Minnesota Court of Appeals allows AT&T cell tower near Boundary Waters
June 18, 2012 at 6:59 am in Duluth News Tribune
A three-judge panel ruled today that a Hennepin County judge erred by concluding that allowing the tower east of Ely would have a “materially adverse effect on the environment.” Continue Reading

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Most towers have light sensors that convert the white strobe to the red after dark. Motion sensors won’t work. What’s the difference between the echo of a robin at 20 feet, and the echo of an airplane at 2 miles? The robin is infinitely larger.
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And a much nicer and pleasing sound.
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Common sense prevails!
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Common sense 2, leftist extremists 0! Walker wins in Wisconsin, The tree huugers lose in the BWCA, what’s next? A Supreme court overturn of Obamacare and an upholding of the AZ immigration law? We should only be so lucky!
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What does this have to do with the cell phone tower issue? Get off your political soapbox- You aren’t making any sense.
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Well I apparently made enough sense to inflame the passions of a dimwit.
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Looking in the mirror again are you…….. LOL
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Best news I’ve heard in weeks. The tower is OUTSIDE the BWCA, not inside. The Ely residents need clear cell phone coverage, visitors in the BWCA shouldn’t be bringing modern technology with them anyway. After all, the voyageurs didn’t have cell phones, and they didn’t have outboard motors either, which was always the argument against motors in the BWCA. Hypocrisy.
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Huh Ski? No one said anything about using cell phones in the BWCA. Pay attention.
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To the tree huggers, esthetics trump safety every day. Until that day when they need help, then it’s of paramount importance. I can see the day when a rural tree-hugger homestead is allowed to burn. “We’re sorry for being late, ma’am, but we didn’t dare disturb the tranquility of this place with our lights and sirens, and state law prohibits us from speeding without them.”
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Thank you, judges, for recognizing the unemotional facts of this case. Had the erroneous ruling prevailed, it would have expanded the influence of the BWCA outside its borders. The rules of the BWCA must be applicable only within its borders or there is no border to it. Would fireworks in Ely be the next item that preservationists want to blunt? The Friends and their friends should be content with the restrictions within the over-1,000,000 acre preserve. Those of us living outside the BWCA are ready to receive reliable phone service.
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You seem unconcerned about the distress your shrill cries of wolf are causing the good people of NE Minnesota. Maybe because you’re too concerned about what you want?
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Making love to a BWCAW tree is extra special.
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You might want to try one of those burnt ones in the area the “Friends” wanted to let burn. Tight and hard.
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lol
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skidoolund said:
“You might want to try one of those burnt ones in the area the “Friends” wanted to let burn. Tight and hard.”
LMAO….the voice of experience?
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Yes, I’ve cut up several with the chainsaw. Ready to burn in the stove. Thanks for asking.
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You burn already burned wood?
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Yes. I’m an environmentalist, I like to recycle things.
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Do you favor recycling the Obamination? or would you rather just relegate him to the trash pile of history?
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There are some things that can’t be recycled and need to be relegated to the waste stream. On the other hand, one person’s garbage is another person’s treasure. I put it back to you, recycling bin…or landfill?
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I treasure the moment he finds his rightful calling and gets seated at the top of the hill. All hail the King of the seagulls!
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I heard that their bark was worse than their bite.
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Tansey, the master of disinformation. It’s time to add a little more truth to your lies, my dear. It ain’t the drillin’ you need to concern yerself wit, it’s der blastin’ and der diggins and der crashin’ of dem monstus trucks, alls so theys can dump theirs acid rock into the kawish! Get a life. Get informed.
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I think this is great news for the people that live in the area year ’round.
I also think there’s the possibility of it saving a life in the BWCA, should someone there become lost or injured.
Bottom line, the benefits far outweigh the negatives.
I really do understand the value of the wilderness experience but, those that want to carry it to the extreme better be up there paddling around in handmade canoes, wearing homespun and only eating stuff they grew, foraged or killed themselves.
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Have the tree huggers ever considered the damage the environment takes in the fabrication of a canoe, especially a composite canoe? If they were truly green, wouldn’t they be using a canoe make from bark scavenged from dead birch trees instead of one made from fossil fuels, or, gasp, minerals mined?
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Circle the Subarus boys, this is WAR!
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Our defenses are useless against their wool socks!
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destroyed the wilderness
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The friends of the Boundary Waters will learn to love their new cell tower,
as they build their log cabins on the edge of the wilderness.
In a few years they’ll have technology to log into forums and complain
about cutting down trees to make paper to make more court-orders to
fight their battles…that’s if the USFS don’t let all the trees burn with their
policies.
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I actually I want to add to my comments, as a guide in the BWCAW, the first
thing a customer does is reaches for phone!
I rest my case.
Gb
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The first emergency that gets resolved quickly ,, such as a wildfire, or a saved life,,due the ability of using a cell phone is well worth a tower or two…. responding only occurs once an emergency is reported.
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People who don’t have want live in a wild area and accept risks associated with it are free to move to St Paul. I hear they have much better access to emergency and communications equipment and services there. They could also move to just about anywhere else in the country if they can’t handle risk. Just because they can’t handle Ely without their cell phones, doesnt mean that yet another wild place should become just a little bit more tame.
Quite sad really, as even many of them will someday see what they have done and wish they hadn’t done it.
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I hope the next tower is at the highest poinf along the Gunflint Trail. That way all those up on the gunflint that want cell service, and blame those against the Fernberg tower for not getting service,, will have their chance to embrace what they told me they don`t want on the gunflint. Because the next tower is on the way, and it will get to your back yard sooner than you think. Funny there are no towers going up the Gunflint, when there is AT&T service below and in town. Holding out are ya?
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ironic, isn’t it that you sit here railing against technology…..USING A COMPUTER TO DO SO!
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And the really neat part Hugh, is the fact towers and fiber optic cable is old technology, not new at all. That has been proven twice now… The Ham Lake fire up on the Gunflint, and Pagami Creek fire here near Ely last year.
With each fire, total cell use was through AT&T, and covered the whole BWCA and area around it… without constructing a single new tower to do so. Up on the Gunflint, many folks bought cell phones figuring that they would now have that service. That is untill the fire was out, and the connection pulled. LOL……. Ironic is the fact they want service also, but want others to have the towers in their neighborhoods instead of in their own. Of course the towers are not how the connections in cell were done durring those fires.
Figure it out. The technology is not only out there, but avalible right now. It`s already in use in other places, and has been used up here in northern Minnesota already.
Ironic it is indeed!
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