On Tuesday evening, the Berkeley, California City Council unanimously passed legislation requiring warnings be posted at cell phone retailers in the city, simply informing people of what is already in the manual regarding the health risks of cell phone radiation.
Thanks to the Berkeley City Council for their leadership and to Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig who has agreed to represent the city pro bono. More details can be found at the Safer EMR site.
You may remember that Stop Smart Meters! and the CA Brain Tumor Association were tired of waiting years for legislation while people got sick and died, so we labeled phones ourselves in this direct action at the Verizon store in San Francisco last January. Even the Verizon employees thought the warning labels were a good idea and installed one on their phone.
Now Available in the Stop Smart Meters! Online Store: Public Exposure: DNA, Democracy & the “Wireless Revolution“
To celebrate these advances made by the EMF Safety movement, we’ve just added Public Exposure: DNA, Democracy & the “Wireless Revolution” to our online store which also features Mobilize: A Film About Cell Phone Radiation as well as other DVD’s and resources to support your local campaign.
Anura Lawson is a teacher at Johnie Cochran Middle School in Los Angeles. In 2013, Stop Smart Meters! helped her family get the analog meter replaced on their home. Anura is now speaking to the news media about her family’s nightmarish experience with wireless and how only safe wired technology should be used in our schools, neighborhoods and homes. Kudos to the Lawsons for speaking out!
The original post and video can be accessed here. (Note that lotteries are a scam and do not really help schools – see here.)
The above article appeared on page A2 of the Portola Reporter on Wednesday April 29th, 2015.
Thank you all very much for your supportive comments and generous donations to our legal defense fund. Every dollar you donate supports our stand and helps cover expenses. We remain disconnected by PSREC the local electric “cooperative.”
We would happily pay for every kilowatt hour we use but apparently they don’t want us as customers, even though an analog self read is offered to other PSREC customers who live nearby. Mr. Marshall claims PSREC does not discriminate but that is exactly what they are doing by treating customers differently when it suits them, but not when required by state law.
As a public utility, PSREC must obey state discrimination law and provide fair and reasonable service. In this case, they have failed to do that. We are confident that with your help, Judge Hilde’s verdict will be upheld and utilities will be prohibited from charging extortionate opt out fees just to protect your safety- also illegal under state law.
Wireless microwave RF is a pollutant that we didn’t ask for and should not have to pay to avoid. The utility industry’s ill-advised foray into wireless meters has been an unmitigated disaster and it’s time people who knew what they were doing were in charge. That’s all.
Please comment on the online version of the article and lend us your support! Thanks.
Nevada City is an old gold rush mining town in the foothills of California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. Home to hippies, new agers, and spiritual communities, the area also attracts artists, musicians, and writers and has a thriving local culture. It feels like you are in an old western when you walk down the town’s main street. That is, until you notice the ugly plastic wall-warts known as smart meters attached to the buildings lining Broad Street. People stand and smoke next to banks of the meters, many unknowingly getting a special two-for-one deal on carcinogens.
PG&E deployed smart meters into Nevada City in 2012. Three years of widespread negative experiences with the meters have recently come to a boiling point. In February, dozens of residents showed up to demand formal action by their council to join the 57 other local governments in California that have resisted smart meter deployment, fifteen of which have outlawed the meters. Two of the fifteeen–Sebastopol and Fairfax–are still enforcing the ban which along with resident action has prevented PG&E from deploying fully in either city.
Berry Bartolillo
While staying in Nevada City with friends in 2013, I met a woman who would become a key organizer in the area. Berry Bartolillo contacted me after becoming very sick when a bank of wireless AMI smart meters were installed on her apartment building. At that time, very few people in town were aware of the health problems with the new meters. Having heard the same symptoms and same story thousands of times, I shook my head in disgust— and then advised her to get active. What was needed was a local group to tackle the issue and raise awareness in the community. Two years later, Stop Smart Meters! Nevada County is going strong, meeting weekly, and organizing the public around the immediate goal of returning the County to 100% safe analog meters.
Many in the group have been injured and subsequently sensitized to RF radiation. Conveying the health risks such exposure poses, particularly to pregnant women or the elderly, is a priority for the group. In order to get the message out, they have been canvassing outside natural food stores in town, talking to hundreds of people while handing out Stop Smart Meters! cards and brochures that include labels with local information. Reports from the field are that many people are grateful for the info, and outraged when they learn the facts about the system that has quietly been forced into their community.
According to Berry Bartolillo, Co-Founder of Stop Smart Meters Nevada County,
“I could not fathom how the state allowed this big corporation to harm its own people and still allows it to this day. The first step was going to the City and informing them about the smart grid and asking for their help. We are confident that they heard us and are working on a plan. I just hope its sooner rather than later. I’ve just received a diagnosis of Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity–radiation sickness for short. Smart meters have ruined my health and my life.”
SSM! Director Josh Hart presenting to the Nevada City, CA city council in February.
The council has responded to renewed public pressure by holding a hearing on the matter, meeting with PG&E and Stop Smart Meters! and considering their next steps.
This groundswell of opposition has not flared up by chance but has been kindled by the hard work of dedicated activists who live in the area.
Organizing can and does make a difference!
In February, both Stop Smart Meters! and PG&E were invited to make presentations to Nevada City Council, after a large number of people contacted them with reports of health problems and general opposition to the meters.
More than 30 residents turned out and spoke at the late night council meeting to denounce the problem meters and demand an immediate ban and removal. The video of the presentations and ensuing public comment can be viewed above.
Greg McKenzie, the PG&E representative at the meeting, was unable to answer reasonable questions posed by the council. Sending a staff person ignorant of the smart meter issue to a smart meter meeting seems to be a key utility strategy to prevent damning details from being acknowledged in public, like we witnessed last November in San Antonio, Texas.
PG&E is responding to the growing public pressure as they always do- putting greenwashed lipstick on their smart grid pig. Recently, they announced a local renewable energy initiative in Nevada City. No doubt one of the aims is to distract people and quieten the growing growls of discontent in the town. For renewable energy to be truly sustainable, the effort needs to come from the bottom, from the grassroots, not top-down from one of the largest corporations in the United States.
We continue to work with Stop Smart Meters Nevada County to support their work and provide organizing materials, technical assistance and strategic advice. The group plans to spread outreach to the Truckee and Grass Valley areas in the near future, as well as take the issue to the County Board of Supervisors. If you are in the area, why not join the group and volunteer for a shift at a local Stop Smart Meters outreach table? Or with another Stop Smart Meters group near you? You’ll be surprised at how widespread opposition is to the “smart grid” when people know the facts and how isolated and out on a limb the utility companies really are.
The truth is that— through unwise and short sighted technological decisions, PG&E is harming the town where it was born—a renegade, unwieldy (and unregulated) greedy monster despoiling its own nest.
But resistance is fertile in this strapping gold rush town…
To get in touch with Nevada County Stop Smart Meters! call their message line at (530) 277-6070 or find them on Facebook :Stop Smart Meters Nevada County
As part of their “smart” meter propaganda, utilities nationwide – including ones in Arizona – have promoted a myth that “smart” meters reduce their response time to outages. For example, here’s a typical sampling of website hype from four Arizona utilities:
Navopache Electric Coop: “… AMI helps locate and respond to outages faster ….”
Mohave Electric Coop: “… improve system reliability through improved outage management ….”
APS: “In addition, the meters have the potential to assist APS in providing faster outage response to customers.”
SRP: “More benefits will include quicker outage restoration ….”
Gee whiz, ain’t “smart” meter technology grand?! Indeed, SRP headlined its webpage “TOMORROW’S GRID TODAY” in enormous font.
The reality however is what I have been telling the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) for years: Utilities still rely on customers to tell them when the power’s out.
My assertion has just been confirmed by the BRIDGE Energy Group, self-described as “the leading consulting and systems integration solutions company focused on improving utility operational performance.”
BRIDGE recently released their 2015 Outage & Restoration Management Survey Results Summary. Over 20,000 utility employees – executives, managers and engineers – from 90 utilities across North America were surveyed.
81% of the surveyed utilities had installed “smart” meters, but only 16% use “smart” meters as their primary source of power failure alerts. Customer calls come first.
Secondarily – after customer calls but well before “smart” meters – utilities rely on SCADA systems for outage alerts. SCADA stands for Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition. It is technology employed by utilities for decades and does not involve metering but operates at the transformer and substation level.
I brought SCADA to the ACC’s attention over a year ago when I sent them the declaration of one of New England’s largest utilities, Northeast Utilities. Northeast trashed “smart” meters in detail, saying there was “no rational basis” for their implementation, and that “smart” meters did not reduce outages or “modernize” the electricity grid.
On page 4 of Northeast’s comments to the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, Northeast explains:
“For example, utilizing SCADA-enabled smart switches will both reduce outages and mitigate the effects that outages have on customers. Substation monitoring, remote controls and microprocessor relays can mitigate the impact of widespread outages; manage load constraints; and help to optimize the use of assets in real time.”
[my 2/12/14 letter to the ACC including Northeast’s complete statement is here]
BRIDGE’s full report is here. Slow-learners at the ACC need not fret over its 19 page length. It’s mostly very large print, pictures and pie charts – so simple even a child could understand.
Warren Woodward of Sedona, Arizona has been debunking popular mythology since at least 1960 when, after staying up all night Christmas Eve to check, he stood before his second grade class and announced there was no Santa Claus.
USE OF THIS SITE DEPENDS ON AGREEMENT WITH OUR DISCLAIMER: This website is intended to help advance knowledge and contribute to public awareness. While all reasonable precautions have been taken to ensure the validity of the information given, no warranty is given of its accuracy. It is not intended to substitute for medical or legal advice nor as a final statement with regard to possible prevention and avoidance recommendations or potential biological effects. No liability is accepted by the authors for damages arising from its use or misuse and interpretation by others. All references to smart meters refer to digital, wireless and powerline carrier (PLC) devices, which may vary in their emissions and frequencies. All content on this site is copyrighted by StopSmartMeters.org unless otherwise indicated. Brief (max 3 sentences) excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to StopSmartMeters.org with appropriate and specific links to the original content. All other uses are prohibited, unless specific and written permission from StopSmartMeters.org is provided.
To celebrate these advances made by the EMF Safety movement, we’ve just added Public Exposure: DNA, Democracy & the “Wireless Revolution” to our online store which also features Mobilize: A Film About Cell Phone Radiation as well as other DVD’s and resources to support your local campaign.
