View CHD Webinar and Q&A re OTARD Lawsuit

By Children’s Health Defense (CHD), June 30, 2021 | Original The Defender article here.

Watch the webinar and Q & A session regarding the filing of CHD’s main brief in its case against the Federal Communications Commission’s amendment of the OTARD rule, allowing base station antennas, including 5G, on homes without notice to neighbors or any ability to object their installation. The rule preempts state and zoning laws as well as federal and state disability laws and unlawfully violates numerous constitutional rights. CHD’s case challenging the rule was filed on 2/26/21; the main brief in the case was filed on 6/23/21. In this webinar, attorneys Dafna Tachover, Director of CHD’s 5G & Wireless Harms Project, and Scott McCollough, a seasoned telecommunications and administrative law attorney and CHD’s lead attorney for this case, explain in layman’s terms what OTARD is and discuss the arguments they raised in the brief. They were also joined by attorney Petra Brokken to discuss the Amicus Brief she spearheaded that was filed on behalf of 68 organizations representing over 1,000,000 people. The Amicus Brief was filed on 6/30/21.

Learn what you can do to oppose OTARD in your community.

Personal Message

From Dafna Tachover, Esq:

The CHD Principal Brief Was Filed on Wed, June 23

We think we have a good case and are pleased with the brief we filed.

  • Read the here or here.
  • Read also a The Defender article which provides a good summary of the legal arguments we raised in our brief.

In addition to the brief, we filed 11 affidavits including 3 expert affidavits and an addendum which includes a collection of 246 personal comments filed with the FCC describing the suffering of adults and children from wireless and the negative effects the OTARD rule may cause. The addendum also includes a table that analyzes close to 500 comments filed with the FCC. We color code the issue raised, which shows that the FCC ignored the comments and the issues that were raised in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act.

Amicus Brief for the OTARD Case Was Filed on Wed, June 30

On Wednesday, dozens of organizations in the US filed an Amicus Brief in the OTARD case. Petra Brokken, from Safe Tech Minnesota initiated and organized the brief. The attorney who filed the Amicus, Stephen Dias-Gavin, was one of the attorneys in the successful case against the FCC’s 5G “small cell” regulation for preempting National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review. #### Personal Note from Dafna Tachover

I am very grateful to W. Scott McCollough, Esq. for his brilliance, skills and effort. When I read the brief for the last time, I thought the brief was excellent and a job well done. I was glad that our hard word resulted in a brief we can all be very proud to file with the court. As an Electromagnetically Sensitive (EMS) person who is suffering from exposures to excessive RF Electromagnetic Microwave Radiation (RF-EMR) in our environment, I felt that the brief stated the case perfectly.

The FCC’s OTARD (Over-the-air reception device) amendment attempts to take all our rights to oppose this unnecessary rollout of the 4G/5G surveillance and crowd control grid. The OTARD case is the case that can achieve acknowledgement and substantive protection for EMS Americans. Now that the US government via the FCC and OTARD, made it clear that it is intending to sacrifice the sick on the altar of wireless, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals judges, will have to make a statement about our rights. This is the purpose of our brief. I concluded my affidavit to the court with Gandhi’s words: “The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.”

Principal Brief Filed in Children’s Health Defense’s Cases Against FCC Rule Allowing Base Station Antennas on Homes

CHD Press Release

Children’s Health Defense, June 27, 2021

Washington, DC – Children’s Health Defense (CHD) filed its principal brief on Wednesday, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in its case against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The case challenges the agency’s amendment of its “Over-the-Air Reception Devices” (OTARD) Rule that went into effect on March 29, 2021. The case was filed on February 26, 2021.

CHD is opposing the amended rule, which allows fixed wireless companies to contract with private property owners, including homeowners, to place point-to-point antennas on their property and, for the first time, add carrier-grade base station antenna installations to extend wireless service, including 5G, to users over a wide area.

The rule preempted all state and local zoning laws. No application, permit or notice to neighboring properties is required. Homeowners’ associations and deed restrictions and any other state laws are preempted.

CHD argued that the FCC failed to provide significant and sufficient policy reasons to justify these sweeping preemptions and therefore violated the Administrative Procedures Act.

The organization claims that The FCC’s rule amendment is not authorized by the Communications Act, and conflicts with other laws and policies protecting public interest and property rights.

The rule amendment preemption of federal and state civil rights laws protecting the disabled was the focus of CHD’s brief.

According to experts’ declarations filed with the brief, many children and adults suffer from Microwave Radiation Sickness, or other conditions aggravated by wireless radiation exposure. The preemptions allow non-consensual radiation to be forced on those who can be severely harmed by it, constructively evicting them from their homes while removing their right for accommodation and all their due process rights.

CHD argued that the amended rule is inconsistent with policies underlying federal and state disabilities laws.

According to the brief, the amendment also violates vested constitutional personal rights and liberties secured by the First, Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments, and rights that have been recognized by the Supreme Court as fundamental, including rights to “life,” “property,” “liberty,” “bodily-integrity” and privacy-related rights.

CHD’s brief claims that the FCC treats those who are sick as a “barrier” for deployment and that the elimination of their due process rights by the FCC is “calculated and deliberate.”

The FCC’s Reply brief is due on 8/23/21.

Brief Filed Against FCC by Children’s Health Defense, Challenging 5G Installations

Children’s Health Defense (CHD) filed its main brief on June 23 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in its case against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The case challenges the agency’s amendment of its “Over-the-Air Reception Devices” (OTARD) Rule that went into effect on March 29, 2021.

The case was filed on February 26, 2021. CHD is opposing the amended rule, which allows fixed wireless companies to contract with private property owners, including homeowners, to place point-to-point antennas on their property and, for the first time, add carrier-grade base station antenna installations to extend wireless service, including 5G, to users over a wide area.

The rule preempted all state and local zoning laws. No application, permit or notice to neighboring properties is required. Homeowners’ associations and deed restrictions and any other state laws are preempted. CHD argued that the FCC failed to provide significant and sufficient policy reasons to justify these sweeping preemptions and therefore violated the Administrative Procedures Act. The organization claims that the FCC’s rule amendment is not authorized by the Communications Act, and conflicts with other laws and policies protecting public interest and property rights.

The rule amendment preemption of federal and state civil rights laws protecting the disabled was the focus of CHD’s brief.

According to experts’ declarations filed with the brief, many children and adults suffer from Microwave Radiation Sickness, or other conditions aggravated by wireless radiation exposure. The preemptions allow non-consensual radiation to be forced on those who can be severely harmed by it, constructively evicting them from their homes while removing their right for accommodation and all their due process rights.

CHD argued that the amended rule is inconsistent with policies underlying federal and state disabilities laws.

According to the brief, the amendment also violates vested constitutional personal rights and liberties secured by the First, Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments, and rights that have been recognized by the Supreme Court as fundamental, including rights to “life,” “property,” “liberty,” “bodily-integrity” and privacy-related rights.

CHD’s brief claims that the FCC treats those who are sick as a “barrier” for deployment and that the elimination of their due process rights by the FCC is “calculated and deliberate.”

The FCC’s Reply brief is due on Aug 23, 2021.