Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/64048
6A Daily News – Tuesday, May 1, 2012 Opinion DAILYNEWS 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 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. Letters are published at the discretion of the editor. 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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 Put up or shut up about PG&E SmartMeters Today is the deadline for cus- tomers of Pacific Gas and Elec- tric Company to "opt out" of the installation of modern digital replacements for their old analog style elec- tric meters. three months to the day since California regu- lators gave PG&E cus- tomers the choice of rejecting the wireless electricity and gas meters, which critics consider a threat to their privacy and health. The deadline exists largely so PG&E will know how many refurbished analog meters it will need to buy and where it will need to install them. While some of the people who choose to opt out still have their old analog meters, others have already received SmartMeters that they don't want. That's Richard Mazzucchi Positive Point ing the meters installed. The company has tried reaching those people with phone calls and certi- fied mail, but most haven't responded. "As you can imag- ine, the numbers are changing pretty much every day," said Helen Burt, PG&E's chief customer officer. "Whether we'll see a strong number opt out prior to May 1, I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised, but up til now, it's been pretty steady." Opting out isn't free. Under rules established by the Califor- nia Public Utilities Commission in February, most PG&E cus- tomers who stick with analog meters will pay $75 up front, plus a $10 monthly fee. So far, 19,500 customers have opted out, far below the 145,000 to 150,000 that PG&E predicted. It's also just a fraction of the 92,000 customers who placed themselves on a list to delay hav- turn down a device they never asked for and don't trust? Some have encouraged their fellow PG&E customers to opt out but refuse to pay the extra charges, which will appear on their monthly bills. Meter opponents, the opt-out fees smack of extortion. Why pay extra, they argue, to To Smart- site in March. "I really want the powers that be to know that as consumers, I don't think we've ever been given a choice." Like many SmartMeter oppo- nents, she also considers the radiation from cell phones, lap- top computers and other wireless devices to be dangerous - a fiercely debated idea that most of the medical establishment rejects but some researchers embrace. "If it was free, it would have been a no-brainer," said Dutton. "I would have said, 'Heck, I don't want one.' " PG&E warns that people who has surfaced elsewhere, but not to the degree seen in California, particularly within PG&E's terri- tory. Still, the California Public Utilities Commission approved meter opt-out rules this month for Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric Co., mirroring PG&E's. PG&E, the state's largest util- One website, Fight the Fees! contains photo after photo of people posing with their analog meters and hoisting signs that read "Why pay to opt out?? We never opted in!" A link leads to an online petition protesting the fees, and 2,293 people have signed. "I've just been upset about having it thrust upon me as a customer," said Diane Dutton of Watsonville, who set up the opt out but don't pay the fees will be treated like any other cus- tomers who owe the company money —- they could see their power shut off if they don't even- tually pay up. "It is a part of what they owe, and at some time in the future, it'll be an unpaid bill that'll be subject to collection and possibly subject to cut off," Burt said, adding, "That is absolutely the last thing we want to do." The advanced meters are essential building blocks of the "smart grid" — an electricity transmission and distribution system more flexible and resilient than the one in use today. The digital SmartMeters deployed by PG&E record ener- gy use in great detail and trans- mit data to the utility several times a day via a wireless net- work. Opposition to the meters ity, has installed 9 million Smart- Meters out of a planned 10 mil- lion. The fact that fewer than 1in 5000 customers object sufficient- ly to pay to keep their outdated meters speaks to the frivolity of their concerns. Like renewable energy sources and efficiency technologies, SmartMeters make for smarter consumers and more efficient provision of utility ser- vices. It is time for detractors to pay the freight for their intransi- gence and cease their diatribes against progressive changes that protect our planet and manifest sustainable lifestyles. In other words "Put up or shut up about PG&E smartMeters." Richard Mazzucchi is a retired research engineer specializing in energy efficiency and renewable energy. He has travelled extensively and now makes his home in Los Molinos, where he is striving to manifest a sustainable and spiritual lifestyle and operate a BBQ equipment and supply business. He can be reached at living- green@att.net. 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), 2595 Cean- othus Ave., Ste. 182, Chico, CA 95973; 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; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224- 0454. On wanting America to fail — divine it ain't folksy but incisive commentaries delivered over the radio airwaves for almost six decades, first as "Paul Harvey News and Comment," then with "The Rest of the Story" in 1976, offered listeners far more memorable lessons than we can count. However, one was titled "If I were the Devil" and presented all the things Satan would likely do and say, to illustrate that his work and efforts to undermine and elimi- nate God from our American nation and its people were, in actu- ality, proceeding rather effectively. In that spirit, I found a You Tube by a group called "FreeMarke- tAmerica.org" (http://freemarke- tamerica.org/) titled "If I wanted America to fail," viewable for free at their web site. I took the time to transcribe excerpts from the narra- tion so readers learn that when the enviro-liberalist on this page regales us with predictions of doom, gloom and demise unless we seek divinity by abandoning oil and coal, and by retaining President Obama in office, well, here's "The rest of the story": "If I wanted America to fail; to The late Paul Harvey, whose follow, not lead; to suffer, not pros- per; to despair, not dream: I'd start with energy. I'd cut off America's supply of cheap, abundant energy. I couldn't take it by force, so I'd make Americans feel guilty about using the energy that heats their homes, fuels their cars, runs their business- es and powers their economy. I'd make cheap energy expensive so that expensive energy would seem cheap; I'd empower unelected bureaucrats to all but outlaw Amer- ica's most abundant sources of energy. "If I wanted America to fail: I'd use their schools to teach one gen- eration of Americans that their fac- tories and their cars will cause a new ice age, and I'd muster a straight face so I could teach the next generation that they're causing global warming. When it's cold out, I'd call it climate change instead. I'd imply that America's cities and fac- tories could run on wind power and wishes. I'd teach children how to ignore the hypocrisy of condemn- ing logging, mining and farming while having roofs over their heads, heat in their homes and food on their tables. "I would never teach children that the free market is the only force in human history to uplift the poor, establish the middle class and cre- ate lasting prosperity. Instead, I'd demonize prosperity itself, so they will not miss what they will never have. would create countless new regula- tions and seldom cancel old ones. It'd be so complicated that only bureaucrats, lawyers and lobbyists could understand them; that way small businesses with big ideas wouldn't stand a chance, and I'd never have to worry about another Thomas Edison, Henry Ford or Steve Jobs. "I would ridicule as flat-earthers those who urged them to lower costs by increasing supply. And when the evangelists of common sense try to remind people about the laws of supply and demand, I'd enlist a sympathetic media to "If I wanted America to fail: I drown them out. "If I wanted America to fail: I would empower unac- countable bureaucracies seated in a distant capital to bully Americans out of their dreams and their property rights. I'd send federal agents to raid guitar factories for using the wrong kind of wood; I'd force homeowners to tear down their own homes built on their own land. I'd make it almost impossible for farmers to farm, log- gers to log, miners to mine and builders to build. Because I don't believe in free markets, I'd invent false ones; I'd devise ficti- tious products, like carbon credits, and trade them in imaginary markets. I'd convince people that this would create jobs and be good for the economy. "If I wanted America to fail: For every concern, I'd invent a crisis, and for every crisis, I'd invent a cause, like shutting down entire industries and killing tens of thou- sands of jobs in the name of saving spotted owls. And when everyone learned the stunning irony that the owls were victims of their larger cousins and not people, it would already be decades too late. "If I wanted America to fail: I'd make it easier to stop commerce than to start it, easier to kill jobs than create them, more fashionable to resent success than to seek it. When industries seek to create jobs, I'd file lawsuits to stop them and then I'd make taxpayers pay for my Don Polson The way I see it lawyers. "If I wanted America to fail: I would transform the environmental agenda from a document of conservation to an eco- nomic suicide pact; I'd concede entire indus- tries to our economic rivals by imposing reg- ulations that cost tril- lions. I'd celebrate those who preach envi- ronmental austerity in public while indulging a lavish lifestyle in pri- vate. goodness and the decency of ordi- nary Americans; I would only need to convince them that all of this is for the greater good. "If I wanted America to fail, I...I suppose I wouldn't change a thing." The environmental agenda, par- ticularly "climate change" fanati- cism, has been infected by extrem- ism—it's become an economic sui- cide pact that you don't have to accept. Tea Party Patriots meeting tonight will welcome candidates Rodger Cox, for Supervisor Dis- trict 1; and Charlie Rouse, for State Assembly, 3rd District. ca to fail: I'd convince Americans that Europe has it right and that America has it wrong. I would prey on the Don Polson has called Red Bluff home since 1988. He can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@yahoo.com. "If I wanted Ameri-