Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/26211
6A – Daily News – Wednesday, March 2, 2011 Opinion D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 SmartMeter Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com Editorial policy The Daily News opinion is expressed in the editorial. The opinions expressed in columns, letters and cartoons are those of the authors and artists. Letter policy The Daily News welcomes let- ters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All let- ters must be signed and pro- vide the writer’s home street address and home phone num- ber. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submit- ted will be considered for publi- cation. Letters will be edited. 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How to reach us Main office: 527-2151 Classified: 527-2151 Circulation: 527-2151 News tips: 527-2153 Sports: 527-2153 Obituaries: 527-2151 Photo: 527-2153 On the Web www.redbluffdailynews.com Fax Newsroom: 527-9251 Classified: 527-5774 Retail Adv.: 527-5774 Legal Adv.: 527-5774 Business Office: 527-3719 Address 545 Diamond Ave. Red Bluff, CA 96080, or P.O. Box 220 Red Bluff, CA 96080 column Editor: I would like Mr. Mazzucchi to answer some questions to test his expertise of the Smart- Meters, other than what’s on the PG&E website. How many PUC meetings have you attended, here or in San Francisco? When did you get your Smart Gas Meter? I got mine in 2008. When did you get your SmartMeter? I got mine in 2010. In order to track a person’s data, wouldn’t that person have to have a computer and be con- nected to the Internet? What does P G & E suggest for those who do not have a computer? How does a SmartMeter compare with the analog in sav- ings if the person with the ana- log shifts their loads to off peak hours? Wouldn’t everyone save money “by appropriately sched- uling activities like dishwashing and laundering and better con- trolling their heating and cool- ing systems?” Or is it only the ones who have a SmartMeter? Your statement, as a regulat- ed utility, PG&E must comply with guidance from the Califor- nia Energy Commission. The CPUC serves the public interest by protecting consumers and ensuring the provisions of safe, reliable utility service and infra- structure at reasonable rates. It’s obvious you have not kept up with the pipe line explo- sion in San Bruno and how eas- ily PG&E deceived the PUC, which never pursued reports on how PG&E did their tests on their pipelines. It took a federal investigation to find reports to be missing, and no high pres- sure water testing being done as PG&E felt these tests to be too cumbersome and expensive to do. You are misinforming your readers. Your statement on line was as a regulated private utili- ty. PG&E is self insured, so there is no need to bear the expense of private insurance coverage. PG&E’s insurance premiums tripled because of the explosions and deaths caused by the testing inaccuracies and safety issues. This does not include the Sept. 9 explosion. PG&E passes its insurance bills onto its customers. A state audit of PG&E found the utility was cutting corners in its safety regimen, but didn’t deliver their findings until more than a month after the San Bruno explosion. PG&E was ordered to release SmartMeter reports to anyone who requests them. However, PG&E spokesman Jeff Smith said, the utility is working to “provide information that we’ve provided to the PUC in a way that is transparent, while pro- tecting confidential informa- tion.” Do you know that PG&E has had more infractions than any other major utility company across the state? The PUC records between 2004 and 2009, PG&E accounted for 410 prob- able violations of federal safety laws, but the PUC did not levy a single fine on PG&E at any- time. Can you explain that? And you want us to trust them? Makes me wonder if you are mentally healthy. Kathy Nelson, Red Bluff Nielsen adult citizens. No public employee should Your Turn Editor: I have sent several ignored requests to meet with the law enforcement committee. All I have asked is that this Grand Jury support the overwhelming documentation, interview wit- nesses and deliver a recommen- dation to indict Assemblyman Jim Nielsen to District Attorney Gregg Cohen. When this happens, this Grand Jury will have done their duty and obeyed their oath. I hope that Mr. Sol, who is the Grand Jury foreman and a close neighbor of Mr. Nielsen, remembers his sworn oath when he votes on this issue. Donald Bird, Rancho Tehama Shovel not scalpel to cut Editor: The federal and state deficits were not created by providing services to taxpayers. Nor was it created by inadequate tax funding. The deficit was creat- ed by excess pay and benefits for public employees, and wel- fare tax credits exceeding the taxes paid by half of all US receive a pension exceeding that received by a civilian employee through Social Secu- rity and the matching invest- ment of 5 percent of income in a 401(k) plan. That assumes the government employee has paid throughout their work career 6.2 percent of their salary as a Social Security equivalent tax and 5 percent of salary for a 401(k) plan equiva- lent. Defined government pen- sions should end for every union and salaried public employee, as they are not affordable for taxpayers. Health insurance benefits should end for all public employees who retire prior to age 65. It does not make sense to tax at a higher rate, those who have sacrificed and self-funded tens of thousands of personal hours for lifelong continuing educa- tion and decades of self invest- ment of savings. As a taxpayer, I would gladly accept an end to the deduction of mortgage interest, and end the tax exemp- tion for home sale profits, past and present. My 11 siblings self fund their lifelong education while holding full time jobs. Too many take the easy option of avoiding education for a career, as evidenced by the high unemployment rates. Personal responsibility should take precedence over unearned entitlements. Joseph Neff, Corning Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 6031 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319-2102 STATE SENATOR — Doug LaMalfa (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 3070 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Jerry Brown, State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 558-3160; E-mail: gover- nor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Wally Herger (R), 2635 Forest Ave. Ste. 100, Chico, CA 95928; 893-8363. U.S.SENATORS — Dianne Feinstein (D), One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 393-0707. Fax (415) 393-0710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (415) 403-0100. Fax (202) 224- 0454. Warming causing cooling? Commentary It snowed again last week. A lot. Boy, am I sick of winter. This is because winter seems to get darker, colder and longer as I get older. My winter colds seem to last longer and make me feel worse. I got a cold over Christmas and variations of it -- sore throat, hacking -- are just now beginning to subside. I feel like somebody worked me over with a baseball bat. Just as I thought this winter would never end, Mother Nature pulled a prank on me. She gave us a warm February day a little more than a week ago. The sun burst through the clouds -- the snow melted in Washington. It was 60 degrees. I jumped in my car and enjoyed a heavenly drive to Pittsburgh, where it was just as gorgeous. The next day also was sunny and warm there. I was hoping the coldness and darkness of this lousy sea- son had finally passed. Then, alas, Pittsburgh got belted with a bunch of snow. I was sitting in a coffee shop that day -- the first day I wasn't hacking constantly from the winter cold that wouldn't go away. I was so productive, I worked nonstop until 7 p.m. When I looked out the window, there it was. Snow was coming down fast and thick. Cars were stuck all over the road. A bus had spun sideways and blocked traffic. It took me 30 minutes to drive one mile. And so I read with interest a recent article in Scientific American, “Why Are Ameri- cans So Ill-Informed about Cli- mate Change?” Scientists discussed this question at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington. One scientist asked a panel of journalists why the media cover climate change as a con- troversy or debate, when, in fact, there's a consensus among many scientific organizations that human activity is causing it. In other words, the media are ginning up what should be a closed case and, therefore, are confusing the public. Though I hope the scientists can forgive us for being con- fused. We were told by some scien- tists only a few years ago that, as the Earth warmed, snow was going to be a thing of the past in many regions. Then we were told that after 100 years of gradual warming, the Earth has cooled recently -- but make no mistake, the Earth is getting warmer. Now some are telling us -- I read this in Scientific American -- that the brutal cold and heavy snow of the past few winters are, in fact, caused by global warming. Global warming is causing global cool- ing? We don't trust the politicians Tom Now, I'm something of an agnostic where global warming is concerned. Pumping all kinds of particulates into the atmos- phere can’t be good, and very well could be having some effect. But we average Joes have come not to trust the exaggerat- ed predictions of journalists, politicians and some scientists. We're suspicious of the folks who are making millions scar- ing the bejeezus out of us. Purcell and government bureaucrats who are trying to shove new controls down our throats. And we’re puzzled by this: If computer models can't tell us if it will snow tomorrow with any degree of certainty, how can they predict weather patterns 20 years off? We’re game for cold, hard science and we are game for the truth, but I hope you understand why spec- ulation and exaggera- tion have made folks wary about the sub- ject of climate change. Such are the thoughts of the ignorant and ill-informed as we go outside in the brutal cold to shovel our sidewalks yet again. ——— Tom Purcell, a humor columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, is nationally syndicated exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. Visit Tom on the Web at www.TomPurcell.com or e-mail him at Purcell@caglecartoons.com.