Ohio Utility Commission Rules Against Three Women Who Can’t Afford Smart Meter “Opt- Out” Fees

Posted on September 7, 2023 by Josh Hart

How many people do you know who would refuse smart meters but can’t afford the “opt out” fees?

Three women in Ohio filed legal complaints with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO).  They have cited health reasons for not wanting smart meters installed on their homes but they can’t afford the PUCO-approved “opt out” fees.  Now their cases are all being dismissed (1, 2, 3).

Smart meter “opt-out” fees are unlawful for EMF-disabled persons and violate ADA because they are a surcharge.  Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) refunded one California consumer’s opt-out fees when she filed a claim into their bankruptcy court proceeding.  A court waived “opt-out” fees for another California consumer by virtue of his disabling medical condition.

In 2017 a letter signed by 3 doctors was submitted to PUCO asking that there be no “opt-out” fees approved for Ohio consumers who refuse of smart meters.

The Ohio companies rejecting the women’s requests to drop the “opt out” fees are subsidiaries of FirstEnergy which has been under federal investigation for an ongoing scandal that has included offering bribes to Ohio officials (1, 2).  PUCO staff has been investigated in this scandal as well.

People are outraged about this attack on our fundamental rights to be safe in our homes. Those in poverty are being discriminated against, because of their inability to afford extortion fees for analog meters, and are thus facing lives of pain and medical issues because they can’t afford the opt out “protection money.”

Those  opposed to smart meters can email the following groups or join their Facebook pages. Grassroots direct refusal of these barbaric and illegal policies is the only way to obtain relief when government agencies, utilities, and courts are acting in collusion to deny the public their rights.

Children’s Health Defense Ohio Chapter, on Facebook, email oh.chd@childrenshealthdefense.org

Citizens for 5G Awareness, NE Ohio, email NEOSafeTech@gmail.com

SWORT (SW Ohio for Responsible Technology), email swo4responsibletech@fuse.net and swort_group@fuse.net

SWORT Dayton

ORT (Ohioans for Responsible Technology)

CORT (Central Ohio for Responsible Technology)

Toledo Smart Meter Dangers

Stop Smart Meters Ohio

Posted in Changing a Meter, Class Issues and Social Equality, Democracy, Electro-Hyper-Sensitivity, legal issues, Ohio, radio-frequency radiation, Smart Grid | 4 Comments

Federal Wireless Death Legislation HR 3557 — Take Action

Posted on September 7, 2023 by Josh Hart

Thanks to Vicki Sievers of Marin County, CA for sending out this recent alert. Please take action today and let Washington know we will not tolerate this taking of our democracy by telecom giants!

📣📣 WE MUST CONTINUE TAKING ACTION TO FIGHT THE WORST BIG TELECOM GRAB WE’VE EVER SEEN !!

The industry seeks to kick local authority and public discussion out of their way so they can install antennas wherever they want. 

The most egregious of the federal bills is HR 3557. In combination, the bills make a formidable threat to the rights of local governments and citizens. Here’s a key excerpt from a joint letter composed on behalf of the nation’s counties, cities, towns and villages, the National League of Cities (NLC), United States Conference of Mayors (USCM), National Association of Counties (NACo) and the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) : “We fear the unintended consequence of some of these bills will be to impose costs on local governments, burdens on our taxpayers, interference with public safety and otherwise harm local protections that are the heart of localism without substantively improving broadband deployment.”

EVERY ACTION YOU TAKE HAS IMPACT. WHAT CAN YOU DO RIGHT NOW?

1) Please call and/or email your senators and congressperson to urge them to oppose HR 3557 and all federal telecom bills that put wireless industry profits ahead of critical local government decision-making and public safety.

To find your own U.S. Representative: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

To find your US Senator: https://www.senate.gov/states/CA/intro.htm

2) If you have not already done so, please make sure your own city/town council knows about the bill(s). Ask your city/town to do what you did in #1— urge the three legislators to oppose HR 3557 and all telecom bills that take away rights of local government.

3) Ask at least three+ more people to do what you have done.

**More info/talking points: https://www.americansforresponsibletech.org/stop3557

Posted in 5G, California, Democracy, health effects, Smart Grid | Leave a comment

LANDLINES UNDER THREAT IN CALIFORNIA: Urgent Action Required

Posted on June 29, 2023 by Josh Hart

Thank you to Vicki Sievers and Nina Beety, for this alert:

What’s happening (updated Nov. 1st 2023)
 
 The CPUC has been silent for three months on landline proceedings.
 
However, today AT&T meets with staff of CPUC Commissioner John Reynolds “to discuss AT&T California’s request for relief (from their role as carrier of last resort) as well as the status of and schedule for the proceeding with Sasha Goldberg, Advisor to Commissioner John Reynolds, and Carolyn Chen, Advisor to Commissioner John Reynolds…via Webex.” John Reynolds is the commissioner assigned to the proceeding.
 
TOMORROW, Thursday Nov. 2 at 11 a.m., CPUC holds its regular monthly meeting. https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/events-and-meetings/cpuc-voting-meeting-2023-11-02
What to do
 
CONTACT the five CPUC commissioners and their staff in either (or both) of two ways.
1) EMAIL Commissioner Reynolds’s office today or as soon as you can. In addition, call or email the other four commissioners. You may have written comments previously, and can draw from those. See more at the end of this message. (This action can be repeated weekly going forward.)
2) SPEAK during public comments at the Thursday, Nov 2 meeting. Ask that the CPUC DENY AT&T’s application. Tell why landlines are essential infrastructure for the state, for you personally, for rural and fire-prone areas, for EMF-disabled people.  You will have one minute to speak. Instructions here:  https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/events-and-meetings/cpuc-voting-meeting-2023-11-02  
 
!! Even if you do not require a copper landline, your calls/messages will support those who do, and will help prevent more wireless installations.
Contact info. Put  A2303003 in the subject line.
 
COMMISSIONER JOHN REYNOLDS john.reynolds@cpuc.ca.gov (no ph# available)
 
Maria Sotero Policy Advisor and Interim Chief of Staff
(415) 703-2494 maria.sotero@cpuc.ca.gov
 
Pilar Manriquez Deputy Chief of Staff (916) 894-5689
 
Sasha Goldberg Advisor  (415) 703-5340 **** mtg with AT&T
 
Cait Pollock Advisor (415) 703-1535
 
Jake McDermott Advisor (415) 703-1860
 
Carolyn Chen Advisor (415) 703-1980 **** mtg with AT&T

Reasons for needing copper landlines:

1. If you are a person who for any reason requires copper landline phone, wired DSL internet as the only usable, safe, reliable, phone, internet service.

2. Or if you require the permanent protection of accessible, affordable  copper landline, wired DSL internet as an ADA or medical/ health accommodation.

3. Or If you can NOT use wireless, wifi, smart technology, Modem-based phones, cell phones, computer, mobile or VOIP phones, wifi modems or wireless internet.

4. Or if the copper landline phone, wired DSL internet equipment, services are required for your situation, area, family, job, county, community, etc

5. Or you or your family, community, area will be adversely affected. Can NOT  survive without permanently available, affordable copper landline phone services, wired, DSL internet

6. Or you require the survival of the Lifeline subsidy program in order to have phone, internet use.

7. You, your community, your area require investment in preserving copper landline phones with a wired infrastructure. You or your region will be negatively affected by the plan to implement a wireless infrastructure for phone, internet.

Posted in California, landlines | 27 Comments

Stop Thacker Pass Lithium Mine: Another False Solution to Climate Chaos

Posted on May 17, 2023 by Josh Hart

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 2007, when I was a student at the University of the West of England, studying for a transportation planning masters degree, I remember sitting around with our instructor and other students looking at the data for human population growth, motorization, and future transport-related carbon emissions, and scratching our heads as the projected numbers were totally inconsistent with a livable future.

Even with a shift to electric vehicles, widely promoted by governments and industry as being a central solution to the  climate crisis, the reductions in carbon are at best marginal and the environmental effects of large renewable projects and mining are truly horrific.

As you know, corporations and governments tend to strongly push profitable technologies that they spin as being green but are anything but. Smart meters were promised to usher in a new era of emissions reductions, electrical reliability and efficiency. The truth is just the opposite.

Now we are seeing the same pattern play out with electric vehicles. General Motors has contracted with Lithium Nevada to mine lithium across a huge area in northern Nevada, violating sacred Native American land where Paiutes and Shoshone were massacred by US Cavalry troops in 1865.

For real solutions to the climate crisis, we need the support, participation and wisdom of indigenous people who have thrived on this planet for far longer than this arrogant, self-involved culture has.

Please consider joining and supporting those who are actively protesting the unlawful extraction of lithium on public lands, including indigenous tribes, in Northern Nevada. This is yet another false solution to climate chaos. Don’t be fooled by the rhetoric.

There is simply no way to continue with mass motorization without endangering the very necessities of life on this planet: clean water and air, and a livable climate.

Just as we put our bodies on the line to stop smart meters, now is the time to do the same to stop the illegal and destructive lithium rush now ramping up.

Please click on this link to read about the latest in the resistance to the Thacker Pass Lithium Mine and watch recent videos. Also check out the Protect Thacker Pass group and People of Red Mountain.

I have been inspired by the recent indigenous led group making a stand at Thacker this week. I’m heading to Nevada to show my personal support for this struggle and hope you will consider doing so too. We all have pressing needs for day to day individual survival, but if we can’t come together to stand up for our common survival, then we are in deeper trouble than we can imagine.

 

 

 

Posted in Carbon Offsets, Citizen rebellion, Class Issues and Social Equality, Democracy | Leave a comment

Great Films on Electro-Hyper Sensitivity

Posted on April 8, 2023 by Josh Hart

As illness and injury from wireless technology spreads, there are beginning to be more and more films on the subject. Here are a couple of great examples. Thanks to the filmmakers for their efforts. Please watch and spread the word.

Watch entire Electric Malady film here.

Posted in Electro-Hyper-Sensitivity | Leave a comment