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Proposal to install cell phone towers sparks outrage |
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Written by NICHOLAS RICCARDI, Los Angeles Times
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Monday, 17 November 2008 |
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Environmentalists are up in arms over a plan to build a new cell phone tower and expand wireless service in Yellowstone National Park, saying the order will pierce the park's intended solitude.
"When people come to Yellowstone, it's one of the most special times in their lives," said Tim Stevens of the National Parks Conservation Association. "One of the things that makes it that is the ability to hear the splash of a geyser ... and not having that sound drowned out by somebody having a conversation with their family back in New Jersey."
But officials say cell phone towers and wireless Internet accommodate visitors for whom connection to wireless communication is a critical part of day-to-day life. "Yellowstone is not one place," said Tom Ollitt, the park official who oversaw a plan to add one additional cell phone tower and wireless service to the park's developed areas. "It's three to four different experiences. The developed areas have a different experience than anywhere else in Yellowstone."
Seeking a compromise between those who favor expanding infrastructure and those who want to keep the park pristine, the National Park Service has directed each of its 391 park areas to include a communications proposal as part of any planning efforts.
Cell phone towers were first allowed on federal lands by the 1996 Telecommunications Act, but the House Commerce Committee that drew the law said the towers would be inappropriate for places such as Yellowstone. The act itself, however, says towers should be blocked only if they would conflict with the use of the land.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 17 November 2008 )
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