Subject: Congress passes S. 800 - action alert (Kelley) (fwd)
Date: Mon, 18 Oct 1999 093915 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Roy L. Beavers"
To: emfguru
--------------------------------------------------
........I believe that this has been forwarded once before, but here
it is again...... As a "lobbyist" I would say that the "EMF side"
has simply failed to **isolate** what they are against here...... They
surely are not against the idea of a national "emergency communications
system" -- which is the avowed purpose of the bill.....
They are against that very small (totally irrelevant and needless) portion
of the bill -- cleverly added to the bill by the powerful Washington
$$$$$$$ lobbyists (ALWAYS PRESENT when these bills are drafted!! The
public is NOT present!!) representatives of the telecom industry -- that
results in "a sort of" immunity from legal liability for the telecom
companies.....
Not only has the "anti-liability-protection" issue lobbying-side failed to
isolate that aspect, they have failed to SHOW WHY IT IS BAD PUBLIC
POLICY.....
Mr.President, (if you see this) ... YOU KNOW WHY IT IS BAD POLICY!!!
Why don't you overcome their neglectful (underfunded!!!!) lobbying effort
and veto the bill. Until the offending paragraphs that give the telecom
industry protection against liability (which you know will lead to
(EXPLOITATIONS -- taking advantage -- of the public) ... are removed from
the bill.......!?!?
Cheerio....
Roy Beavers (EMFguru)......
rbeavers@llion.org.......
.....It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.....
EMF-L web-site can be found at:
EMF-L archives can be found at:
..................PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN PROFITS..................
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 18 Oct 1999 09:02:28 -0400
From: "Bowman, Joseph D."
To: "'Roy L. Beavers'"
Subject: RE: Congress passes S. 800 - action alert (Kelley)
one more item from Libby Kelley on US legislation
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Roy L. Beavers [SMTP:rbeavers@llion.org]
> Sent: Friday, October 15, 1999 1:28 PM
> To: emfguru
> Subject: Congress passes S. 800 - action alert (Kelley)
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 09:15:09 -0700
> From: Libby Kelley
> To: rbeavers@llion.org
>
> Subject: Congress passes S. 800 - action alert
>
> Friends and Colleagues:
>
> The article in the Washington Post today, below, or, see W. Post, Metro in
>
> Brief, October 15, 1999, announced that Senator Daschle has dropped his
> attempt to mandate siting a Bell Atlantic Mobile cell tower in Rock Creek
> Park. So, we won that round. Or have we?
>
> The reason Daschle and the rest of the members of Congress may have
> backed off on this proposal is the "E-911" ACT, known as S. 800, the
> Wireless Communication and Public Safety Act of 1999 passed on Tuesday
> with
> only 2 no votes!! Now, Bell Atlantic Mobile and the other carriers have
> another, tougher legislative mandate. -rapid deployment of an end-to-end
> communications system for national security and public safety reasons.
>
> Further, with the immunity from liability clause, the entire
> telecommunications industry is poised to operate all wireless
> communications as a public utility in our every days lives and not be
> accountable for it should there ever be harm or injury (or, even a break
> in
> service). Thus, the proposal for siting towers in Rock Creek Park may not
>
> be over, it may just been granted a tough new edge over public
> opposition. Let's not "wait and see" - it is time to take action. Apathy
>
> is consent
>
> This enrolled bill is on President's Clinton's desk. We can let him know
> what we think about this Act. You might consider sending him an email:
>
> http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/Mail/html/Mail_President.html.
> The President may sign this Act into law at any time.
>
> Here is a copy of the enrolled bill:
> http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?c106:./temp/~c106qF4Gpd
>
> Libby Kelley
>
>
>
> Daschle Gives Up Fight to Allow Phone Towers in
> Rock Creek Park
>
> By Stephen C. Fehr
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Friday, October 15, 1999; Page B09
>
> Congress has agreed to withdraw a provision in the
> District's budget bill
> that allows the construction of two cellular telephone
> antenna towers in
> Rock Creek Park, lawmakers said yesterday.
>
> The retreat by Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle
>
> (D-S.D.),
> who inserted the tower measure over the objection of
> President Clinton
> and lawmakers in both parties, was disclosed as the
> Republican-led
> House approved the District's $4.7 billion budget for
> the third time
> yesterday.
>
> GOP lawmakers also agreed to restore a 15.6 percent pay
>
> raise for D.C.
> Council members, to $92,500, after previously slashing
> it. They also said
> they would increase--from $50 an hour to $60--the cap
> on
> fees paid to
> private attorneys for special education plaintiffs in
> suits against the D.C.
> school district.
>
> Daschle's reversal was abrupt. A week ago, he told
> reporters he was
> "absolutely" still in support of the Bell Atlantic
> Mobile towers.
>
> "I'll call you from the park someday," he joked.
>
> Phone calls to his spokeswoman were not returned
> yesterday. Daschle
> had defended the amendment, citing the need for
> cellular
> service in the
> park to make it safer for joggers and bikers. He also
> said federal land
> must be made available to wireless services under the
> 1996
> Telecommunications Act, providing the companies prove
> the service is
> needed and that it meets environmental regulations.
>
> Removing the cell tower provision does not necessarily
> mean the towers
> won't be built. The National Capital Planning
> Commission, the federal
> government's planning agency for the region, could
> still
> approve the
> towers. Daschle's rider, requested by Bell Atlantic
> Mobile, would have
> allowed the tower construction regardless of what the
> planning
> commission decided.
>
> A Bell Atlantic Mobile spokeswoman said yesterday that
> the company
> wasn't aware of the change and declined further
> comment.
>
> The phone company has tried for five years to put up
> two
> towers in Rock
> Creek Park, where valleys and foliage prevent clear,
> uninterrupted phone
> conversations. The company settled on two locations:
> the
> tennis center,
> with a 100-foot-tall tower; and a maintenance lot on
> Military Road, where
> a 130-foot tower would go.
>
> Opponents, dominated by local residents, say the towers
>
> would disturb
> the park's aesthetics and could lead to additional
> towers there. Other
> critics, including the D.C. Council, Mayor Anthony A.
> Williams (D) and a
> host of other local and regional governments, said
> Daschle had no right to
> interfere with the planning commission's review
> process.
>
> "If Congress and Daschle were to step back and let the
> process take its
> course, that's very good news," said D.C. Council
> member
> Phil
> Mendelson (D-At Large).
>
> The budget vote--211 to 205, mostly along party
> lines--was an exercise
> intended to score political points but do little to
> resolve an impasse over
> the city's spending plan for the fiscal year that began
>
> Oct. 1. After the
> Senate votes on D.C.'s budget, the plan's fate will be
> decided by House,
> Senate and White House negotiators.
>
> Even with the changes, such as the antenna towers,
> Clinton's budget
> advisers said yesterday, the new bill "makes virtually
> no significant
> improvements" from the one he vetoed Sept. 28.
> Clinton's
> rejection of the
> bill, he said then, stemmed from a belief that Congress
>
> should not interfere
> in decisions made by the local District government by
> attaching so-called
> social riders to the bill that ban the use of medical
> marijuana and
> drug-needle exchanges.
>
> The District has been operating at last year's budget
> levels under a
> temporary spending resolution that expires Thursday.
> Lawmakers are
> trying to reach an agreement on a permanent D.C. budget
>
> by then. Before
> the negotiations begin, Republicans wanted to try
> pushing the D.C.
> spending plan a third time to embarrass the president
> by
> accusing him of
> being soft on drugs.
>
> "The Republicans would rather have 'Beat Up on Bill
> Clinton Day' than sit
> down in a rational way to work out our differences,"
> said Rep. David R.
> Obey (D-Wis.).
>
> Replied Rep. Ernest J. Istook Jr. (R-Okla.), chairman
> of
> the D.C.
> appropriations subcommittee: "I didn't pick this fight.
>
> . . . The issue is, are
> we against drugs? Are you declaring a truce and a
> surrender in this
> nation's war on drugs?"
>
> Democrats, in a tactic aimed at exposing the GOP
> majority's strategy, said
> they would agree to keep in the social
> riders--including
> medical marijuana
> and the needle exchange. But the Democrats said the
> Republicans would
> have to agree to a rider allowing the District to spend
>
> city funds providing
> legal assistance for lawsuits seeking voting
> representation in Congress for
> the city.
>
> Republicans didn't take that bait, which the Democrats
> said proved they
> were not serious about resolving the D.C. budget.
>
> Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said she has been
> ready to
> negotiate for several days. "The D.C. appropriation
> could probably be
> settled by grown-ups sitting down together for a short
> time," she said.
>
> © The Washington Post Company
>
>
> Libby Kelley
> Executive Director
> Council on Wireless Technology Impacts
> aka ~ Ad Hoc Association of Parties Concerned about
> the FCC's Radiofrequency Radiation Health and Safety Rules
> ____________________________
> Website: http://www.ccwti.org
> Phone - 415-892-1973
> Fax - 415-892-3108
> Address:
> 936-B Seventh Street, PMB 206
> Novato, California 94945
>
Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com