A Win for Walla Walla: Residents Beat Back AT&T Plan to Build Cell Tower Near Homes, School
Residents of Walla Walla, Washington, succeeded in squashing AT&T’s plan to install a cell tower less than 600 feet from over 100 homes and within 200 feet of a church that runs a day school.
Residents of Walla Walla, Washington, succeeded in squashing AT&T’s plan to install a cell tower less than 600 feet from over 100 homes and within 200 feet of a church that runs a day school for up to 120 children.
In 2023, AT&T sued the City of Walla Walla in federal court after the city’s hearing examiner — a professional hired for deciding land use permit applications in Washington state — denied AT&T’s application, citing the telecom giant’s failure to thoroughly research and consider other possible locations for its tower.
The lawsuit came after the city, population 60,000, passed an ordinance in 2022 requiring telecom companies to first consider nonresidential sites before attempting to put a tower in a neighborhood. Walla Walla residents who didn’t want cell towers built near homes pressured city officials to pass the ordinance.
On Jan. 9, a federal judge dismissed AT&T’s lawsuit at the company’s request, after it found a nearby nonresidential site on county — rather than city — land for its tower.
Walla Walla City Attorney Tim Donaldson told The Defender the lawsuit’s dismissal means that the hearing examiner’s denial of AT&T’s application to put the tower on Blue Mountain Community Church’s property stands.
“AT&T will instead co-locate — as in, put — an antenna on the existing Harmoni tower at the corner of Russell Creek & Depping Roads,” Donaldson said.
“This whole fight was about poor site choice,” Walla Walla resident Barbara Knudson told The Defender.
AT&T could and should have initially looked for a site that wasn’t close to where people live and kids learn before the company talked with Blue Mountain Community Church leaders about leasing its backyard, she said.
Douglas DeMers, another Walla Walla resident who lives close to the original proposed site, told The Defender that AT&T’s case was meritless. “In my opinion, AT&T tried to bully the City of Walla Walla into giving up — attempting to bankrupt the city through means of the legal system.”
W. Scott McCollough, lead litigator for Children’s Health Defense’s (CHD) Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) & Wireless, agreed the case was meritless.
“AT&T should not have filed the case to begin with,” McCollough told The Defender. “Perhaps they expected Walla Walla to just fold and settle, but it did not. The city attorneys … put up a good fight. So AT&T had to walk away.”
McCollough — who represented CHD in its 2021 historic win against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding its wireless radiation exposure limits — said he was impressed by the Walla Walla residents’ legal victory.
People should take their win as a sign that “yes, you can actually stop a tower if you organize, commit and do it right,” he said. “If you work your elected representatives with fervor but also respect, and let them know you want them to defend your interests rather than rolling for big industry they will often respond.”
Miriam Eckenfels, director of CHD’s EMR & Wireless program, said the win “underscores both the importance of persistence in fighting a cell tower and the need for strong, protective codes and ordinances on the local level. We recommend people visit stop5G.org to learn more about both.”
Tower would have been close to man with pacemaker
In March 2024, Barbara Knudson and her husband, Everett, intervened in AT&T’s lawsuit as defendants alongside Walla Walla.
Everett, who is in his late seventies, relies 100% on a pacemaker due to a prior heart attack and stroke. Wireless radiation from a cell tower can interfere with his pacemaker.
“My husband was an electrical contractor and understands these structures and what they emit,” Knudson told The Defender in an earlier interview. “If his pacemaker falters for any reason he will have no heartbeat and will die within minutes.”
Had the tower gone up, they would have been forced to leave their home of 39 years. “After fighting for your homes for so long, it is still hard to grasp that it has really happened,” Knudson said.
She credited residents’ countless hours of strategic work, including educating their local community and officials, for winning the legal battle. “If the neighbors hadn’t stood up to this, we would have a cell tower,” Knudson said.
‘Federal law needs to be changed’
The battle was challenging since federal law doesn’t allow residents to reject a proposed cell tower application based on health concerns, Knudson said.
For instance, even though her husband’s pacemaker made AT&T’s proposed tower location potentially life-threatening for him, the Knudsons couldn’t make legal arguments based on concerns for his health.
Instead, they and the city attorneys had to rely on other arguments, such as that AT&T hadn’t adequately looked for a more suitable site and that the proposed site increased the neighborhood’s fire risk.
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 prohibits local governments from considering the environmental effects of radiofrequency (RF) radiation — including health effects — of a proposed wireless project, as long as the project complies with the FCC’s rules on RF emissions.
“The federal law needs to be changed,” Knudson said. “Once there is liability on the part of the telecommunication companies regarding health, they will place these towers in safer locations.”
Concerned about a cell tower going up in your neighborhood? Here’s what to do.
Knudson encouraged people to fight cell tower placement at the planning stage. “Once a cell tower is there,” she said, “it is very difficult to get them relocated.”
DeMers agreed. He shared more advice:
Don’t give up! “Talk to and find neighbors who are similarly concerned. Look at successful examples from other communities — like the case in Walla Walla.”
Make sure you know and understand who ultimately makes the decisions in your town. “We spent half a year hounding the city council and planning department, who actually could do nothing about the process itself.”
Research local codes and ordinances governing wireless communication facilities and carefully examine all documents in the application, in light of local codes and ordinances.
Talk to planning departments and other local governmental agencies involved. “Be polite yet firm.” Use the Freedom of Information Act to request information about the proposed wireless communication facility.
Be prepared for a potentially long and expensive process. “Unfortunately, wireless companies have very deep pockets and the ability to litigate excessively.”
Lobby to have the “public notice distance” extended to 1,500 feet of the proposed tower. Initially, Walla Walla city officials informed only those living within 300 feet. DeMers and others sent letters to homeowners within 600 feet. “Many had no clue about the tower proposed to be in their backyards,” he said.
The Defender reached out to AT&T’s lawyers and media relations department but did not receive a response by the deadline.
Related articles in The Defender:
Couple Who Fears Cell Tower Could Disrupt Pacemaker Wins Right to Intervene in AT&T Lawsuit
Schools Are Signing Cell Tower Deals — Without Telling Parents
Exclusive: Woman Living Near Cell Tower Diagnosed With 51 Strokes
‘It’s Insane’: Big Telecom Pushes Bad Cell Tower Deals on ‘Literally Hundreds’ of Schools
I'd prohibit all their GHz radiation in the air, put cables underground, and do not kill nature!
Cell towers exploding, 5G and so much more to zombie the young. In France and I suppose everywhere, young starting at the age of 12 who knows even younger, 12 to 16 hours on TikTok and Pornhub, completely in the ban of screens, worse than the opioid crisis, Fentanyl…are they the real Pandemic?