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Radio towers pose much greater concerns than just being 'ugly'

KRPI has plans to locate a directional array of five 12-storey antennas at Tyee Drive and McKenzie Way right as you enter Point Roberts and only 330 metres from Tsawwassen's southern border.
radio towers
Efforts to prevent radio towers from being erected in Point Roberts have now moved to the courts.

KRPI has plans to locate a directional array of five 12-storey antennas at Tyee Drive and McKenzie Way right as you enter Point Roberts and only 330 metres from Tsawwassen's southern border. The fight to stop the invasion of these 50,000-watt radio towers is not over.

While the antennas would destroy five acres of woods and be truly ugly, the bigger problems involve:

1. Electromagnetic blanketing interference on your electronic devices that cannot be effectively mitigated. The Federal Communications Commission does not require broadcasters to fix phones (landlines, cell and cordless), computers, speakers of all kinds, hearing aids, baby monitors, etc. because they cannot be fixed. For details go to: fcc.gov/guides/public-andbroadcasting-july-2008 and read "Blanketing Interference."

2. The KRPI 1550 AM antennas would produce 50,000 watts of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) 24/7 that moves as both sky and ground waves along the of light, penetrating our homes, businesses and bodies. Many folks worry about the .5 watts of EMR from a cell phone and the 100 watts that emanate from a single cell dish. But what about the elephant in the room with 50,000 watts of EMR coming from AM radio transmission antennas? The EMR from these AM antennas would impact every corner of our peninsula and they represent a serious potential health threat. Visit www.NoTowers.webs.com and click on "Concerns about Electromagnetic Radiation" to learn about the latest research on how EMR can affect cells in our bodies or check out professor Martin Blank's book, Overpowered: The Dangers of Electromagnetic Radiation (EMF) and What You Can Do About It.

We have won rounds one and two in our fight and we are warming up for round three later this summer.

On another front, our FCC petition to deny and informal objections, filed through our attorneys in Washington, D.C., are working their way through the system and should yield results later this summer.

We have great attorneys representing us but this is resulting in a very expensive fight. Please consider sending a cheque to: PRTAFTT, P.O. Box 158. Point Roberts, WA, 98281 or go to notowers.webs.com and select the "donate" button.

We are having a big fundraising event, the Delta Lifestyle Art and Travel Auction, on Sunday, June 7 from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Harris Barn in Ladner. Please save the date and if you have an object d'art or a travel package you would like to donate, it would be greatly appreciated. You may contact us at lrwilk@telus.net or call Lois Wilkinson at 604-943-1821.

We believe we can and will win this battle. Remember, if the towers are built, they will be here forever.

Armene Belless is a member of the Cross Border Coalition to Stop the Radio Towers.