AB, Canmore Middle School, ‘Temporary’ 14.9m Tower

Summary

In October 2011, Telus installed a (what they called then) temporary cell phone tower in the back of their own property at 7th street in Canmore, Alberta. The tower is less than 15 meters in height, hence they did not need any permits for erecting and operating this tower. It is located in a residential neighbourhood. Lawrence Grassi Middle School (operated by Canadian Rockies Public Schools CRPS) is located about 120 meters to the northeast of the tower. The school hosts about 450 students in grade 4 to 7 plus staff.

For 7 months after installing the tower, Telus communicated that this is a temporary tower (base station) and that the company is looking for a better location.

After constant inquires from the public, Telus announced in April 2012 that the tower now will be permanent in this location. Neither the Town of Canmore, nor the nearby school, nor CRPS received information about this decision. Only neighbours in a 50 meter radius  around the tower got a one page information sheet.

After that, I measured and recorded the exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields in front of the school. The power density is in between 14,000 and 20,000 micro watts per square meter. (BioInitiative Report sees 1000 µW/m² as a maximum).

I informed the school officials and as many parents as possible about my findings and posted a You Tube video:

This triggered some articles in the local newspaper (Rocky Mountain Outlook)  and a lengthy battle of letters to the editor of this paper submitted by Telus and myself in response.

Unfortunately, officials from CRPS informed themselves exclusively through Telus representatives. after months of arguing, Telus measured their own signal without an independent control person on site and concluded that the exposure at the Canmore middle school is within Health Canada’s Safety Code 6 and therefore it is legal. But we know that this does not mean the situation at the school and in the neighbourhood is safe.