Gilardi v. Board of Health of Pittsfield

Summary

The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed dismissal of six Pittsfield residents' challenge to the board of health's rescission of an emergency order that had deemed a Verizon cell tower a public nuisance based on radiofrequency (RF) emission health concerns. Because the parties stipulated that preemption was dispositive, the court held the order was obstacle-preempted by the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996: enforcing it would have frustrated the TCA's objectives of uniform national wireless networks and centralized FCC regulation of RF emission standards. The court rejected the arguments that the order's character as an adjudication, the board's traditional police powers, and the TCA's savings clauses avoided preemption.