No new towers at Tahoe, federal lawsuit demands

RENO — A federal lawsuit seeking a moratorium on construction of new cellphone towers at Lake Tahoe claims Verizon Wireless and regional regulators are failing to adequately consider potential harm to public health and the environment under antiquated rules that turn a blind eye to modern technology.

A local resident and conservation groups who filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, California, say they’re trying to protect the same majestic views Mark Twain wrote about in the 1860s at the mountain lake straddling the California-Nevada line.

They accuse Verizon and the Tahoe Regional Protection Agency of engaging in the kind of shenanigans Huckleberry Finn and other Twain fictional characters used to dupe unsuspecting victims.

The lawsuit alleges Verizon and its local agent, Sacramento-Valley Limited Partnership, laid the groundwork for the most recently proposed 112-foot tower in South Lake Tahoe, California, with false promises to bring a high-speed broadband network to everyone at the lake.

“In what appears to be a classic `bait and switch’ scheme, the telecoms had promised fiber-optic infrastructure at Tahoe in exchange for massive subsidies but now push their wireless agenda for greater profits,” the lawsuit said.

“The telecoms routinely claim that further facilities are justified to meet a ‘coverage gap’ and provide for additional capacity, but they have actually created that ‘gap’ and lack of capacity themselves by failing to provide the promised fiber network,” it said.

Verizon Wireless doesn’t comment on pending litigation, spokeswoman Heidi Flato wrote in an email.

The lawsuit said the Tahoe Regional Protection Agency has taken an illegal “piecemeal” approach to permitting, fragmenting individual projects to intentionally minimize cumulative harm.

“Tahoe deserves a higher standard of protection. It’s a national treasure, an international treasure,” said Greg Lien, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.

Monica Eisenstecken, who lives 150 feet from the proposed tower between the lakeshore and Heavenly Ski Resort, filed suit in December with Tahoe Stewards LLC, Tahoe For Safer Tech and Environmental Health Trust.

Congress created the Tahoe Regional Protection Agency to protect the lake in 1969, the nation’s first bistate compact. It became the first regional environmental regulator when it adopted regulations in 1980.

The lawsuit said the agency performed no comprehensive planning “and routinely approves new wireless infrastructure with essentially no environmental review whatsoever, often at the staff level and commonly without notice to adjacent property owners.”

It also accused the agency of a conflict of interest because the chairwoman and two board members also serve on the board of the Tahoe Prosperity Center, which it calls a “pro-telecom lobbying entity.”

Richard Vogel The Associated Press A federal lawsuit against Verizon and regulators seeks a moratorium on new cell towers at Lake Tahoe.