Critics of BWCA cell phone tower appeal to MN Supreme Court

The Minnesota Court of Appeals gave AT&T permission to build a 450-foot cell phone tower just outside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. The group Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness hopes Supreme Court justices will agree with a lower court that ruled the tower would be a blight on the federal wilderness area.

Author:
BMTN Staff
Updated:
Mar 8, 2018
Original:
Jul 12, 2012

The Minnesota Court of Appeals gave AT&T permission to build a 450-foot cell phone tower just outside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. The group Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness hopes Supreme Court justices will agree with a lower court that ruled the tower would be a blight on the federal wilderness area.

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The kayakers became stranded at Redhead Mountain Bike Park Thursday afternoon.

The Minnesota Supreme Court refused to hear a case involving construction of a 450-foot cell phone tower just outside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Critics of the plan argued the blinking tower would mar the scenery of the federal wilderness area. But an appeals court sided with AT&T, which will now move ahead with the tower.

Six law professors from four universities in two states said this week that the Minnesota Court of Appeals was wrong to allow a 450-foot cell phone tower on the edge of the Boundary Waters wilderness and asked the state Supreme Court to review the case, the Star Tribune is reporting. The state's high court has not yet indicated whether it will hear the case between AT&T and the Friends of the Boundary Waters.

A lower court rejected AT&T's proposal to build a 450-foot tower just outside the BWCA, ruling that the tower would intrude on the federally protected wilderness area. In its appeal the company emphasized the tower would be on privately-owned land outside the BWCA.

AT&T hopes the judges will overturn a lower court ruling banning the 450-foot tower. The company says the court overstated the aesthetic impact of the tower and argues it will improve public safety in the wilderness area.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals says AT&T can build a controversial 450-foot cellphone tower east of Ely, the Associated Press reports. A group against the tower argued it would be visible within parts of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and pushed for a shorter tower without flashing lights. The three-judge panel ruled Hennepin County District Court gave too much weight to the potential adverse effects on the environment.

The wildfires that have been plaguing the Boundary Waters Canoe Area wilderness area in northeastern Minnesota are contained, controlled or out, the U.S. Forest Service reported Saturday. However, with the forecast of dry weather in the next few days, campfire restrictions remain in the area and some lake and trail closures are still in effect.

The fires burning in the Boundary Water Canoe Area are mostly small, lightning-sparked blazes. A little rain Thursday didn't do much to help put them out. A small area of the BWCA wilderness and a hiking trail were closed. The biggest fire is the 50-acre Cummings Lake fire, which has not grown much in the last few days.

The Forest Service has closed some areas of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, where three new wildfires are burning. The largest is 75 acres. But crews are aggressively fighting another two-acre fire because it's near an area of dry timber that was part of the 1999 blowdown.

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