Will the Village of Alfred NY and other local governments protect residents from “electrosmog?”
A OPINION By Frederick Sinclair
Article 1, Section 19 of the New York State Constitution states that “Each person shall have a right to clean air and water, and a healthful environment.” Dubbed the Environmental Rights Amendment, it was first passed by two consecutive state legislative sessions in 2019 and 2021 and then was passed by over 70% of NYS voters in November 2021 and became Article 1 Section 19 on January 1, 2022. The Environmental Right creates an overarching legal obligation, on all government officials in the state, to ensure that whenever they contemplate taking action, they must consider and protect the people’s right to clean water and air and a healthful environment. As part of the NY Constitution’s Bill of Rights these rights are on par with freedom of speech, religion and the right to vote.
Permitting of projects must go through governmental review, such as site plan approval, zoning compliance or variance and follow a well structured and implemented permitting process in order to operate under the law. Many actions require environmental impact assessment as prescribed under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR). It has been recommended that the Town and Village of Alfred firmly anchor such review in their planning and project permitting process and develop zoning ordinances and review procedures that guarantee consideration of the environmental rights of their constituents and community as a whole. Past failures in this regard have been reported on in several past articles but there does not appear to be much movement to insure these responsibilities are being or plan on being met. Our local governing bodies are the appropriate first line of defense and best suited to implement protection of these constitutionally guaranteed environmental rights.
When one traverses the Village of Alfred there are entire areas where radio stations are crowded out by static (electromagnetic noise). This ‘noise’ is actually measured in decibels which are a unit of power. Static interference is considered not only noise pollution but also air pollution. Exposure to this subliminal noise and combined saturation, by a wide range of frequencies within the electromagnetic spectrum, is a serious threat to the healthful environment of our community. The science on this is settled. Although there are ways to throttle down existing exposures, in some cases, what is done is done, however, what can be done is to identify the ‘hot spots’ and levels of exposure, right the wrongs we can and provide protections which foster a future that is responsible and providing a healthful environment. Here are some upcoming challenges:
- The telecom industry is lobbying several laws before Congress and the FCC is also proposing regulation that will eliminate local review of health concerns during placement and or expansion of cell towers and antenna arrays; eliminate public exposure guidelines, curtail historic preservation and environmental impact review, ignore property value loss and aesthetic considerations as well as effectively negate Home Rule discretion in zoning and land use.
- The electricity providers are planning a further conversion, with WiFi modules, attached to already installed ‘Smart’ meters that will continuously broadcast data on your electric usage 24/7/365.
- Satellite direct cell phones and rooftop dishes are coming that will transmit microwaves to directly to satellites at high power levels.
- All home appliances will be Wi-Fi enabled with cars having more and more sources of radar, lidar, and satellite connections, with driverless cars akin to cell towers on wheels.
- ‘Smart’ technologies will overwhelm our communities; submerging us in clouds of wireless microwave radiation (Electrosmog), that will affect our health and crowd out our connection to the vital life supporting Schuman Resonance.
Now is the time to act. The entire community and all elected Boards especially School Boards, need to bring themselves up to speed on these issues. Our young children and infants are the most vulnerable to the effects of Electrosmog. We are also the guardians of thousands of students, who, we don’t want asking us in the future; Why didn’t you help us with our addiction and protect us from the dangers of exposure to wireless microwave radiation? Did you know?
