At first, I was excited to speak with the city’s new climate and energy manager Seth Vidana in an attempt to help him make the obvious connections between technology and the impact it has on the environment. Specifically, I wanted to talk to him about the benefits of a local Dig Once Policy and the amount of energy wireless communications use.
He told me that while he was personally interested in wireless energy usage, its impact on the environment, and Dig Once, etc., he has been forbidden by his boss, Interim Public Works Director Eric Johnston, from discussing these issues or their effects on the environment with me or anyone else. He also said that all communications related to these issues have to go through Eric Johnston.
Since Mayor Seth Fleetwood has literally been to my house for a Dig Once presentation and seemed to agree that it makes sense, I’ve put a call in to him.
Also interesting, I was told by members of the Climate Action Task Force (CATF) that when they asked for public feedback, Dig Once was outlined to them as an environmental issue. Even so, Task Force members were not directed to discuss these issues.
You may ask, how are these environmental issues?
Dig Once assures that we are doing the most work in the most efficient manner: preparing our city for the future, while attracting clean, next-generation, high-paying jobs, and enabling fuel-saving technology like telemedicine, telecommuting, and online education. At the same time, we can assure that we do as little damage to the environment by digging up our roads and land as infrequently as possible. This has other advantages like not disrupting traffic any more than necessary and keeping our city flowing for our citizens. A Dig Once policy ties fiber-optic cable installation into any other infrastructure project that requires excavation, like transportation projects, water and sewer upgrades and repairs, renewable energy-based public power, and more.
On the topic of wireless networks, we currently use about 43 terrawatts of energy on wireless communications nationwide. A terawatt is equal to one trillion (1012) watts. While wireless may be convenient, from a performance standpoint, it is inferior in many ways to the fiber-optic cable that backs it up. The many performance shortcomings of wireless technology, as well as its health concerns, are covered here.
With 5G we expect the energy consumption of wireless tech to go up to at least 60 terrawatts. So another 17 terrawatts! A modern nuclear power plant produces only about 1 gigawatt—one billion (109) watts—and most of the power plants in Washington use natural gas. We should note that wireless equipment also does not last nearly as long as fiber-optic cable. FIber cable can last 100 years, with no need to replace the fiber. For upgrades one would instead replace the equipment hooked up to it. Wireless tech is lucky to last 15 years.
So, we can see that this unnecessary, underperforming wireless technology will have many adverse effects on the environment, while comparatively, fiber uses very little energy and just keeps getting better. It’s an issue the COB should be taking seriously. The fact that Eric Johnston is refusing to make the connections between tech and the environment, and not allowing Seth Vidana to do so, can only be bad for the citizens of Bellingham in the long run. This is a topic that Vidana should be learning about and incorporating into his recommendations.
All we are asking is that we finally be allowed to make a presentation on Dig Once to the council. A second presentation, from the many citizens concerned about 5G, would also be helpful. Each group should be allotted at least 40 minutes for their presentations. This administration cannot say it’s an environmental administration if we don’t consider the impact of technology on the environment.
Finally, it is time for the COB to establish a citizen technology committee. It would go a long way to avoiding misunderstandings and helping the city make the best choices. In all of the years I’ve been working on broadband issues in Bellingham, I have never understood why the COB is so afraid of having open, transparent conversations about technology. It’s time.
Comments by Readers
Dianne Foster
Mar 08, 2020Jon,
I’ll volunteer to help. I’m a cancer patient, and don’t want 5G - whether Verizon or Huawei, in my neighborhood. It’s ironic that citizens get 3 minutes to speak, while corporations get 30 minutes. Who’s paying the taxes anyway?
Jon Humphrey
Mar 08, 2020Thanks DIanne, you’ve always been great about this issue. One of the items I, and others, have presented to the council is from the recent NRDC case. Here is a snippet of hope from it. Most importantly, it shows that our lawyers and public wors director are wrong when they tell our mayor, council and citizens that there is nothing they can do. There is.
“Q: What can local governments do?
A: Local governments can condition approval for new 5G cell construction upon compliance
with state and federal requirements for environmental review. While a local government cannot
add new requirements for environmental review, it can require proof that the necessary
federal review has been done. Given the mounting evidence that the FCC’s radio frequency
limits are inadequate, such federal review should include an evaluation of the adequacy of these
limits.”
Again, no government agency has done adequate testing for safe wireless exposure levels. In simpler terms, they’re reolling this out with no real testing. The FCCs standards are over 24 years old and were inadequate in the first place. Conversations with the schools show that they have done no wireless testing and the IT Director has blocked all attempts for independent testing to take place, using numbers added up on paper to make the false claim that the schools are “meeting WHO guidelines.” A mother did sneak a meter in one of the middle schools and found that it is at least 6 times above the safe standard for wireless exposure. She pulled her child out when she started throwing up from EMF/EMR exposure. We’ve been having conversations with Greg Baker about this, but his IT director keeps feeding him industry-backed, inaccurate, documents about safety.
A link to more information and what you and other citizens can do. www.wa4safetech.com
You can demand that the schools and Western allow an independent firm to do wireless safety testing. We found a reputable company in Seattle that does this. You can demand that the same testing is done all around Bellingham and that the council reverse its decision to allow the deployment of small cells, and other wireless tech, until that testing is complete.
You can come to council meetings and spread awareness. The biggest issue with broadband in Bellingham is that the industry has captured our government, and has allies like Eric that are willing to do everything from hide public records to bully their employees into making sure that no transparent conversations about technology take place.
B. Sadie Bailey
Apr 24, 2020Excellent article and points made. Thank you for all the work and data gathering you have done on this. I wish we had someone like you in the San Juans! I don’t get here often enough to read, but I’m grateful that NW Citizen exists. In looking at your most recent article and in reading some of your past articles, I can see your commitment in doing this work and getting the information out; people need to know the truth and you’re getting that out there.
Jon Humphrey
Apr 24, 2020Thanks for your comments. I am concerned about all of the problems 5G presents as well, especially the harm to biological organisms. It seems silly to take a chance on 5G when we have a perfectly safe tech out there that will more than meet all of our needs in fiber. For example, fiber is needed to backup all modern communications. So if we’re running fiber to wireless small cells right next to your home or business, why not ditch the small cells and just hook up to the fiber instead? Remember, to get peak performance out of 5G, since many of the waves are very short, you have to be very close to the small cells anyway. So close in many cases, you might as well just hook up to the fiber. I love the San Juans, and am very impressed with the fiber I used on Orcas. It’s also annoying how the industry keeps comparing wireless or copper cabling to fiber. It’s like comparing apples, oranges and pears. They’re all fundamentally different in how they handle communications. Fiber is, of course, the most efficient.
Still, this article was largely about a problem we’ve had for at least a decade with the COB and Whatcom County governments. They have no problem censoring people on behalf of the big telecoms via upper echelon staff. Eric, and before him Ted Carlson and IT director Marty Mulholland, have pulled me into closed-door meetings to make it clear that they wanted us to shut up and go away. Eric even started yelling at me. I’m so glad I pay my taxes and some of it goes to their high salaries. There will be no transparency in Public Works or IT as long as Eric and Marty are there. Last week Eric started playing his games again, claiming that he wasn’t even aware of the public fiber movement. Here’s the full update. https://www.change.org/p/mayorsoffice-cob-org-bellingham-whatcom-county-public-fiber-optic-network Sadly, I think he will try every dirty trick in the book to try to keep our area from having the fiber it needs, especially during times of crisis.
Here is a great Washington State website that talks about just about every aspect of 5G. www.wa4safetech.com
Aaron Brand
Oct 18, 2020This is probably the best argument that I’ve heard for not supporting 5G. The energy consumption alone should be enough to convince people that supporting public fiber networks is the best option. The problem, as I see it, is the cost. I don’t think enough people would support paying for it. This should be the topic of your discussion, not your perceived incompetence and corruption. I think gathering support for educating the public would go a lot further toward convincing our representatives in local government. I had to read three of your articles, with a fair amount of skepticism regarding your accusations of corruption, to get to the heart of the issue. And I wonder if your ascerbic commentary might be more to blame than any outright corruption when it comes to public officials not wanting to hear from you.
response to response:
Thanks for your response. I’m trying not to make any assumptions. But you just confirm what I said before; your comments place blame on others and you fail to convince me that it’s worth my time reading anything else you’ve written.
you say the port is sitting on millions. If it takes a million dollars for five miles of fiber then it would be on the order of ten million dollars to get fiber to Glacier. My guess is that there is not enough money. If a public entity is going to pay for infrastructure then it is we, the people, who will need to pay for it. If you have other ways to make it happen then do that. Otherwise, blaming other people for not getting your project done doesn’t inspire me to act.
Jon Humphrey
Oct 19, 2020Aaron, please read all of my articles before assuming I’m the problem. People that have been following this for years know that the our goverment has pulled out every stop to protect big telecom for almost 5 years now. In fact, Eric Johnston pulled me into a closed room meeting about 2 years ago and tried to yell at me for about an hour. Sharon Shewmake did the same thing for about 9 minutes to protect big telecom and then rumor spread. Roxanne Murphy, after gushing all over CenturyLink, used to violate my first amendment rights at council meetings to try to waste my time to protect big telecom. The list goes on. They have dodged public records requests and been caught for serious violations at least twice. They meet with big telecom all of the time, often in secret, and Eric actively fought the formation of a Broadband Advisory Committee for years, and continues to do so. So yes, they are corrupt. It’s time to admit that and replace some people. We gave them the benefit of the doubt for about 2 of those years and all they did was use it to stall and try to do nothing. During the entire time we’ve worked on educating the public at many events, in my own home, and more. So yes, I am done molly coddling corrupt officials and you should be too. The pandemic has proven we need this resource and the city still refuses the public access to the existing network we paid for. Their excuses are thin and indefensible. Also, fiber pays for itself via leasing, and other economic, social and environomental benefits. There should be no cost to the citizens. In fact, there is a lot of funding out there for broadband expansion, especially rural broadband expansion. For example, the Port is sitting on a few million dollars in grants they were given to do a fiber run to Glacier and other parts of the county, also outlined in a recent article of mine, but internal politics have kept them from starting work too. There is more than enough money and they already have it. The cost in Mount Vernon for installing conduit, with 144 count fiber in it, is about $180,000 a mile.
Aaron Brand
Oct 19, 2020Thanks for your response. I’m trying not to make any assumptions. But you just confirm what I said before; your comments place blame on others and you fail to convince me that it’s worth my time reading anything else you’ve written.
you say the port is sitting on millions. If it takes a million dollars for five miles of fiber then it would be on the order of ten million dollars to get fiber to Glacier. My guess is that there is not enough money. If a public entity is going to pay for infrastructure then it is we, the people, who will need to pay for it. If you have other ways to make it happen then do that. Otherwise, blaming other people for not getting your project done doesn’t inspire me to act.
Jon Humphrey
Oct 19, 2020Aaron, you did not read what I said carefully and are twisiting my words. All of this is in my articles. The Glacier run is the first of many rural broadband runs the Port is supposed to do. Did you read that article? I stated about 5 miles for about $1 million, that’s based on $180,000 a mile when boring is required, which is the Mount Vernon rate, but the cost can be much lower for less technical runs. It doesn’t NOT cost $1 million a mile. Glacier is the first of many runs that were suppsoed to have started by now. And again, it pays for itself via leasing, better jobs, attracting next generation tech companies and much more. Eric, of course, cooked the books to say that it’s $600,000 a mile in Bellingham, which is so high that even Michael Lilliquist ordered an investigation of it, and every expert consulted confimred that Eric’s amount was way too high. One of the many other reasons Eric should be fired.
1. The installation cost per mile for conduit with 144 count fiber in Mount Vernon is usually anywhere from about $120K to $180K per mile. The total cost of a county-wide network, according to the Port is $50 million with a large portion of the installation being aerial fiber runs. Private entities have put it at $120 to $160 million depending on how much of it is underground.
2. Fiber pays for itself via leasing, as I said above, and there are lots of grants and near-zero interest loans out there available from the several entities, including the federal govenrment. So the citiziens don’t have to pay for it. It pays for itslef. Paired with a Dig Once Policy, the installation of conduit with fiber is reduced by 90% since excavation is the most costly party.
3. I am not blaming others, or mad because i’m “not getting my way.” I am holding people accountable. Thousands of people have signed the broadband petition, and it has the support of most of the major political parties here. On top of that thousands of people have written to the government demanding this and they have been ignored. So even if they don’t like me they’re ignoring thousands of their citizens. There is a lot of support for this. So yes, or corrupt officials are the problem and need to be held accountable. They are abusing their positions to protect special interests. They are also sitting on resources that those of us who care about the community can use to help our citizens out. So yes, we need them to stop working agains the public interest and give us access to the resources we already paid for.
4. Why is there so much support for this? Aside from the pandemic making it clear we need it, it helps us address most of our social and economic concerns. It would give us living wage jobs with benefits, for example, and help us reduce trips, which at this time would also help us reduce the spread of COVID-19.
5. So again, I am not blaming others. I am holding them accountable. This has so much support largely because of my many educaitonal efforts in the community. People are educated; they are being ignored.
6. They are being ignored by officials, like Eric, that make enough money to comfortably support a family of 4 for 3 years on their annual salary. You skim over the fact that their behavior is unacceptable. It is ok if they do their jobs for a change.
7. I did a search on you, I found a guy with your name that work in the tech industry in Bellingham. Special interests? I only ask because every arguement you make ignores my numbers and I’ve heard them before from our corrupt public works director and big telcom.
8. So again, try readin the articles before making assumptions. Your numbers and assumptions are way off.
9. With many of our kids slated to go back to school on November 2nd, and our schools taking no meaningful aciton on broadband, we can expect them to get the virus and spread it to the grandparents that often watch them when they work 2 or 3 low paying, no benefits, jobs to make ends meat. Remember, it’s the poor kids that have either no connection or connections so bad they’re virtually worthless. Fiber helps with better jobs too. But this means that while the city sits on our resources, and denies us access to them, they are probably helping unnecessiliary spread COVID-19.
10. You are ignoring the hiding of records by the COB and public record request violations. These are serious issues.
Aaron Brand
Oct 19, 2020You’re just very argumentative and, frankly, off-putting. I’m just basing my comments on what I’ve read that you have written. You seem paranoid and delusional. I’ll try to find another way to support a community initiative for broadband. You don’t inspire me to support you.
BTW Your implication that I have something to gain by opposing public support (federal funds do come from our tax dollars) for community broadband is ludicrous! You fail to grasp the position of someone who has a very-nearly identical position to your own. But I’m not surprised based on what I’ve read from you. Am I on your list now, too?
Jon Humphrey
Oct 19, 2020That’s great Aaron, I’m glad you’re going to support community broadband. It’s a worthy effort. Your personal opinions of me aside, I hope you use my numbers and keep my experiences in mind. They are solid references and well researched. Yes, I hold people accountable. As you go down this rabbit hole, you’ll find that that’s what you need to do. Again, we tried the carrot for 2 years and were pullled into closed door meetings, yelled at, and much more. That’s how the COB actually rolls. They will start the process over with you, but at least then you’ll see. There are many other articles here by other authors that highlight the ongoing corruption in Whatcom County too. As far as your belief that I’m paranoid and delusional goes, were the Watergate reporters paranoid and delusional for reporting the facts? For example, the public record requests I use can be requested from the city. My calculations can be repeated. Having what you percieve to be a “my poor attitude” is not a justificaiton for our officials to lie to us. Also, it is fair to ask another person what companies they’re tied to and what their bias is.
You did side step almost every good point made here and refuse to read the other articles here that catalog the history of this issue yet make assumptions and even stoop to personal attacks. Are we in identical positions? That is your word against mine. Still, no individual opinion, attitude, or other subjective quality should be used as justification to keep this important resource from our people. You are making a large issue personal and acting like I have control over resources like the COB network, Eric’s decisions, federal funding to cities, and more. If I did this probelm would have been solved many years ago. There is no other, “way to get this done.” Our officials need to participate and do their jobs. Then many entities can help our citizens get connected. Mount Vernon, for example, has 9 local, net-neutral, providers on their Open Access network. They all pay leases that pay for the maintenance and expansion of the network.
So in short, this issue is bigger than either of us. I don’t have “a list.” I report the facts and name the people involved because transperancy is what we need now more than ever and it’s never been what we get from our government. Again, 90% of the cost of installation of fober is in excavation, that means every time you’ve seen a street dug up, and public broadband infrastructure not put in, and every year they’ve refused to establish a Dig Once Policy and Open Access to the network, they’re largely wasting that 90% and an opportunity to improve our economy, quality of life and much more. Again, the network pays for itself and its own expansion. You can look at the City of Mount Vernon, Chatanooga, TN, and Wilson, NC and many more places for examples. In fact, I’ve donated the book “Fiber” by Susan Crawford to the library. I suggest you read it. Virtually every town that has invested in public fiber-optic infrastructure has found the investment well worth it. More importantly, proper broadband infrastructure could have helped keep our kids learning, while our schools were closed, and exposed fewer people to the pandemic. The longer our government drags their feet on this issue, the more people they knowingly put at risk.