A must-watch interview: CHD’s telecom experts, Miriam Eckenfels and attorney Scott McCullough, exposing the FCC’s unchecked cell tower proliferation, federal power grab, & the threat to local control.
https://reinettesenumsfoghornexpress.substack.com/p/the-fcc-and-telecoms-community-coup
This is an essential conversation for anyone concerned about local authority, public health, and the future of digital surveillance, including the proposed Digital ID rollout throughout the U.S.
The proposed FCC rule changes don’t merely erode local authority; they obliterate it. They strip away due process, trample property rights, and reduce cities, towns, and neighborhoods to powerless spectators while unchecked corporate behemoths erect wireless infrastructure with impunity. This mass federal preemption is packaged under the guise of “streamlining” and “economic growth,” but make no mistake: it is a calculated power grab that silences grassroots voices and overrides self-governance.

SOUNDING THE HORN: THE CONDUCTOR’S BRIEF (NEW FEATURE! A fast, clear summary of the key takeaways to keep you informed on the go. Perfect if you want the essentials upfront before diving deeper into the whole story)
- The FCC’s impending rule changes represent a hostile federal takeover of local land-use authority, stripping communities of control over wireless infrastructure deployment that underpins 5G expansion. This sets a perilous precedent for other industries to follow suit.
- This is more than a regulatory power grab; it’s the final nail in the digital currency and social credit coffin – the very backbone designed to spy on and control every corner of America, from National Parks to rolling farmlands to small neighborhoods nestled in the foothills.
- Once fully deployed, this wireless infrastructure will blanket the country with surveillance “tentacles,” leaving nowhere to hide unless we stop this in its tracks immediately.
- FCC leadership, deeply entwined with telecom insiders, pushes policies that protect industry profits while perpetuating hidden supply chain dependencies, all framed by aggressive national security rhetoric.
- Legal challenges may follow rule adoption, but telecoms could begin erecting antennas rapidly, potentially rendering opposition moot before courts can intervene.
- This crisis is also our Akido moment, our chance to use their momentum against them, the critical moment to cut off this beast before it tightens its grip on privacy, local authority, and personal freedoms.
- The full interview dives deep with Children’s Health Defense experts and former state telecom attorneys, laying bare the legal, health, and civil rights dangers lurking behind this FCC power play.
- Sign the petition to send to your legislators. Tell them to STOP UNABATED CELL TOWER EXPANSION ONCE AND FOR ALL!
TAKE ACTION NOW!
THE TRACK AHEAD
We stand on the precipice of a legal crisis and the loss of any semblance of local authority, unlike anything seen before. The Federal Communications Commission, in cahoots with the telecom giants it claims to regulate, is executing a brazen and unlawful hijacking of state and local land-use powers. This is a hostile takeover – a frontal assault on the very foundations of local self-governance and community sovereignty.

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In this video, I’m joined by Children’s Health Defense’s Director of Electromagnetic Radiation & Wireless Program, Miriam Eckenfels, and former Assistant Texas Attorney General and veteran telecom attorney, Scott McCollough.
MAKE SURE YOU SIGN THE PETITION
Miriam and Scott discuss the legal, regulatory, and scientific fronts of the FCC’s latest power grab better than anyone. Miriam leads national efforts to litigate, educate, and advocate against the unchecked rollout of wireless infrastructure, focusing on the health, environmental, and privacy risks for communities across America. Scott brings decades of deep experience, both from his time representing the public at state agencies and from his time as a telecom industry litigator. Scott recently won a complex accounting case before joining CHD, in which the D.C. Circuit ruled that the FCC’s accounting rules are not binding on states – affirming states’ rights to assign costs as appropriate. However, the current FCC proposed changes would eliminate those state rights.
What the FCC and telecom industry are pushing is not just a regulatory change – it’s a dangerous precedent that threatens to erase the modest, hard-won protections communities have fought to keep for decades.
This is not progress; it is a rollback to a corporate feudalism that puts profits over people, surveillance and coercion over consent.
If allowed to pass, this rule change will unleash a tidal wave of small cell antennas and wireless installations across the nation – an infrastructure essential not just for faster wireless, but for a sprawling digital spy grid and social credit apparatus. The future of local control, public health, and privacy rights hangs in the balance.
As threatening as this sounds, we must recognize this as our Akido-opportunity and realize this expansion is also the Achilles’ heel to the digital currency and social credit roll-out: This is the backbone of the entire system, intended to reach the heart of every National Park, rolling farmland, and hamlet neighborhoods hiding behind rolling hills.
There will be no hiding from this wireless tentacle unless we stop this in its tracks NOW!
I hope you understand the magnitude of what I say. This is our one last shot at getting ahead of this beast and cutting it off at the friggin’ path.
This opening salvo is our call to arms: to challenge, to resist, and to stop this illegitimate assault before the damage is irreversible. This is the battle for our communities, our rights, and our futures, and it begins here.
What’s at risk? You will have to watch the interview to find out. The more you are armed with knowledge, the more powerful you are. So, learn the ins and outs, and what we can do, so you can share this information EVERYWHERE YOU GO!
To help you better understand the maginitude of this, Scott and Miriam break down why these new FCC rules could spell the end for local authority over land-use decisions, and reveal how this moment is about much more than cell towers: it’s a battle for due process, property rights, and whether our communities will have any say in the foundational infrastructure for America’s looming digital ID and surveillance state.

These intrusive systems rely on blanket wireless coverage and instant connectivity, making large-scale antenna deployment not just a telecom wish, but a prerequisite for the next phase of centralized data control.
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The FCC’s rule change would enable wireless carriers to deploy hundreds of thousands, potentially over a million, new small cell antennas in a matter of months with no planning department application, public notice or comment, no community involvement or say, no regard to safety, and absolutely no regard to local control.
This isn’t just about “faster phones.”
In practice, once the FCC removes local review, telecoms will be able to blanket every pole, building, and block with antennas at breakneck speed, leaving community opposition with no time, resources, or legal pathways to stop it before the system is fully functional.
In addition, if the FCC and telecom giants succeed in overriding local authority, they will set a dangerous precedent that opens Pandora’s box for other industries to bypass community control and regulatory safeguards similarly.
If this happens, kiss local control and autonomy goodbye.
WHY THE FCC’S TIMING MATTERS
Currently, the FCC is operating without a full quorum- only 2 of 5 appointed commissioners are present – leaving some procedural ambiguity. But as soon as a third commissioner is seated, the rule changes will move forward, likely with rapid passage given bipartisan industry lobbying and the recent unanimous votes on related deregulatory proceedings. Once passed:
The telecoms, already geared up through “rocket dockets” and streamlined federal permitting, can begin or continue their rollout immediately, before the courts have a chance to act.
Lawsuits (even if successful) may not guarantee a stay, meaning the infrastructure and data capture systems can go live before any judicial remedy halts deployment.
We’re talking, this rollout will begin as early as January 2026!Subscribe
THE LOOMING RISKS
Why does all of this matter?
This isn’t science fiction; it’s the very infrastructure that makes digital identity the precondition for access to jobs, healthcare, transportation, and dissent.
Stopping the FCC’s preemption is our last best shot to “cut this off at the pass,” before two or three months of unchecked buildout make debate over digital ID, algorithmic blacklists, and biometric surveillance little more than a footnote in tech’s victory lap. This is the pressure point where local government, privacy, and human autonomy can actually stand up to the corporate-state machine. The opportunity is real and urgent; once lost, it may never return.

ANOTHER HILL TO DIE ON
The Digital ID and now this: This is the moment to draw a line in the sand. Stopping or delaying the antenna explosion is stopping the groundwork for mandatory biometric ID, all-seeing sensor grids, and AI-powered profiling that threaten not just privacy, but local self-determination.

First, start signing the petition. Our legislators need to know we are drawing the line. TAKE ACTION NOW:
SIGN HERE
When it becomes available, mobilizing local governments, residents, and independent watchdogs to flood the FCC’s docket with objections, demand Congressional hearings, and coordinate legal challenges is essential, even if the timeline is short.
Advocates can expose the link between wireless densification and the surveillance state, connecting fast-track antennas with corporate profit, regulatory capture, and the erosion of constitutional rights.
Grassroots organizing, creative legal action, and relentless public pressure have delayed and shaped telecom policy before. It’s possible, if communities act before the “digital cage” snaps shut.
You can find CHD @stop5GNearMe and @704nomore on all social media platforms.
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