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Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com

Group uses brochures to protest Snohomish radio towers

By Yoshiaki Nohara
Herald Writer

SNOHOMISH -- A grass-roots group is mailing brochures to about 30,000 Snohomish-area residents, saying six proposed radio towers in the Snohomish River Valley would threaten the health of people nearby.

The Stewards of the Land and Community has spent about $7,500 creating and distributing the brochures, which feature elected officials, area residents and others speaking against the radio towers, said Rick Reed, the group's director.

The group had taken the same strategy to fight growth plans at Harvey Field in the valley.

"If you look at the location of these radio towers, it's obvious that people are not listened to," Reed said Monday.

The project has had more than 40 public hearings and has been to the courts over the last 11 years, Andy Skotdal said. The Skotdal family owns KRKO 1380 AM and a proposed new frequency at 1520 AM. The radio stations hope to share the six towers just south of the city of Snohomish.

"I figure it's unfortunate because the group is trying to play on people's lack of knowledge about this project to scare them," Skotdal said. "It's irresponsible to run after and scare people when evidence doesn't support you."

On April 1, a Snohomish County hearing examiner is set to have a public hearing to discuss potential health impacts of the project.

The county already approved four of the six towers, which now need federal construction permits. Five towers are expected to be 199 feet tall, and the other 349 feet tall.

The two other towers won't get a county permit until any potential health risks cited in a study are addressed. The study, which appeared in the American Journal of Epidemiology, suggests that electromagnetic energy from AM radio towers increases the likelihood of leukemia in those who live nearby. An opponent of the project has brought the study to the hearing examiner's attention.

"Health effects are not taken into consideration" for the towers in the Snohomish River Valley, Reed said.

The study is meaningless and includes various inconsistencies, Skotdal said. For example, he said that the study shows that the closer people are to AM antennas, the less likely they are to get cancer than others, Skotdal said.

"There's simply no evidence at all that AM radio towers would cause health effects," he said. "It's not even close."

Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@heraldnet.com.



Hearing set on radio towers

A Snohomish County hearing examiner is set to hold a hearing on proposed radio towers in the Snohomish River Valley at 9 a.m. April 1 at the county administration building, 3000 Rockefeller Ave., Everett. The hearing aims to address potential health impacts of the project.