Nick Coleman writes about cell tower lawsuit

Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist Nick Coleman published a smart, thoughtful piece in the Sunday, July 11 newspaper about the Friends’ lawsuit against AT&T Mobility over a proposed 450-foot cell tower at the edge of the Boundary Waters.

In the column, the long-time Twin Cities writer eloquently described the organization’s position regarding the tower, the legal protections of wilderness, and the Friends’ desire to find a solution that can benefit local residents while protecting the integrity of the BWCAW.

The Friends haven’t taken a position against cell phone coverage in the wilderness area. They are arguing only that the plan for a cell tower on a ridge near Fall Lake (the height above the landscape would be about 600 feet) would create a visual intrusion on the wilderness and that they hope to convince Lake County and AT&T to consider alternatives that would serve local customers without changing the wilderness.

This is a reasonable position — one that can be supported by any lover of the woods and waters but that does not brush aside the legitimate interests of local residents. But in a shrill era of “drill, baby drill” (before the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, at any rate), when preservation of the environment is in danger of being swept aside, even reasonable positions can seem like radical ones. But, in the end, environmental groups like the Friends are conservative: Conservation is what they ask.

Keep reading “Connect the wilderness at what cost?“