President Obama could not have picked a worse nominee than Tom Wheeler to head the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Wheeler has obvious industry ties and conflicts of interest:
- Wheeler chaired the CTIA, the Wireless Association, which includes Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile;
- Wheeler chaired the National Cable Television Association, which includes Comcast, Time Warner, and others;
- Wheeler is the director of Core Capital Partners LP, a venture capital firm that manages $350 million in the high-growth technology sector- they rely on friendly regulation at the FCC;
- Wheeler raised millions of dollars for Obama’s presidential campaign;
- Wheeler is listed on Fierce Wireless’ top ten list of people who helped shape the wireless industry.
The FCC regulates the nation’s airwaves and all communications plus its accompanying infrastructure. The FCC sets the “safety” standards for radio frequency radiation (RF) used in all wireless devices. The standards are inadequate and obsolete because they do not address long term health effects, and they were created before cell towers, cell phones, wi-fi and “smart” meters.
Importantly, the FCC is set to update these RF “safety” standards soon. With trillions of wireless products in use today, babies, children, adults, animals, the environment, and future generations are all at risk from chronic exposure to wireless radiation based on inadequate safety standards.
With a wireless industry leader as the head of the FCC there’s little chance for safe oversight. These crucial decisions will threaten us for decades to come.
MORE INFO:
- Authors of the BioInitiative Report, science and public policy experts signed a letter to US Senators urging them to reject Wheeler stating, “Mr. Wheeler should not be in charge of the nation’s safety standards and deployment for a technology he promotes without regard to public health and safety…” http://emfsafetynetwork.org/?p=9964
- The World Health Organization classifies wireless as a possible carcinogen, same as DDT and lead! http://emfsafetynetwork.org/?p=4386
- Read B. Blake Levitt’s commentary, ” Why the Senate Should Reject Tom Wheeler- Another Industry Crony at the FCC?” http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/05/10/another-industry-crony-at-the-fcc/
Published: Wednesday, Jun. 05, 2013 / Updated: Wednesday, Jun. 05, 2013 04:20 PM
City of San Bruno: Entire CPUC Legal Team Resigns from San Bruno PG&E Explosion Case
San Bruno Calls for Investigation into CPUC “Saturday Night Massacre” over PG&E Penalty
SAN FRANCISCO —
The entire legal team of the California Public Utilities Commission charged with investigating the deadly Pacific Gas & Electric Co. explosion and fire has resigned from working on the case, the City of San Bruno has learned, leaving no CPUC legal experts with detailed knowledge of the case during the final penalty phase against PG&E.
Mayor Jim Ruane of San Bruno called for an immediate investigation by the Attorney General of the State of California and the State Legislature into the resignation of four lead CPUC safety division attorneys. He said he believed an investigation is the only way to provide fairness and transparency for San Bruno and the public in the penalty for PG&E’s safety failures.
“This concerted action by these dedicated public servants, who spent the last two-and-a-half years of their careers investigating PG&E and documenting its safety failures, raises serious questions about the propriety of these proceedings and leadership of the CPUC,” said Ruane.
Ruane referred to the resignations of CPUC’s legal team as a “Saturday Night Massacre,” referencing President Richard Nixon’s dismissal of the independent special prosecutor, and the resignations of the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General during the Watergate scandal.
He said, to his knowledge, the resignation of so many public servants from a single case has never occurred before in CPUC history.
“One has to publicly ask: why did these—and other CPUC public servants—resign or were forced out? Is it because they did not want to see nearly three years of their work turned into a conclusion that lets PG&E off the hook?” he said.
San Bruno has argued before the CPUC for significant fines and penalties against Pacific Gas & Electric Co. for its willful negligence in killing eight San Bruno residents, destroying 38 homes and leaving a hole in the center of its city and its heart.
Ruane said he believes the issue at stake is that the leadership of the CPUC safety division portrayed their call for $2.25 billion penalty against PG&E as the largest in utility history, but in reality the penalty would amount to much less, as the utility would be given ‘credit’ for $1 billion it has allegedly spent since the Sept. 9, 2010 PG&E explosion and fire as well as state and federal tax deductions worth $900 million.