Citizens group recommends major changes to policy on broadcast towers

A citizens group in British Columbia is recommending major changes to Industry Canada’s policy for radio antennae and TV transmitters that would have drastic effects on broadcasters. The Colwood B.C. Tower Committee recommends that Industry Canada differentiate between transmitters for cellular phones and those for AM/FM radio and television as the latter three "cause more harmful interference due to their higher power output." The Colwood committee calls on the department to change its current mindset from "engineering solutions that benefit the broadcasters to one which clearly takes the legitimate interests of citizens and their rights into consideration." Specifically, for example, it wants transmitters to be shut down if a broadcaster cannot meet safety standards and suggests that repeat occurrences be penalized up to and including the loss of a broadcast licence. Another suggestion is that broadcasters be required to compensate land owners and municipalities accordingly if the presence or operation of towers and transmitters lower adjacent property values. The suggestions were made by the Colwood committee as part of an ongoing Industry Canada review of its National Antenna Tower Policy. Earlier this year, Industry Canada appointed a committee headed by University of New Brunswick professor David Townsend to conduct a review of the department’s antenna siting policy. That review is nearly three weeks old, and Townsend expects to have a final report to Industry Canada by December 1. The City of Colwood is pushing for massive changes to the Industry Canada policy, following the construction without public consultation in 2000 of two controversial broadcast transmission towers and three FM radio transmitters on Triangle Mountain, near the city, in the midst of a quiet residential neighbourhood. In response to public outcry, Colwood city council used the B.C. Local Government Act to create a committee of council to determine how it happened and to recommend actions to remedy the adverse effects. The committee is chaired by a city councillor (the mayor is vice-chair) while three other members are citizens of the community. The Colwood committee says its recommendations come after three years of investigation and direct contact with all levels of the Industry Canada bureaucracy, including minister Alan Rock. Other recommendations made by the Colwood committee include that AM/FM radio no longer be recognized as a public service but rather as a commercial enterprise and hence all special rights be removed. It also doesn’t want broadcasters to have the right to self-police guidelines, and recommends a process be implemented to ensure compliance by broadcasters is done by a different level than those who grant approvals to proceed. It also wants an independent agency to ensure that broadcasters comply with health standards on a periodic basis as transmitters can sometimes "leak" and transmit at above prescribed levels. Furthermore, it calls for construction standards to be site-specific and meet local requirements since different places have varying seismic and wind load requirements. The committee also calls for the siting standards (for high-power transmitters) to be in areas of no or low population and that equipment operation and wind noise not exceed ambient background. "Correction of (harmful interference) must be prompt and, if required, at the source, i.e. the transmitter up to and including transmitter shutdown," reads the Colwood list of recommendations. "(The) current approach is ludicrous, illogical and unmanageable. Replacing and shrouding citizens’ adversely affected equipment does not correct the problem. Changes to the offending transmitter do." To deal with this problem, it wants Industry Canada to implement a system for tracking complaints of harmful interference, communicating them to the broadcaster for remedy, tracking their status and ensuring correction. For more information about the tower review, see the upcoming issue of CCR affiliate publication Report on Wireless. For more on the Colwood case and Townsend committee, see the April 15/03 and Feb. 18/03 issues of Report on Wireless.

Citizens group recommends major changes to policy on broadcast towers

News | 09/18/2003 4:00 am EDT

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