Darbee’s Folly – ‘SmartMeter’ Update
“Smart meters created ignition source” in San Bruno
[Editors’ note: CARE petition to CPUC on alleging connection between Gas Smart Meters
and electric current which might have ignited San Bruno gas pipeline explosion. ]
This petition for modification of the original Smart meter decision was filed with the CPUC yesterday. (Download PDF here)
Michael Boyd on behalf of CARE addresses the lack of a CEQA, RFR health impacts, FCC standards, interference, etc. He also states, “I allege EMF from PG&E’s Smart meters created the ignition source” (related to San Bruno explosion)

Moratorium Banning SmartMeters In SCC Passed
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors passed a moratorium against the installation of PG&E’s Smart Meters on Tuesday.
The board voted unanimously on the ordinance that places a moratorium on the meters while more information about the devices is gathered.
The ordinance states that no SmartMeters may be installed in or on any home, apartment, condominium or business in unincorporated areas of Santa Cruz County. Also, no equipment related to SmartMeters can be installed in, on, under or above a public street or public right of way in the county.
PDF: Santa Cruz County SmartMeters Moratorium
Any violations of the moratorium could result in misdemeanor charges, according to the ordinance.

Welcome to the Smart Meters [aka DumbMeters™] Action Wiki, serving (at least) all of California — this is YOUR action center! [Maintained by Soula Culver]

PG&E Spent on Politics, not Pipelines
By Christine Pelosi
…Here’s what we know so far: residents reported smelling odors in the San Bruno community in the days before the blast. They called PG&E but nothing was detected. No one took the customer complaints up the chain of command to the bosses who had a report listing the San Francisco peninsula pipelines as “high risk.” After the deadly blast, there was some denial by PG&E that the pipeline was even theirs; then denial that the pipeline was the one in the survey, but federal investigators (who released PG&E’s survey) said the pipeline was PG&E’s.
We know the utility had the money — our money — to fix the pipelines because public filings show that just last spring, PG&E chose to spend $45 million in ratepayer dollars in a failed bid to block public power. These are funds that could have been used to repair what the utility’s own survey said was a high risk pipeline on the SF peninsula. So why make the decision for politics not pipelines? If the spending decisions were not related, why not? At the very least, PG&E should have a moratorium on political spending until they compensate the San Bruno victims and fix the pipelines.

Data proves smart meter scheme costing everyone more
Queen’s Park – Andrea Horwath, Leader of Ontario’s New Democrats, says data from Toronto Hydro confirms that Dalton McGuinty’s so-called smart meters have raised rates for 80 per cent of consumers and aren’t producing any conservation gains for Ontario.
“Dalton McGuinty’s so-called smart meters make eHealth look like a bargain. For a billion and half dollars we have a scheme that leaves 80 per cent of people paying higher rates without shifting usage patterns,” said Horwath. “There’s nothing smart about Dalton McGuinty’s smart meters when it’s hiking people’s hydro bills.”
A Toronto Hydro study looked at ten thousand households in Toronto that have been billed using so-called smart meters since 2009. The study confirmed that after a year of operation:
• On average 80 percent of households have been paying higher rates than before smart meters were installed and there has been little if any shift in household energy consumption.
• In one billing period – from June to September, 2009 – ninety-two per cent of households paid more.
• On average, households seeing an increase were paying anywhere from 2 to 7 per cent more.
• These increases are separate from the added cost to households for the cost of the smart meter itself. Across Ontario, consumers will be paying $1.25 – $4.45 a month for decades to recover these costs.
“The McGuinty Liberals have spent billions on a scheme that leaves people paying more and leaves Ontario falling behind in our conservation goals,” said Horwath.

PG&E Execs On Lavish Junket as San Bruno Exploded
As a massive gas line explosion blew up homes and created a raging cauldron in San Bruno, Pacific Gas & Electric executives were enjoying a lavish dinner in San Luis Obispo after flying there in a company jet earlier that day. PG&E Chief Operating Officer Jack Keenan arranged for the company’s jet to fly execs from their San Francisco offices to San Luis Obispo, where they proceeded to play a round of golf. The off-site meeting included Geisha Williams, PG&E’s Senior Vice President in charge of energy delivery.
As the nation asks hard questions about PG&E’s funding priorities in the wake of the San Bruno pipeline explosion, the controversial corporation has a new question to answer.
Specifically, why did it spend the money to fly execs down for a golfing junket in San Luis Obispo when there was no shortage of Bay Area locations for off-site meetings?
The expensive junket follows PG&E’s spending $50 million in a failed effort to pass Prop 16 on California’s June ballot, which led many to question why these funds were not instead being spent to ensure public safety.

RF Big Brother in Your Trash Can!
CLEVELAND, Ohio — It would be a stretch to say that Big Brother will hang out in Clevelanders’ trash cans [oh, yeah?], but the city plans to sort through curbside trash to make sure residents are recycling — and fine them $100 if they don’t.
The move is part of a high-tech collection system the city will roll out next year with new trash and recycling carts embedded with radio frequency identification chips and bar codes.
The chips will allow city workers to monitor how often residents roll carts to the curb for collection. If a chip show a recyclable cart hasn’t been brought to the curb in weeks, a trash supervisor will sort through the trash…