Opposes a proposed tower near home, citing doctors’ concerns for a disabled mother and potential effects …

My name is Andy Hinson. A 199-foot cell tower has been proposed to be sited near to my home and property in the North Carolina Piedmont. My disabled mother, who resides with me, has received letters from multiple doctors, including her personal care practitioner and her neurologist, asking that the tower be sited at a different location to prevent debilitating harm. One of the letters stated that the emissions from the base station could ultimately prove fatal to my mother. My property shelters an abundance of unusual flora and fauna, including Federally Endangered species. I have received letters and studies from multiple countries around the world stating the impacts to sensitive ecosystems, which include direct mortality in plants. Drastic decline is documented in pollinating insects, which could also affect crop production. Disruptive effects on bats have been documented by Dr. Paul Racey and Dr. Oliver Lindecke. Two deaths this year in NC are attributed to West Nile Virus (of 11 reported cases in 2026) and bats are natural predators of disease vector mosquitoes. New Hampshire House Bill 1644 recommended telecommunications antennas be 1,640 feet from residentially zoned areas. Particularly sensitive individuals such as my mother may require a greater separation, such as a minimum 2000 ft setback. ADA accommodation should be given to the sick and sensitive, and in extreme cases (such as doctor letters stating potentially fatal impacts) towers should be sited at least this distance. Cell towers should not be sited where Federally Endangered species are documented to be present. Avian collisions and other biological impacts may be lessened by required co-location of antennas on existing towers within a 2-3 mile area minimum. With cell phones people have at least some scant margin of choice, but with cell towers there is none. Agencies have long ignored biological impacts to humans under the excuse that studies on non-human subjects cannot be directly correlated. Perversely, there is no regulation to protect any non-human species, despite the vast scientific evidence. At cellular frequencies in experiments, ants have shown disorientation, relocation, weakened olfactory and visual memory, altered locomotion, and colony deterioration. Adaptation to electromagnetic exposure was observed to be impossible. A UNESCO report by Australia botanist Mark Broomhall observed startling and rapid species declines at Mt. Nardi of the Australian Nightcap Range. By his estimates, 70-90% of the wildlife has become rare or disappeared altogether, which he originally attributed to climate change. But the species declines were too sudden and too localized. Eventually he came to understand that the cell tower complex atop Mt. Nardi was affecting the wildlife for a radius of 2-3 km. This explanation became inescapable when there was a sudden return of multiple species over a three day period, in what he described as a "festival of birds". Heartbreakingly, after these three remarkable days, the biological explosion ended and the species again deserted the area. These three days were the three days that the cell towers were turned off for maintenance. Various studies have recorded the exodus of species from cell tower sites. Extensive studies were conducted in Kafue National Park in Zambia, finding a “significant decrease in the counts of birds across the EMR gradient” and “The site with the least electromagnetic pollution had the highest mean count of birds”, as well as “significant higher mean counts of abandoned tree cavity nests in proximate to the phone mast.” Also, the “site with the least electromagnetic pollution had the highest mean count of insects.” The study concludes that “the effects of EMR could be the dominant predictor of distribution of terrestrial birds and insects”. Electromagnetic radiation of mobile telecommunication antennas affects the abundance and composition of wild pollinators. Studies conducted on two separate Mediterranean islands measured electromagnetic radiation at 4 distances (50, 100, 200 and 400 m) from 10 antennas (5 on Limnos Island and 5 on Lesvos Island) concluded: “Pollinators and their host plants constitute pollination networks. Although the architecture of these mutualistic networks can increase the capacity of pollinator populations to persist under harsh conditions, once a tipping point in human-induced environmental change is reached, pollinator populations may collapse simultaneously. Therefore, these changes in the composition of pollinator communities associated with electromagnetic smog may have important ecological and economic impacts on the pollination service that could significantly affect the maintenance of wild plant diversity, crop production and human welfare.”