The Cross Border Coalition to Stop the Radio Towers is asking residents to sign a petition to the House of Commons to stop a plan to erect several radio transmission towers in Point Roberts.
The coalition will have a table set up this Saturday and Sunday, as well as the following Saturday, near the Royal Bank at the Tsawwasen Town Centre Mall.
Calling for action by Industry Canada, the petition, in part, states that BBC Broadcasting Inc. "deliberately misrepresented the total number of individuals who would suffer harmful blanketing interference from radio frequency (RF) emissions by failing to disclose that while Point Roberts only has a full time population of around 1,300, the adjacent community of Tsawwassen, B.C., is heavily populated and urbanized with approximately 23,000 people living and working in the path of the proposed electromagnetic radio frequency (RF) transmissions..."
The company wants to construct five 45-metre (150-foot) steel towers at an undeveloped lot on McKenzie Way just south of the border.
The towers would transmit South Asian radio station KRPI, AM 1550, which broadcasts from studios in Richmond to a Lower Mainland audience. Also known as Sher-E-Punjab AM 1550, the company currently broadcasts using antenna in Ferndale, Wash.
Also asking for donations in the legal fight, the coalition says BBC is being forced to move from its present location because of its inability to effectively mitigate the effects of blanketing interference, even at a lower wattage at nighttime.
The Federal Communications Commission granted the project a construction permit but a conditional use permit is still required from Whatcom County.
The coalition has also filed an informal objection with the FCC opposing the company's application to renew its broadcasting licence.
