Next week, the House Science, Technology and Energy Committee will take up this general recommendation to approve of legislation focused on public education, technical requirements and advice to municipalities.
Vice Chairman Douglas Thomas, R- Londonderry, drafted the proposal, which cleared his subcommittee on a 5-1 vote.
The group spent the spring and summer working on a 2022 bill (HB 1644) that would have required at least a 1,640-foot buffer between cell towers and "residentially-zoned areas, parks, playgrounds, hospitals, nursing homes, day care centers, and schools."
This bill also would have created a registry for anyone experiencing symptoms of radiation exposure.
The House voted last spring to send the bill back to the committee for study, which means the topic has to start all over again as a new bill in 2023.
Its sponsor, Rep. Patrick Abrami, R- Stratham, said it was clear his bill would not move forward, but he's working on other ideas.
State law removes state regulators from the process of approving telecommunication technology such as 5G equipment for cellphones.
The Legislature should create a model ordinance to help cities and towns create their own buffer zones and other restrictions over cell towers, Abrami said.
"We have heard testimony from both sides on the science. I am not an extremist," Abrami said.
"Clearly, there is something here, and I am not convinced the federal government is doing its job either."
Before the vote, the committee took more than two hours of conflicting testimony from experts.
Susan Foster, a medical writer, spoke about the neurological problems San Diego County firefighters had after a cellphone tower was placed on top of their firehouse.
She said 23 of 25 firefighters there suffered from headaches, extreme fatigue and cognitive impairment.
"We may be facing a tsunami of neurological victims," Foster said.
Outdated limits?
Theodora Scarato, executive director of the Environmental Health Trust, said many federal agencies and public health organizations have failed to come up with modern limits for permissible levels of radiofrequency (RF) energy from cell phones.
The most recent standards were adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in 1996, she said.
"There is actually no federal agency with health expertise that is ensuring safety," Scarato said.
Jerrold Bushberg, chairman of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements and a professor of clinical radiology and radiation oncology, represented the telecommunications industry at Monday's meeting.
"The reality is it's not quite so clear, and research in and of itself is not a precise science," Bushberg said.
Cellphones produce more RF energy when they are further away from cell towers.
"If you want to reduce the vast majority of exposure from RF, the way to do it would be to have good coverage," Bushberg said.
Steven McCullough, an attorney who has spent 40 years helping city and town officials adopt ordinances on this subject, said more can be done.
"The wireless industry tells them their hands are tied but that is not true," McCullough said.
"What they can't do is discriminate against types of telecommunication services, they can't effectively prohibit service and they can't regulate emissions based on environmental effects."
"This still leaves them with a regulatory role to play."
© 2022 The New Hampshire Union Leader (Manchester, N.H.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
