Is the concept of “home rule” being lost to support 5G tech ?
An OPINION By Frederick Sinclair
The National Association of Counties (NACo) is a powerful organization which protects the rights and missions of counties nationwide. NACo is the voice of 3,069 County governments which are run by 40,000 locally elected officials and staffed by 3.6 million County employees. It is one of the largest advocacy groups in the nation.
The conflict with FCC is supported by The National League of Cities, The United States Conference of Mayors and the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors along with thousands of public stakeholders and citizens who are resisting the efforts of the Telecom industry. The FCC and Congress want to remove all state and local regulation and opportunity for local input into infrastructure placement of towers, small cells, antenna arrays, and public right of way usage in the rollout of 5G.
Objections center around the 2018 FCC “Small Cell Order” dubbed (FCC 18-133), and newly proposed FCC Rulemaking, in conjunction with over 40 Congressionally sponsored laws that will substantially preempt local authority (home rule) over the deployment of 5G Telecommunications wireless infrastructure.
The 2018 FCC Small Cell Order and pending federal legislation establishes a “one-size-fits-all “ approach to permitting 5G infrastructure and is seeking to further shift all control, away from local governments, into the discretion of the Telecom industry. The federally imposed regulations would impose:
- Shot clocks to force issuance of building permits within as little as 60 days, after which, failure to act results in automatic approval.
- Limits fees which may be charged for applicants to cover administrative and independent engineering review and limits local infrastructure charges.
- Silences residents, by removing public hearings and consideration of aesthetics, historic preservation and impact to property values.
- Elimination of federal state or local requirements for environmental impact review which negates NEPA, SEQRA, and consideration of biological impacts.
- Codification of FCC preemptions of local authority into Federal law (HR 2289) which will make them permanent and hard to challenge in court.
- Release of FCC from court ordered update of public exposure to radio frequency radiation and relaxing of industry liability and responsibility.
It is impossible to reconcile how the demand for protection of ‘Home Rule’ and the rights of local government and citizens, to have a say in placement of invasive and potentially harmful infrastructure, can be ignored by the FCC and Congress. It discloses a disregard of public opinion in favor of wireless Telecom industry agendas and reflects the submission of the FCC and officials that are captured.
NOTE: The Harvard University Safra Center for Ethics, published proof of the FCC capture and industry/gov. collusion in the 2013 report “Captured Agency: How the Federal Communications Commission Is Dominated by the Industries They Presumably Regulate”. Search for or find it at: https://www.ethics.harvard.edu/sites/g/files/omnuum9911/files/capturedagency_alster.pdf
Fred Sinclair is a Allegany County NY based writer with big opinions on vast subjects. If you enjoy his non-conventional topics, or think he’s reached the outer limits, drop him a note anytime, fpsinclair@yahoo.com
