View this email in your browser Subscribe • Advertise Tuesday, October 1, 2019 Volume 7 | Issue 191 Ripon School Investigation Turns Up Carcinogens in the Soil Vapor By Jim Fryer, Inside Towers Managing Editor The Modesto Bee and CBS’ KMAX-TV (“Good Day Sacramento”) both ran stories late last week finally exonerating the cell tower industry of being the cancer-causing agent in Weston Elementary’s school children. Inside Towers reported on the flap in March as a series of “experts” were dutifully quoted by various media outlets as to the harmful effects of tower-generated microwave emissions. The stories were subsequently picked up and used throughout the U.S. and the world (the London Examiner, for one) by local groups and residents fighting tower structures on school grounds. The monopole’s owner, Sprint, under pressure, took down the tower to appease residents. In May, the focus shifted away from towers as the groundwater in Ripon was tested by the Regional Water Board and found to contain high elements of TCE, a residual chemical from a Nestle’s factory that had been operating near the school. Further studies released earlier in September have cited the soil vapor containing PCE, a carcinogenic solvent found in dry-cleaning as a leading contributor to local cancer- causing occurrences. KMAX-TV said the PCE is not related to the Nestle’s plant but found near sewer pipes in the area. The report entitled the Interim Report on Soil Vapor and Groundwater Investigations Former Nestle Ripon Site by Hayley Aldrich was released by the school district on September 8. Ohio’s Broadband Report is Key to Building a Statewide Strategy On Tuesday, Ohio’s InnovateOhio office, led by Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, in conjunction with the Ohio Department of Transportation, released a statewide broadband report outlining potential challenges and a list of connectivity goals while it develops a strategy. The goal is to bring high-speed internet to 300,000 unserved homes, which totals 1 million Ohioans. The report is based on the input of 24 national and local wireless carriers, per StateScoop. According to Husted, the goals include bringing broadband to rural communities, building connected autonomous vehicle-friendly roadways and funding a stronger network across the state. To accomplish this, the state will partner with private carriers, he added. The governor’s office found that there is “no silver bullet” or one-size-fits-all solution to expanding broadband throughout the state. “I’m not sure any state has found the magical solution for extending broadband and high-speed internet to rural areas that don’t have it,” Husted told StateScoop. “The reason is simply financial.” Continue Reading Virginia School Sees Ball Field Tower Generating Light, Communications and Revenue A rendering of what the tower would look like overlooking ball fields of Fauquier High Fauquier High School was presented with a plan last week to replace an 80-foot light pole on the baseball field at Virginia’s Fauquier High School with a 130-foot pole, according to the Fauquier Times. Milestone Communications of Reston, VA, made the presentation for a pole that would house lights at the current level and multiple cell carriers above that height. Matt Penning, a Milestone representative said T-Mobile already agreed to be a lead tenant on the site. Fauquier County Public Schools would receive 40 percent of all gross revenue from the site plus $20,000 up front with $5,000 from each subsequent carrier that comes on the tower. Penning told the Times that Milestone still needs permission from the town of Warrenton and must conduct a community outreach campaign to local residents. He hoped all permissions could be obtained in the next nine months to get the tower in place for high school and American Legion baseball seasons. Swarztrauber Joins FCC Chairman’s Office FCC Chairman Ajit Pai named Evan Swarztrauber as a policy advisor. He replaces Nathan Leamer, who recently left the Commission after two- and-a-half years. Swarztrauber was a policy advisor for Commissioner Brendan Carr on media issues and was Director of Public Affairs at TechFreedom, managing the organization’s communications and outreach teams. He previously was a communications staffer in the New York State Assembly and worked on political campaigns in New York City. “Evan did great work on a range of policy initiatives—from media modernization and cable franchise reform to wireless infrastructure and workforce development,” said Carr. “He has a knack for communicating complex and technical issues in a way that makes sense to everyday Americans while building support from a variety of stakeholders.” Senators Praise FCC Waiver for WEA Early Earthquake Warnings Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) commended the FCC’s decision to grant a waiver that will help mobile service providers more effectively deploy early warnings for earthquakes in the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system. Washington, Oregon, and California are developing a west coast earthquake early warning (EEW) system known as ShakeAlert. The ShakeAlert EEW system detects significant earthquakes fast enough so that alerts can reach many people seconds before shaking arrives. A key public component of ShakeAlert is delivery of alerts to cell phone users via WEA messages. To be effective to the public, these messages must be uniquely identifiable and transmitted with the smallest possible delay. Specifically, the three states and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) sought clarification and rule changes to cellular phone alerts that support the unique EEW needs. They requested: (1) alert geo-fencing be optional and determined by the alert originator, so that ShakeAlert has a route to bypass geo-fencing, (2) cell carriers optimize WEA delivery within their systems, ideally to achieve latencies of five seconds or less as needed for ShakeAlert, and (3) WEA support a unique alert attention sound for the EEW system. Continue Reading September 30, 2019 at Close Tennessee City of Sewanee and Verizon Hunt for Site Locations The Sewanee Community Council and Verizon have run a gamut of potential choices for siting a 285-foot macro tower in their Tennessee community. The discussion continued throughout September following a proposal to bring 1 GBps fiber optic internet service to the town, according to the Sewanne Mountain Messenger. The location options included: Behind the football stadium: Rejected by the State Historic Preservation Office as having an “adverse effect.” The water tower: Rejected. Would not provide adequate propagation. Further down Breakfield Road: Rejected. Inadequate propagation. Former convenience center: Rejected by Verizon for liability concerns from toxic chemicals revealed in a bore sample. Airport: Rejected by the airport as too tall. Nearby woods: Rejected. Environmental Protection Agency objected to tree cutting due to concerns about bats. The University: Possible. Sewanee, University of the South location is under consideration, although school officials said they are sensitive to concerns of neighboring residents. Ericsson and KDDI to Deploy 5G Network Communications service provider KDDI chose Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) as the primary 5G vendor for next-generation network deployment in Japan. KDDI expects the first commercial live 5G services to be available starting March 2020. It predicts 93 percent coverage of 5G base station areas specified by Japan’s telecom regulation body by the end of March 2025. Ericsson will supply KDDI with Radio Access Network equipment. These will allow KDDI to maximize its spectrum assets and enable the service provider to roll out commercial 5G services in several parts of Japan on the sub-6 GHz and 28 GHz bands. Continue Reading Note: the following article ran in NATE’s Sept./Oct. Issue of Tower Times and is being reprinted here exclusively for Inside Towers by special permission from the association. Written by Andy Thomforde and Scott Kisting, members of the PAN (Planning Advisory Notice) Advisory Group and researched by Craig Snyder, Jeremy Buckles, John Erichsen, Ken Hill, Michelle Kang, and Marianna Kramarikova. Horizontal Lifelines (Part 1 of 2) The safety of workers deploying the telecommunications networks is of critical importance to all involved. Use of properly designed, installed and maintained fall protection equipment by trained workers enables the safe and effective deployment of these networks across the country. Our industry is very familiar with temporary vertical lifelines and vertical safety climb systems installed as a part of climbing facilities on the antenna supporting structures that are utilized to provide telecommunications service throughout the country. Another option that many are not as familiar with is the use of horizontal lifelines. This PAN intends to focus on horizontal lifelines (HLL), the standards and processes that govern them, as well as considerations for when they are to be a part of an overall fall protection plan. Inspection requirements are a critical component that will be discussed as well. Continue Reading FirstNet Gets New AT&T Lead AT&T named the carrier’s FirstNet leader Chris Sambar as an executive vice president in the company. Sambar will be replaced by Jason Porter, who was previously AT&T’s chief data officer and led the strategic-planning organization for AT&T Technology Operations. “Serving our first responders through FirstNet isn’t just a dream job for me, it’s a calling, and I’m excited to take on this special mission,” Porter said in a prepared