GOLDEN — Lookout Mountain casts a long shadow over Golden, where some citizens are concerned about radio-frequency emissions from the summit’s forest of broadcast towers.
To determine whether the concern is warranted, the City Council voted Thursday night to hire a Colorado State University assistant professor to measure tower radiation levels.
“It’s an issue in the city, particularly in the neighborhoods near Lookout Mountain,” Mayor Jacob Smith said.
Since word of the $24,000, five-year contract got around town, Smith said he’s been contacted by two dozen citizens and a handful more have called City Hall to say they think it’s a good idea to determine the levels.
“There clearly is a lot of support,” Smith said.
Golden officials battled Jefferson County and a consortium of local TV stations for years over zoning for the towers.
In late 2006, Sens. Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar — both of Colorado — pushed a bill through Congress that allows anyone with a federal permit to build a tower or install an antenna on Lookout Mountain to provide digital-TV signals.
Lake Cedar Group — which represents channels 4, 7, 9 and 20 — won county approval in March 2007 for a 730-foot-high tower that began transmitting digital signals last spring.
Jefferson County does not “actively” monitor radio-frequency emissions from Lookout Mountain’s radio and TV towers.
An engineer hired by the consortium continues to measure emissions each month on Lookout Mountain, a practice it has used for many years when the TV channels used individual towers, said Lake Cedar spokesman Marv Rockford.
A county analyst has been trained to evaluate the reports. “If there are any anomalies, we try to clarify them,” zoning-enforcement coordinator Mike Chadwick said.
Chadwick said that to his knowledge there haven’t been violations of federally set radiation levels.
Though Lake Cedar and the senators assured Golden and the county the emissions would not cause harm, Smith said, “Studies we’ve seen suggest they might. It makes perfect sense to get information that is credible and independent.”
CSU’s Thomas E. Johnson, who specializes in environmental and radiological health sciences, will take radio-frequency measurements at least three times a year from several locations that have been identified as having high levels of tower radiation exposure.
The annual reports will be released to the public.
Ann Schrader: 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com
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