Clean Line just did something amazingly inept. It tried to shout down the medical opinion of a well-respected, local Missouri physician with canned studies from a Clean Line public relations woman.
In response to a very interesting article in the Missouri Moberly Monitor where Dr. Dennis Smith was quoted regarding possible health effects from EMF and ELF, Houston-based Clean Line PR gal Adhar Johnson submitted a letter to the editor where she gave her best medical opinion that Dr. Smith's medical opinion was "misleading." Johnson's letter starts out:
In response to a very interesting article in the Missouri Moberly Monitor where Dr. Dennis Smith was quoted regarding possible health effects from EMF and ELF, Houston-based Clean Line PR gal Adhar Johnson submitted a letter to the editor where she gave her best medical opinion that Dr. Smith's medical opinion was "misleading." Johnson's letter starts out:
As a project manager at Clean Line
Energy and someone who is passionate
about moving the wind industry
forward, I would like to address some
of the misleading statements made in
the recent article published in the
Moberly Monitor, "Line's health problems
brought to light."
How does being a project manager at Clean Line qualify this woman to analyze medical information and make recommendations about people's health? It doesn't!
After blathering on citing a whole bunch of studies that she thinks refute Dr. Smith's opinion, Johnson closes with this:
After blathering on citing a whole bunch of studies that she thinks refute Dr. Smith's opinion, Johnson closes with this:
I strongly urge folks to gain a full understanding of direct current technology
from nationally and internationally trusted sources. At Clean Line Energy, safety is among our chief concerns as we strive to treat landowners with the utmost respect.
Trusted sources? Who's more trusted than your doctor? Some corporate creature with a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University of Missouri and a Certificate in International Affairs from Washington University whose company stands to make huge profits from building a transmission project?
I strongly urge Adhar to gain a full understanding that she's not a medical professional, and EMF is an issue of perception. If people perceive that there is a medical risk from living in close proximity to high voltage transmission lines, then that's the end of the debate. No amount of additional studies tossed at a fearful public is going to change the mind of a worried mother, or a concerned father. Adhar should have just let it go instead of trying to out-doctor the doctor and question his professional expertise.
Dr. Smith's wife strikes back with this recently penned letter:
I strongly urge Adhar to gain a full understanding that she's not a medical professional, and EMF is an issue of perception. If people perceive that there is a medical risk from living in close proximity to high voltage transmission lines, then that's the end of the debate. No amount of additional studies tossed at a fearful public is going to change the mind of a worried mother, or a concerned father. Adhar should have just let it go instead of trying to out-doctor the doctor and question his professional expertise.
Dr. Smith's wife strikes back with this recently penned letter:
The recent editorial by Adhar Johnson, Clean Line Project manager has been expected, and her bias should be obvious. The information provided in the June 6 article, Transmission Line Health Problems Brought to Light, by Connie Duvall, was very careful to address ONLY the types of fields produced by high voltage lines.
My reputation is on the line in the community in which I live and serve, and the information used was carefully screened for accuracy. Since the June 6th article, additional studies have been uncovered which directly name HVDC lines as the culprit in adverse health effects. The information from the studies repeatedly questions the "trusted" sources quoted by Clean Line Energy's advocates. This technical information will be used in November to testify before the MO Public Service Commission in Jefferson City.
(Above Statement by Dr. Dennis Smith)
Clean Line managers and land developers have been flooding papers in would-be affected counties with their propaganda, touting their passion for wind energy. These power lines have little if anything to do with wind energy as they are not needed to utilize it. Clean Line execs typically implore the public to turn to trusted sources, which is exactly what we want them to do.
After all, the area of education of the Grain Belt Express (GBE) pushers is business and communications; their expertise is in the art of the deal, how to manipulate statements to their advantage, and how to turn a fast buck. Is this reason to trust them?
They have determined to discredit Dr. Smith because his research threatens their venture. Along with discounting him, they must also take down the numerous scientists, electromagnetic experts, and doctors who have done countless studies pointing to the harms of this type of EMF exposure.
Adhar Johnson, Clean Line manager, attended the Randolph County commissioner public meeting where a gentleman emotionally testified of his wife’s oncologist’s admonition that such a power line would necessitate their relocation. In a meeting at Rothwell Park, Adhar told me that the doctor had no business saying that, and then she handed me Clean Line’s go-to documentation of the one out-dated statement made by the World Health Organization (WHO) that there were no known health risks. Much more recently, the WHO has revised their statement and has classified the emissions from these lines a class 2B carcinogen, as has the Environmental Protection Agency. HUD has ruled the lines and towers “a hazard and a nuisance”, and FHA appraisals have to be adjusted to address the effect these lines have on marketability of properties near the lines. The highly respected, non-partisan, U.S. Government Accounting Office expressed many of the same concerns voiced by citizens regarding HVDC lines in its report to Congress in 2008.
Dr. Smith also discovered the following statute:
Exercise of eminent domain over private property for economic development purposes prohibited--definition.
523.271. 1. No condemning authority shall acquire private property through the process of eminent domain for solely economic development purposes. 2. For the purposes of this section, "economic development" shall mean a use of a specific piece of property or properties which would provide an increase in the tax base, tax revenues, employment, and general economic health, and does not include the elimination of blighted, substandard, or unsanitary conditions, or conditions rendering the property or its surrounding area a conservation area as defined in section 99.805.
Missouri Revised Statutes
Chapter 523
Condemnation Proceedings
Section 523.282
Our Randolph County Commissioners have welcomed Clean Line GBE to our county for the exact reasons that the statue prohibits and have voiced at public meetings their support for those reasons prohibited in the statute.
Dr. Smith is trusted in this community as he has been in all communities in which he’s lived. I make no apologies in stating that he has had a stellar medical career, having graduated in the top 5% of his medical class and having received multiple awards and accolades for his single-minded service to his God-given mission in Public Health. He maintains excellent rapport with former hospitals where he has been employed and would be whole-heartedly welcomed back to any of those facilities. Consider also the editorials that have been submitted by the many respected members of the community, your long-time friends and associates who oppose this line. Shall we then trust some wealthy business people whose real passion is increasing their profits, or should we trust scientists and doctors who are devotees to public health and safety? It’s not a difficult choice.
Sincerely,
Laurie Smith
Moberly, MO
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