit rules allow emergency moratoria. Homeland Security guidelines emphasize that maintenance of existing communications capability is the priority. But new construction is not “essential.” The FCC has directly held a local jurisdiction can impose a temporary halt to deployment and permits during emergencies. In the Matter of Accelerating Wireline Broadband Deployment by Removing Barriers, FCC 18- 111, 33 FCC Rcd 7705, 7784-7785, ¶157 (2018) (“We recognize that there may be limited situations in the case of a natural disaster or other comparable emergency where an express or de facto moratoria that violates section 253(a) may nonetheless be ‘necessary’ to ‘protect the public safety and welfare’ or to ‘ensure the continued quality of telecommunications services.’”) Homeland Security has declared that local government is on the forefront and can take control over determining whether to temporarily halt all non-essential activity. Homeland Security guidance documents prioritize maintenance of existing Communications Systems, and do not support “essential” status for new construction. See Homeland Security Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, Identifying Critical Infrastructure During COVID-19, https://www.cisa.gov/identifying-critical-infrastructure-during-covid-19 (local control); e-Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources Support Annex, http://www.fema.gov/pdf/emergency/nrf/nrf-support-cikr.pdf (focus on “protection, response, recovery, and restoration”). Homeland Security, like the FCC, understands that it is essential in an emergency situations justify focusing on protecting, responding, recovering and restoring of existing systems, but new communications facilities construction is and should be deemed nonessential, and subject to lockdown for so long as we are under emergency conditions. Cities can and should impose a moratorium on deployment in their local area and freeze the permit process until the COVID-19 emergency is over. I appreciate your efforts in this matter. Sincerely, Birgit Hance If you would like to submit additional documents (.pdf, .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .gif, .jpg, .png, .rtf, .txt) along with your comment, you may alternately address agenda@bozeman.net directly to ensure receipt of all information. Thank you, City Of Bozeman This is an automated message generated by the Vision Content Management System™. Please do not reply directly to this email.