Point Reyes Light- July 20, 2000

Health concerns stall vote on Bolinas antennas

By Gregory Foley

Concerns about health effects of radio-frequency radiation have slowed the permitting process for two new communications antennas proposed for installation at or near the Bolinas firehouse.

A county zoning hearing to consider a proposal by Sprint to install a cellular telephone facility at the Mesa Road site has been tentatively postponed until Thursday, Aug. 24. "Both the county and Sprint have agreed with the Bolinas Fire District request to delay the hearing, so hopefully it will move forward at that August date," county planner Tiffany Robbe said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a hearing before Marin planning commissioners to assess an emergency response communications system proposed by the Marin Emergency Radio Authority (MERA) has been put off until Monday, Aug. 21.

The Sprint hearing has been postponed twice previously, while the MERA hearing has been delayed just once.

Sprint proposal

Sprint in 1997 signed a contract with the district to install a cellular telephone antenna near the firehouse, but did not opt to begin construction until this year, and their building permit lapsed.

The communications giant has now applied to the county to install three five-foot high panel-type antennas located approximately 47 to 52 feet above the ground, four transmitting and receiving cabinets, and a 12-foot high Global Positioning System. The Sprint lease was signed for 25 years, leaving 21 years for the company to use the land under their current contract.

For its countywide emergency system, MERA has proposed to county planners to build two 12-foot-long "whip" antennas on a new 60-foot high support tower located approximately 80 feet west of the Bolinas firehouse, as well as a temporary 160-square-foot equipment building. The MERA antenna would serve as a link in a communications network for police, fire, medical, and public works agencies throughout Marin.

MERA itself has not yet entered into a lease agreement with the fire department, and is negotiating with the directors to acquire permission for the antennas separately from the county.

Antennas already there

At issue for directors is the potential health hazard of long-term exposure to radio-frequency radiation (RFR) posed by the additional installation of antennas at the firehouse site. GTE and Cellular One already have antennas on the premises.

But amid growing beliefs that exposure to RFR can be dangerous, Bolinas Fire Chief Kevin Hicks and board president Mike Aitken launched a study of the cumulative radiation projected for the property if the new contracts were awarded.

At a meeting of district directors on Monday, consultant Cindy Sage of Santa Barbara presented a preliminary report of her studies on the health effects of RFR. From readings taken Monday afternoon on district property, Sage told an audience of 40 Bolinas residents that she discovered very little RFR in the firehouse itself, increased levels at roughly 30 to 40 feet away from the building, and then another drop before a second peak reading at 80 to 90 feet away.

Health & money

"It's not intuitive that the further away from the field you get the less radio-frequency radiation you find," Sage said.

Sage explained that some studies of RFR have associated it with infertility, immune deficiency, attention deficit disorders, childhood leukemia, and impaired nervous system activity.

Acknowledging that RFR study results can often be slanted toward a particular agenda, and that long-term studies of chronic exposure to RFR are in short supply, Sage suggested that the directors consider the body of evidence presented in her report. "The weight of the evidence suggests that at these lower levels the [federal] standard does not protect you ... It's your job to weigh the evidence," she said.

Complicating the issue is the revenue the district gets from its antenna lease contracts - money which would be lost in the event the district declines to let GTE, Sprint, and Cellular One to continue using the site.

Aitken and Hicks have both estimated that the contracts generate roughly a quarter of the district's revenue - more than $70,000 annually. "We got these cell sites to lower the tax rates," Aitken said. "[If lost], we would have to regroup and come back and look at the budget."

Readings in park

Also of concern to directors is the safety of children and others who use Mesa Park. Sage told the audience Monday that the park is close enough to the antennas to be an issue. She said that she discovered "detectable" levels of RFR near the children's playground, in a range of .5 to 3 microwatts.

Scientists involved in one RFR study conducted in Salzburg, Austria suggested that RFR exposure should be limited to .1 microwatts, Sage explained. The US standard for exposure is currently 10 microwatts.

Sage, who participated in the Salzburg study, told the audience, "The 10 microwatt figure was a political decision to allow a cumulative total of the environment."

Tomas Krakauer, a trustee of Bolinas-Stinson School District, told directors he believes that the risk of exposing children to RFR is too large to take. "It seems to me that it's a total controversy to have the kids come here and to also have the antennas ... Sometimes you have to forget about the money part," he said.

While Aitken noted that the focus of the study is the safety of district employees, Hicks acknowledged that revenues from the contracts have helped the department serve the local public. "These radio antennas have literally let us save lives," he said.

Change the configuration

Before the close of the Monday meeting, representatives from Sprint and MERA both suggested it was possible to change the antenna configuration to reduce RFR emissions. "Since you're concerned about cumulative effects, we could see if we could bring the emission down," Sprint representative Amy Stanton said.

Hicks said Tuesday that fire directors will read through Sage's report, and may convene a special meeting next week to further discuss the issue.

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