Dear Ms. Lovering,
Dear Mayor & City Council Member,
We ask that you impose a moratorium on “small cells” and other wireless inirastructure permits
process and deployment until the COVID-19 emergency is over.
The wireless providers are using the COVID-19 emergency as cover to expand and cement their
rapid and virtually unsupervised deployment of harmful wireless infrastructure. Our local leaders
should not have to dedicate tume and resources to policimg whether the wireless companies are
following local and state law, they have far more important things to do.
The FCC wireless permit rules allow emergency moratoria. Homeland Security guidelines
emphasize that maintenance of existing communications capability is the priority. New
construction Is not “essential.”
The COVID-19 emergency has led to a government shut down of non-essential activity.
Hospitals, emergency response and local officials are overwhelmed and they must be allowed to
focus on what is indeed “essential”. Now is not the time to be dedicating resources to expanding,
rather than just maintaining, our networks.
The FCC has directly held a local jurisdiction can impose a temporary halt to deployment and
permits during emergencies. In the Matter of Accelerating Wireline Broadband Deployment by
Removing Barriers, FCC 18-111, 33 FCC Red 7705, 7784-7785, 4157 (2018) (“We recognize
that there may be limited situations in the case of a natural disaster or other comparable
emergency where an express or de facto moratoria that violates section 253(a) may nonetheless
be ‘necessary’ to ‘protect the public safety and welfare’ or to ‘ensure the continued quality of
telecommiunications services.’”)
Homeland Security has declared that local government is on the forefront and can take control
over determining whether to temporarily halt all non-essential activity. Homeland Security
guidance documents prioritize maintenance of existmg Communications Systems, and do not
support “essential” status for new construction. See Homeland Security Cybersecurity &
Infrastructure Security Agency, Identifying Critical Infrastructure During COVID-19,
https://www.cisa. gowidentifying-critical-infrastruchire-during-covid-19 (local control); e-
Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources Support Annex,
bttp:/www.fema.gov/pdfemergency/nrfnrf-support-cikr.pdf (focus on “protection, response,
recovery, and restoration”). Homeland Security, like the FCC, understands that it is essential in
an emergency situations justify focusing on protecting, responding, recovering and restoring of
existing systems, but new communications facilities construction is and should be deemed
nonessential, and subject to lockdown for so long as we are under emergency conditions.
Cities can and should impose a moratortum on deployment in their local area and freeze the
permit process until the COVID-19 emergency is over.
Sincerely,
Carla LeClerc
5 Huffy Circle
Nashua, NH 03062
