Please take a moment to review the letter copied below from the Children's Health Defense. This has been sent by hundreds of SLC residents to our representatives, with no response or action on their part. It is a legal request and is being upheld in numerous cities after review by their city attorneys. We request that this be sent right away to the city attorney and that our legal rights to be respected and upheld.

We are not an aggressive nor uninformed group of people, and we are seeking only to have some time for safety reviews before these installations continue. This includes the exploration of city-owned and -operated smart meters/fuseboxes to ensure responsible power distribution, as well as more neighborhood notification and discretion in the permitting process. We are aware that local ordinance is often superseded by state and federal law, and we ask that Salt Lake City joins 60+ cities and counties in the lawsuit (19-70144) against the FCC.

[Also, in an effort to expand local autonomy, please encourage our leaders to support S.2012, H.R 530, to oppose S.1699 and S.7243, and to repeal UT S.B 189]

As you may be aware, there are zero studies on the safety of 5G for humans, animals, insects and the environment. According to a Harvard Ethics Review, the FCC is dominated by the same telecommunications industry it's meant to regulate. This conflict of interest means we're not being properly safeguarded; that our public safety is being exchanged for industries' bottom-line. While we do not believe that this service will be completed halted in our city, at the bare minimum, we hope to have safer processes and most specifically, protection of our children and the vulnerable - just like in the current emergency situation.

 
DEAR MAYOR & CITY COUNCIL MEMBER, WE ASK THAT YOU IMPOSE A MORATORIUM ON “SMALL CELLS” AND OTHER WIRELESS INFRASTRUCTURE 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 TIME AND RESOURCES TO POLICING 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 RCD 7705, 7784-7785, ¶157 (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 TELECOMMUNICATIONS 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 EXISTING 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.GOV/IDENTIFYING-CRITICAL-INFRASTRUCTURE-DURING-COVID-19 (LOCAL CONTROL); E-CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND KEY RESOURCES SUPPORT ANNEX, HTTP://WWW.FEMA.GOV/PDF/EMERGENCY/NRF/NRF-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 MORATORIUM ON DEPLOYMENT IN THEIR LOCAL AREA AND FREEZE THE PERMIT PROCESS UNTIL THE COVID-19 EMERGENCY IS OVER.