Update on DC Initiatives
Hello All,
Well, the wait is over for the Nov. election results, which did actually impact some of our follow up action with regard to our DC trip. But the important thing is we opened some very important doors on this issue, got the ball rolling and now have a sizable group of people who are willing to take political action at the federal level.
Although I still think it unwise to email out the entire list of reps we met with, due to it possibly falling into the wrong hands and encountering adversity to what we are trying to accomplish (as per what happened in my past experience working on a similar issue in Washington - although just the act of taking action does entail adversity), I do think we can and should openly discuss the Executive Branch Agencies we met with, as this seems like the best way to make change the fastest (if such a word exists in Washington), although of course nothing on this issue will be easy...but you already know that.
Before I get to the Executive Branch Agency meetings, I want to let you know some of the other things we have accomplished between the time we got back from the trip and now, and some things which failed to come to fruition, but I still hold out hope for...
USA Freedom Act and Smart Meters
We tried to get smart meters specifically entered into the USA Freedom Act (the bill that would have stopped NSA mass surveillance on US citizens), but the Chair of the Committee where the bill was, Sen. Leahy's office said it is dangerous to single out technologies because you inevitably leave other technologies OUT. So they just wanted to blanket ALL technologies without specifying any. Needless to say, that bill failed to pass and we are back at square one with NSA surveillance still happening on innocent US citizens.
Other Interactions and Results from Sen. Leahy's Office
We then tried to get Sen. Leahy to sponsor a bill for a nationwide free opt out, modeling it after his state of Vermont's bill free opt out bill. His office said that he would not have jurisdiction as he was chair of the Judiciary Committee, so he could not bring this bill for us and we would have to take it to the Energy Committee (a MUCH tougher battle) however, as a consolation of sorts, his legislative director did say she was going to request Sen. Leahy write a letter to DOE (Dept. of Energy) on our behalf regarding the smart meter/spying issue. If Sen. Leahy agrees, this letter would be written after the election and the holidays, so in 2015. Although it does not seem like much, it is actually somewhat of a big deal. It will put the issue of smart meters and spying on the record in the Senate, at a national level and force dialogue with DOE (the agency that refused to talk or meet with us)and the Senate. Also, last time my Congressman Waxman partnered with Cong. Markey (now Sen. Markey) when our group met with them for cell phone warning labels in 2010, they ended up not doing the label, but instead writing a letter to the GAO requesting a federal investigation into cell phone and RF radiation safety standards. The GAO then requested the FCC to revisit the standards and here we are today still waiting for the FCC to do this. But my point is these letters from senators and reps do carry weight, they do require answering, it is much harder to ignore congress than it is to ignore us as citizens and it is a step in the right direction.
I would like to thank one of our very active Vermont affiliates of StopSmartGird.org, Martine Victor, who also has her own group in Vermont, StopSMeters.org, for her invaluable participation and tireless back and forth emails and conference calls with myself and her senators office. Please always keep in mind, without you as the constituent, we will never be heard or gain traction in any of these offices. Your personal participation is the ONLY thing that enables us to communicate with important chairs or members of committees and break ground like we have with Sen. Leahy's office.
My Senator Boxer and EPA
Although we did not meet with the EPA, because at this time they are totally uninvolved with this issue, we did meet with the committee that provides funding for the EPA and they tasked us with - putting together a paper on how the EPA got taken off this issue, in order to give background and help enable us to start getting the EPA back ON this issue...for indoor and outdoor wireless radiation emissions, possibly using my ex-Congressman's bill, The Clean Air Act as the vehicle within which to bring them back in. This is going to be a process and of course the process might change, it is just a starting point. So the bad news is my Sen. is no longer the chair of the committee we met with that funds the EPA since she is a Democrat. The Chairmanship is going to go to a Republican. She will be the Ranking member, or lesser of the 2 chairs. We are still working with her senior staffer on this, but she no longer has the clout she did as Chair. We are going to have to wait and see which Republican gets it and then approach them with this idea of EPA and oversight of wireless radiation emissions.
Executive Branch Agencies we met and follow ups:
DOJ - Extremely productive meeting. We are currently working with DOJ on this issue and expect some kind of action from them to be forthcoming. They had asked us for the US military studies which I gathered and submitted to them about a month or so ago and will be posting in an updated version of our Congressional White Paper. I am still sending them stuff and we will be meeting with them again on a forthcoming follow up trip I think we need to make. DOJ is deeply disturbed by what we have revealed to them, they actually care and I am hopeful that they will take action soon.
FDA - This meeting went well with one of the senior staffers, but not so well with one of the junior staffers (in my opinion which is not shared by all who were in attendance at the meeting). They have asked us to produce a paper which we are currently working on, however, more importantly, we have enlisted a top EMF scientist who has agreed to come to Washington with us on our next trip and take the FDA meeting with us!! I will release the scientists name as we get closer to the date this coming spring, probably in April and the meeting is confirmed with the FDA.
GSA - This agency was very responsive. We actually had 2 meetings with them while in DC. There is someone in our group who wishes not to have their name publicized, but who set the GSA meeting up and has been in close contact with them. I am going to respect their wishes of not even discussing what may be happening, but I am hopeful that we are going to make headway with this agency.
HHS - This was a joke. They cancelled our meeting without telling us and then stuck us with a newbee who knew nothing and could not help us at all. I will be following up with HHS and enlist my senator or congressman's help if necessary in order to obtain a real meeting with HHS on our next trip to DC.
HUD - Our HUD meeting left me in tears. Literally. We were stonewalled by a callous executive who was in the meeting with us and the other HUD staffers, however, he did leave us with the possibility of action should we produce enough NIH, NIEH and other scientific federal agency material to warrant HUD stepping in. That said, we have been taking action with HUD at the state level and he said that was more appropriate because in order for HUD to do anything federally, these other agencies would need to produce their evidence...it was easier to make it happen at the state level with HUD. Were we to do that and with enough states forcing HUD to take action, we could then take those cases to the federal HUD office and see about getting something done at the federal level. Of course Oregon is in the midst of a win with HUD and we in CA have been in close contact with HUD here on this issue, hopefully following in the footsteps of Oregon or at least expanding upon their win once it is finalized.
FCC (5 meetings) purely for the record so that we could say we met with them when asked by congress. No action from this agency should be expected with the exception of maybe a nod to children and pregnant women because of the GAO request to re-visit RF standards, something the FCC will drag out to the last possible moment. The only way to get action from the FCC is through their funding committees and congressional pressure - something that may not come so easily. This agency truly is the belly of the beast - but you knew that too.
As far as your reps that we met with who, if you and I have not followed up yet, I would like to do that, so please send me an email and we will. If I don't hear from you, eventually you will hear from me and we can follow up then. I do not expect us to get a bill passed right now, but having your rep write a letter on our behalf to an agency whom he or she has jurisdiction over, or for them to partner with someone who has jurisdiction over an important agency, is a realistic goal for the immediate and could help us achieve what we want in the long run.
From what I experienced in our meetings, the most impactful legislator meetings we had were the meetings that had the most constituents in them. Those meetings by far were Maryland and Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania had their constituents in the local office on speaker phone while we were in the DC office...A LOT of constituents and that impressed the reps office. It was a stellar meeting and we will be following up with that rep who happens to sit on the Energy committee. Maryland had people come in since they were so close and already had an organized group, MSMA and that also impressed the reps office. We are going to need to have turn outs like that for a majority of the 50 states, if we expect to pass a bill...we are not there yet, but there are things we can do in the mean time that could be extremely helpful, like getting your reps to write a letter on our behalf to the appropriate federal agency and eventually, when the time is right and as our group grows, bring a bill on this issue.
There is something else I would like to add to the mix. I just sent out an email out about it, so please give it a quick look. It has to do with 12 billion dollars of our tax money through the Federal Stimulus Fund, to fund a new military grade cell tower infrastructure with surveillance capabilities. I am currently battling this locally, but it actually affects all of us in the US...you will be getting this new cell tower coming soon to a location near you if nothing is done about it. Did your local government drink the federal financial Cool Aide? Most likely the answer is YES. it is being done under Homeland Security of course in order to over ride your rights to health, life, property, environmental impact reports, public input and due process. I would like to address this also on our next trip.
We will have a conference call soon and we can discuss our follow ups, our goals, our next trip and what we wish to accomplish and how we are going to go about doing it.
I look forward to talking with you soon. Thank you for your heartfelt participation on this issue. Apathy = death on this issue and thanks to you, we may not all die from this.
Special thanks for articles from: Environmental Health News, Omega News, Common Dreams, Iris Atzmon, Steven Lee, Diana Luppi, Marilynne Martin, Maureen Homan, Warren Woodward, Patricia Burke, Velma Lyrae, Paul Doyon. Kathy Ging, Patricia Burke, Judi Hangartner, Deborah Taveris
