Next Meeting: TUESDAY, April 14, 2026 at 7:15 p.m.
IN-PERSON AT THE POTOMAC LIBRARY!
If you are interested in more information about PFAS, or watching a video from our February 10th meeting, please click here.
SPEAKER: Theodora Scarato, MSW, Director of the Wireless and EMF Program at Environmental Health Sciences
Theodora will speak on public health policy and environmental issues related to cell towers, AI, and Data Center infrastructure (BIO). As an expert on the science and policy issues of non-ionizing electromagnetic fields (EMF), her research has focused on children, wildlife, and comparing the U.S. to international regulations. She will discuss the recent FCC and White House proposals to override local city, state, and county control for all three as well as the latest on cell tower deployment and Data Centers in Montgomery County locally. When it comes to environmental impacts, there are minimal regulations in place for all three of these issues and a heavy push to eliminate the ability for meaningful input from the community.
A new documentary, The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist, highlights serious concerns about AI’s minimal regulation, unchecked power, and broader societal risks. Theodora will outline key issues related to environmental air and water exposures and land use, while also presenting policy solutions to strengthen oversight, improve transparency, and ensure that technological expansion proceeds with more protective safeguards for people and the environment.
As always, the public is welcome to attend!
Are More Cell Towers and Data Centers Coming Here?
President’s Letter by Carol Van Dam Falk
For the past several months, we have featured speakers who are experts on environmental risks to our well being, including some who led breaking news, such as the Potomac Riverkeeper who informed us about the horrific 6-foot diameter pipeline rupture of the Potomac Interceptor, which allowed 250 million gallons of raw sewage to flow into the Potomac River. Others have talked about unseen man-made pollutants that can be just as harmful to human beings. We heard about microplastics and forever chemicals encased in products we use in our everyday life, known carcinogens embedded in artificial turf, and an excess of chemicals poured onto our streets during inclement weather. This month, we turn our attention to another unseen threat to our health: the largely unregulated landscape of wireless technologies.
Theodora Scarato has co-authored scientific publications on wireless technology and related children’s health issues and best practice building strategies to mitigate wireless risk. Theodora, a WMCCA Executive Board Member, has worked on wireless and non-ionizing EMF health and environment risks for more than a decade. Environmental Health Sciences is a nonprofit whose studies also include health issues related to endocrine disruptors such as plastics and forever chemicals.
Her recently published paper in Frontiers in Public Health, titled “U.S. Policy on Wireless Technologies and Public Health Protection: Regulatory Gaps and Proposed Reforms” provides a comprehensive analysis of the history of wireless regulation in the United States, identifying significant gaps and systemic shortcomings. Theodora also served as a lead technical expert in a major federal legal case against the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in which the agency was ordered to review the evidence it had ignored regarding health and environmental impacts, to ensure U.S. regulations for wireless exposure were adequate.
A representative from T- Mobile notified WMCCA that they wanted to increase the height of the cell tower tree at Avenel, add new commercial cell equipment to the County’s existing pole at the Cabin John VFD on Falls Road, and add its equipment onto short “small cells” in the County. Theodora will discuss these proposals as well as gaps in federal regulations on wireless technologies, along with the rapid influx of Data Centers across Maryland and worries over the environmental impacts and higher energy costs associated with them.
We hope you join us for this informative meeting.
Update: Data Centers in Montgomery County
Submitted by Theodora Scarato
Just after the February public hearing where residents overwhelmingly called for a moratorium on Data Centers, the Montgomery County Council Bill 4 26, which would have created a Data Center task force, failed to make it out of committee in a 3-2 vote (Fani-González, Balcombe, and Sayles opposed, and Glass and Stewart in support). A separate Council proposal, ZTA 26-01, which would allow Data Centers in industrial zones with a 500-foot setback, remains under review. It has been criticized for lack of energy, water, air, and noise safeguards. A Data Center at the former Dickerson Power Plant site already has provisional approval.
Sewage Cleanup in the C&O Canal Continues
Submitted by Carol Van Dam Falk
In a woodsy area not far from the Potomac River’s north shore in Cabin John, crews are donning white hazmat suits, hard hats, thick rubber gloves, and respirators to clean up the C&O Canal due to its use as a bypass for the raw sewage released by the January 19th Interceptor collapse. Using rakes, they’re busy scraping up the top few inches of mud, soil, and wastewater material for removal and off-site disposal. DC Water says it’s trying to clean up everything that wasn’t there before and restore the area back to “what it was.”
An emergency repair on the Potomac Interceptor was completed March 14th and full flows have returned to the pipe. This enabled workers to drain the section of the Canal that served as an open-air bypass while the pipe was being repaired. The work is far from over. DC Water, which operates the Interceptor, says the Canal will likely continue to stink until the remaining contaminated soils are removed. They say that will happen by May at the latest. DC Water also stated that a permanent repair of the pipe is slated for completion this Fall, with full restoration of the impacted canal locks not expected to be finished until around the end of the year.
Environmental advocates are keeping a close eye on the cleanup. Dean Naujoks, the Potomac Riverkeeper who was speaker at our last month’s meeting, says if there’s any silver lining, it’s that the rupture happened where it did. He said having the C&O Canal there to help contain the spill was a stroke of pure luck.
The Starter and Silver Homes Act. (SB 36/HB 239)
Submitted by Ginny Barnes
According to an update from The Montgomery County Civic Federation, of which WMCCA is a member, this bill did not make it out of committee! As initiated by Governor Wes Moore, this bill aimed to increase the supply of market rate housing by mandating that townhouses of any size be allowed on any single-family zoned lot or area, if there are at least 3 townhouses on a lot. However, the legislation did not have affordability standards, environmental protections, stormwater mitigation, compatibility requirements or infrastructure funding. Grassroots collaboration, especially focused in Montgomery and PG Counties, made the difference! The Civic Federation provided an extraordinary effort to defeat this threat, but it may return to challenge us next year.
Mark Your Calendars – Tuesday May 12, 2026 – Maryland Legislative Update
Each year, our last General Meeting has featured the District 15 Delegation, fresh from the session in Annapolis to brief us on new laws and committee work. It is always lively and informative. Senator Brian Feldman along with Delegates Linda Foley, Lily Qi, David Fraser-Hidalgo will be joining is again. As WMCCA territory also includes part of District 16, this year we are pleased to include Senator Sara Love and Delegate Marc Korman. What happens in the General Assembly may seem far away but the work there informs and shapes County policy. You don’t want to miss this meeting !!!
IN-PERSON WMCCA Meeting April 14, 2026 – 7:15 p.m.
West Montgomery County Citizens Association Newsletter
P.O. Box 59335, Potomac, MD 20854-9335
President – Carol Van Dam Falk: President@WMCCA.org
Website: WMCCA.org – Thomas Fahey
Newsletter Editor – Nancy Madden
West Montgomery County Citizens Association 