Subject: FCC AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT "PLAIN ENGLISH" GUIDE (Hill).
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000 093318 -0500
From: Roy Beavers
To: guru
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.......From EMF-L.......
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Subject: FCC AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT ADVISORY GROUP RELEASE "PLAIN ENGLISH" GUIDE
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2000 00:05:40 -0400
From: "Dawn Hill"
To:
References: <39A49244.5EFD0D34@emfguru.com>
Dear Roy:
I would be interested in hearing ANY comments regarding how the FCC is now
attempting to "assist local governments and individual citizens in better
understanding the origin and application of FCC safety rules to safeguard
public health from RF exposure," in their new "plain english" guide.
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/News_Releases/2000/nret000
8.html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 2, 2000
NEWS MEDIA CONTACT
David Fiske 202-418-0513
FCC AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT ADVISORY GROUP RELEASE "PLAIN ENGLISH"
GUIDE
ON ANTENNA EMISSION HEALTH AND SAFETY; DESIGNED TO HELP LOCAL
OFFICIALS
AND COMMUNITIES
Washington - - The FCC and the Local and State Government Advisory
Committee (LSGAC) today released a
"plain-English" guide on radiofrequency (RF) emissions to assist
local governments and individual citizens in better
understanding the origin and application of FCC safety rules to
safeguard public health from RF exposure.
The handbook was issued at a meeting today of the LSGAC. The guide,
entitled "A Local Government Official's
Guide to RF Emission Antenna Safety: Rules, Procedures, and
Practical Guidance," is available on the FCC's RF
safety web page at www.fcc.gov/oet/rfsafety. It is also available
on the LSGAC website at
www.fcc.gov/statelocal.
The guide is designed to provide local communities with a greater
understanding of RF emission issues and
comprehensive information and guidance in devising efficient
procedures for assuring that local antenna facilities
comply with the FCC's limits for human exposure to RF
electromagnetic fields. It is designed to answer in clear,
understandable language the questions of elected officials and
local residents alike on the impact of antenna towers
on community health.
A purpose of the guide is to inform citizens and to help state and
local government officials play an important role
in ensuring that innovative and beneficial communications services
in the wireless telecommunications and
broadcast industries are provided to the public in a manner
consistent with public health and safety.
FCC Chairman William Kennard said, "I commend LSGAC for its
tremendous effort toward developing this
guide. I believe the guide will be an invaluable resource for
countless communities around this nation."
LSGAC Chairman Kenneth Fellman said, "LSGAC welcomes the
opportunity to join with the FCC in increasing
public access to quality information about the health effects of RF
emissions. Efforts such as this Guide
demonstrate both the importance we attach to our public
accountability as elected officials, and the FCC's
commitment to support that accountability through vigorous
enforcement of their existing RF Guidelines."
The guide explains the process whereby federal, state and local
agencies with expertise in health and safety issues,
including the EPA and FDA, assisted the FCC in establishing
consensus limits for human exposure to RF
emissions. It says the limits themselves are set many times below
levels generally accepted as having the potential
to cause adverse health effects.
The guide explains the RF exposure limits themselves, how they are
derived, their margin of safety and how
exposure is calculated. It describes the FCC's requirements for
broadcasters and wireless telecommunications
providers to comply with the RF emission limits. It discusses FCC
procedures to verify compliance with the RF
exposure guidelines, particularly in reviewing license applications
for new, renewed or modified facilities. The guide
also provides information as to how local officials can identify,
in a manner not burdensome to either the officials or
the service providers, facilities that are unlikely to raise issues
of compliance with the federal guidelines.
It focuses on the FCC limits for human exposure to RF emissions. It
does not address other issues falling generally
under the jurisdiction of state and local governments, such as
construction, antenna siting, permits, inspections,
zoning, or environmental review.
Topics in the guide discussed in text, charts, illustrations and
check-off lists include:
What an RF signal is, where various services that produce RF
emissions fit into the radiofrequency
spectrum, and ways different RF frequencies can result in
different levels of maximum permissible exposure
under the guidelines.
The methodology, in clear English, the FCC used to develop its
guidelines for human exposure to RF
emissions.
An explanation of how to apply the guidelines.
Discussion of how local officials and citizens can initially
contact a facility's operator regarding any questions
about compliance.
Instructions as to how local officials and citizens can
contact the FCC with any compliance questions they
have after communicating with the facility's operator.
Explanations of procedures to determine compliance and to
bring violators of the guidelines into compliance.
Explanations and comparisons of determining RF emission
measurements for facilities with single antennas
as opposed to multiple antennas.
A checklist for determining which kinds of facilities are by
their very nature highly unlikely to result in RF
exposure in excess of the guideline limits, and therefore are
excluded from processing procedures.
A list of transmitters, facilities and operations subject to
routine environmental evaluation.
An appendix listing distances that should be maintained from
single cellular, PCS and paging base station
antennas.
The FCC and the LSGAC said this handbook highlights many of the
most common concerns and questions
connected with the process of siting wireless telecommunications
and broadcast antennas.
They said it will allow local officials to make initial judgments
whether RF emissions are and should be of concern,
consistent with FCC regulations, and is designed to insure that FCC
and state and local officials can work together
to ensure public health and safety.
- FCC -
FCC Contacts:
Jeffrey Steinberg (WTB) 202-418-0620;
Robert Cleveland (OET) 202-418-2464;
Bruce Romano (MMB) 202-418-2120
LSGAC Contacts:
Kenneth Fellman, Chairperson, 303-320-6100;
Marilyn J. Praisner, Vice Chairperson, 240-777-7968;
Jonathan L. Kramer, Technology Advisor, 818-344-5100
Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com