Alert! USAF military drill Jan. 26 – Feb. 18, 2018. EMF jamming of GPS across Western United States. Widespread health and environmental effects likely.

Posted on February 1, 2018 by admin

2-7-18 Update: This response from the National Institutes of Health:

Thanks for your message. We’re sorry to hear of this situation.

This matter is outside of NIH’s jurisdiction.

If you have not done so already, you might file a formal complaint with the Air Force: http://ww w.af.mil/Inspector-General-Complaints/

Also see: https://www3.epa.gov/radtown/electric-magnetic-fields.html

For additional guidance, you might contact:

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): https://www3.epa.gov/radtown/contact-us.html

The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA): https://www.osha.gov/html/Feed_Back.html

Best,

NIH INFO – D

——-

2-6-18 Update: There has been no response from California Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and Congressman Jimmy Panetta (the son of former Sec of Defense and former CIA Chief Leon Panetta).They have not responded to public complaints about this drill even by providing more information, despite letters and phone calls with their local office and Washington DC staff. My first letter was January 31.

———–

This reckless and irresponsible action by the Pentagon and Joint Chiefs of Staff is underway right now. Based at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada and including other facilities in the West, it will dramatically increase levels of EMF RF throughout the region, impacting public health.

Training maneuvers will impact vast portions of the Western U.S. including California, Nevada, Oregon, Wyoming, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Montana and New Mexico. FAA enroute ATC centers affected include Albuquerque (ZAB), Denver (ZDV), Los Angeles (ZLA), Salt Lake (ZLC), Oakland (ZOA) and Seattle (ZSE).

During the drill, GPS across the region will be jammed using powerful EMF emitting equipment. These harmful emissions can affect public health in a myriad of ways including heart function, cognition, immunity, and cause increased incidence of migraine or headache, seizures, heart arrhythmia, sleep disturbances, skin problems, clicking or ringing in the ears, flu-like symptoms, difficulty breathing, pain, and other health problems. This will also affect  pets and wildlife.

The increased communication and radar RF used for this war drill will also increase already high levels of RF for the public.

Additional hazards from this drill include possible interference with medical devices including pacemakers, Parkinsons deep brain implants, and hospital equipment. GPS equipment in installed throughout society means impacts on the power grid and commercial aircraft.

There has been no public warning in local news media. 

If you live in this region or have family and friends or simply care about impacts to the earth, contact your U.S. congressional representatives now and protest this gross violation of public health and safety. 

U.S. foreign policy and conduct is in complete contrast to the mainstream media depictions.  The U.S. government is no more truthful about other countries than it is about wireless hazards. Fake foreign threats and fear are used continually, like the fake WMDs in Iraq, because immense profits are dependent on continued conflicts and wars. Citizens everywhere must dig beneath the misinformation, the hype, the demonization, and the surface depictions to learn history and find the truth and then take action if you care about peace.

From Zero Hedge
January 27, 2018

USAF Largest Ever “Red Flag 18-1” Air War Drill. Prepares for Possible Conflict in Korea? Massive GPS Blackouts in the Western US

The United States Air Force is launching its largest-ever three-week premier set of air war drills, called Red Flag 18-1, starting on Friday and will conclude February 16, said the 99th Air Base Wing Public Affairs.

On January 26, the air war drill, known as Red Flag, officially kicked off at Nellis Air Force Base, 20-miles outside of Las Vegas. Base officials have warned residents of increased military aircraft activity due to aircraft departing from Nellis Air Force Base twice-a-day to conduct war drills on the Nevada Test and Training Range.

“We’re trying a few new and different things with Red Flag 18-1,” said Col Michael Mathes, 414th Combat Training Squadron commander. “It’s the largest Red Flag ever with the largest number of participants, highlighting the balance of training efficiency with mission effectiveness.”

The drill involves a variety of attack, fighter and bomber aircraft as well as participants from the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, and Marine Corps. Foreign participants include Royal Australian Air Force and the Royal Air Force.

A video from the 2015 Red Flag drill is shown below.

“Red Flag 18-1 primarily is a strike package focused training venue that we integrate at a command and control level in support of joint task force operations,” said Mathes. “It’s a lot of words to say that we integrate every capability we can into strike operations that are flown out of Nellis Air Force Base.”

According to The Drive, the air war drill is the largest of its kind in the 42-year history, as the United States prepares for a possible conflict on the Korean Penisula.

Further, the USAF is going to “blackout GPS over the sprawling Nevada Test and Training Range,” said the Drive, which will provide realistic war-like conditions to challenge aircrews.

Flying.com reports the drills at the Nevada Test and Training Range will cause rolling GPS blackouts for the vast portions of the Western United States from January 26 through February 18. All GPS-equipped aircraft operating in the Western United States should be prepared for possible navigation failure in the region.

The NBAA Command Center reports the U.S. military will begin training exercises on the Nevada Test and Training Range between 0400Z until 0700Z daily. Training maneuvers will impact vast portions of the Western U.S. including California, Nevada, Oregon, Wyoming, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Montana and New Mexico. FAA enroute ATC centers affected include Albuquerque (ZAB), Denver (ZDV), Los Angeles (ZLA), Salt Lake (ZLC), Oakland (ZOA) and Seattle (ZSE). Operations in R-2508 and R-2501 may also be impacted.  

“Arrivals and departures from airports within the Las Vegas area may be issued non-Rnav re-routes with the possibility of increased traffic disruption near LAS requiring airborne re-routes to the south and east of the affected area. Aircraft operating in Los Angeles (ZLA) center airspace may experience navigational disruption, including suspension of Descend-via and Climb-via procedures. Non-Rnav SIDs and STARs may be issued within ZLA airspace in the event of increased navigational disruption. Crews should expect the possibility of airborne mile-in-trail and departure mile-in-trail traffic management initiatives.”

The Drive explains why the USAF is determined to use GPS spoofing and jamming technology but offers no insight into what a GPS blackout might mean for the millions of civilians who live in the Western region of the US.

GPS denial is a becoming a huge issue for American military planners. Peer states, especially Russia, are already putting GPS spoofing and jamming tactics to work during various training events near their own borders. We have discussed this situation in great depth before, and I would suggest you read this article to understand just how deeply the loss of reliable global positioning system data can mean for the U.S. and its allies during a time of war, as well as what is being done to overcome such a monumental hurdle.

The Pentagon has mysteriously tested technology that can jam GPS over a wide area before, and it is likely that this same capability will be put to use in the Nellis Test and Training Range for this Red Flag 18-1. Line-of-sight and distance impact the way in which GPS users, especially other airplanes, operating far outside the training area will be affected. Here is an article on those tests, which emanated from Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, which is located on the western edge of the Mojave Desert in California, in June of 2016.

Below is a released image showing the impact of a GPS jammer unleashed on the Western United States in a June 2016 test:

If there is a concrete reason why the Department of Defense is quietly preparing a massive air war drill in Nevada now, while simultaneously forcing a gigantic GPS blackout for the Western part of the United States, it has not been disclosed aside from the obvious, of course.

We know one thing: this exercise will last a lengthy three weeks and could pose significant risks and threats to devices that rely on GPS signals, which according to the DHS chart below, is pretty much anything with electronics in it these days.

Let’s hope that nothing goes wrong in the Western part of the United States if so, we will know whom to blame…

*

All images in this article are from Zero Hedge.

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Maine: Sky-high utility bills but utility company denies any Smart Meter problems

Posted on January 27, 2018 by admin

From WGME CBS 13, On Your Side

CMP customers sticker-shocked by latest bill

Jan. 25, 2018
By Marissa Bodnar

Some Central Maine Power customers are outraged over their latest bills and struggling to understand why, in some cases, they’ve doubled.

The CBS 13 I-Team has received e-mails from customers and found hundreds of comments on Facebook.

“I printed this off on the 17th and almost had a stroke,” said Patti Clark, a customer in Camden.

Clark said her CMP bill took her breath away. The cost had more than doubled, from $193 dollars to nearly $500.

“It makes zero sense,” she said.

Clark said when she got CMP on the phone, they pointed to a number of possibilities, including a rate increase by her supplier.

“I said, ‘My supplier went up three cents per kilowatt hour. I understand that,'” said Clark.

Clark was prepared for a $50 to $70 increase, but said her bill also reflects a jump in usage: an average of 89 kilowatt hours per day compared to 53 the same time last year.

“We’re not doing anything differently,” she said.

Clark said her husband is on the road for work 28 out of 30 days. They use a pellet stove for heat, have no furnace, and upgraded to all new, more efficient appliances over the past year, along with a geothermal water heater.

“I’m running around shutting things off, basically sitting in the dark,” she said.

Clark said she’s tracking her usage and sees discrepencies between her mobile alerts and the meter on her home.

“Their energy alert is off 90 from what my meter says,” Clark said.

Gail Rice, a spokesperson for CMP, said the majority of customers are not complaining about their bills, and the company found no issues with meter reading or rate calculation. She said delivery prices have not changed since July of 2017.

Rice said there are a number of variables, but residential customers typically use more electricity in the winter. She said heat and hot water systems run more frequently and for longer periods, people spend more time indoors with lights and entertainment devices turned on, and the recent cold snap drove usage up for many.

She said the number of heating degree days over the period in question was 24 percent higher this year.

Clark is having her smart meter swapped out for an analog one as she anxiously awaits the next bill.

“I feel like I’m a slave going back and forth to work just to pay this bill,” she said. “I’m even thinking of having to take a second job just to pay these.”

The Maine Public Utilities Commissionisn’t getting an unusual number of complaints about CMP bills, but said the company has had some minor issues transitioning to a new billing system.

MPUC encourages customers to call their utility first to get information. They can also call the Commission’s Consumer Assistance Division for help.

http://wgme.com/news/i-team/i-team-cmp-customers-sticker-shocked-by-latest-bill

CMP: No issues that would cause bills to spike

January 26, 2018

PORTLAND (WGME) – Complaints are piling up about sky-high electricity bills.

Our I-Team continues to hear from customers in Southern Maine, who say their recent bills are taking their breath away.

Since our story aired Thursday night, we’ve heard from dozens of Central Maine Power customers, emailing, calling, and posting on Facebook.

Most are saying the same thing, their bills have doubled, even tripled in some cases.

One bill a customer sent us was for more than $500.

It indicates her daily usage this January more than tripled from last January.

Thursday, Patti Clark showed us her bill, showing her usage almost doubled from the previous January.

So Fridday we again talked with CMP.

Spokesperson Gail Rice says any number of factors can drive up usage, certainly this January’s severe cold snap is one of those things.

She says it’s impossible to know what’s going on inside a customer’s home, but sudden spikes in electricity use can be a sign of problems with appliances, a malfunctioning well pump, or a leaky water heater.

She also told us CMP constantly monitors the performance of its smart meters and system, and has found no issues that would cause bills to spike.

CMP says most customers are not calling about their bill, but if you have a bill you want us to see, we want to see it so we can continue to look into it.

Email us a picture of your bill right now, at: tips (at) wgme.com.

There’s plenty of buzz on social media that the increase is because of the October windstorm.

While CMP says it will try to recoup some of the cost of the storm from customers, that won’t happen until this summer at the earliest.

http://wgme.com/news/local/cmp-no-issues-that-would-cause-bills-to-spike

Posted under Fair Use Rules

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Smart Meter manufacturers are top sponsors for regulatory commissions’ national policy summits

Posted on January 26, 2018 by admin

NARUC is the United States National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissions – the umbrella organization of all of the state utility commissions.

NARUC meets throughout the year, including two national policy summits, and an annual meeting and educational conference.

“[NARUC] members gather to set policy, share best practices, and discuss crucial industry issues”

http://www.naruc (dot) org/meetings-and-events/meetings-overview/

Smart Meter manufacturer Itron was the top sponsor of the 2017 NARUC summer policy summit. Landis & Gyr is the top sponsor of the 2018 winter policy summit to be held February 11-14 in Washington, D.C.

In addition, Aclara (TWACS Smart Meter manufacturer) and Oracle Utilities were gold sponsors of the 2017 summer summit. For the winter 2018 summit, Itron is again a Platinum sponsor, and Oracle Utilities returns as a Gold sponsor.

See also,

https://smartmeterharm.org/2014/10/25/u-s-national-association-of-regulatory-utility-commissioners-presentation-on-smart-meter-problems-2011/

https://smartmeterharm.org/2014/11/16/u-s-public-utility-regulators-in-san-francisco-nov-15-19-for-annual-conference-with-industry/

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Cell phones — questions and answers

Posted on January 22, 2018 by admin

Which is safer, low power or high power?

Neither. The higher the power, the more heat. The lower the power, the more leakage of the blood-brain barrier. The higher the power, the more your metabolism is disturbed.[10] The lower the power, the more calcium leaks out of your cells.[11] Microwave radiation injures the body in many different ways. It depends on which effect you are looking at.

From Cellular Phone Task Force
By Arthur Firstenberg
December 2017

How much radiation does a cell phone emit, compared to what exists in nature?

If Neil Armstrong had brought a cell phone to the moon in 1969, it would have appeared from earth to be the brightest object in the universe in the microwave spectrum. In the daytime, the sun would have been brighter, but at night, the cell phone would have outshone every star.

There is a reason cell phones are outlawed in Green Bank, West Virginia: even a single cell phone, even from miles away, would blind the radio astronomers there and make it impossible for them to see the stars. Astronomers measure radio waves in units called janskys. A typical star shines at 10 to 100 janskys. The Sun shines at about 500,000 janskys. When you hold a cell phone against your head, you are pumping energy at the rate of about 100,000,000,000,000,000 janskys into your brain.[1]

How does that compare to radiation from a cell tower?

Suppose there is a 2,000-watt cell tower two blocks from your house. The part of your brain next to a cell phone is absorbing up to one hundred thousand times as much radiation from the phone as it is from the tower.[2]

Are the FCC’s exposure limits the same for cell phones and cell towers?

No. Cell phones are exempt from the limits imposed on cell towers. The FCC measures exposure in milliwatts per square centimeter. Depending on frequency, the FCC’s limit for whole body exposure to radiation from distant sources is about one milliwatt per square centimeter
(1 mW/cm2). The limit for partial body exposure to a cell phone is approximately 20 mW/cm2 (for the brain), which assumes the phone is held at least one and a half centimeters away from your head. It is 50 mW/cm2 (for the hands, wrists and ears). If you hold the phone flush against your head, like most people do, or tightly between your head and your shoulder, the exposure to the brain can approach 50 mW/cm2 also.[3]

Who set the exposure limits?

A radar scientist named Herman Schwan who was brought to the United States from Germany after World War II as part of Project Paperclip. He made some assumptions about the rate at which the human body is capable of getting rid of heat, and on that basis he estimated that the body could safely absorb an amount of radiation equal to 100 mW/cm2. His assumptions were soon proven wrong, since experimental animals died within minutes when exposed to that much radiation. So over the years, the safe level was reduced first to 10 mW/cm2 and later to the current limit of 1 mW/cm2.

Why is the brain exempt from those limits?

Because those limits would make cell phones impractical. And because new assumptions were made about how much heat the brain could safely absorb, and the rate at which the body could dissipate that heat. It was decided that the brain could be safely heated by up to 1° C
(1.8° F).

Have these assumptions proven correct?

No. A 1° C rise in temperature is usually considered a fever. And although the brain as a whole is heated less than 1° C by a cell phone, the absorption is not uniform. DNA, for example, resonantly absorbs microwave radiation. In experiments done at the Food and Drug Administra­tion during the 1980s, DNA absorbed 400 times as much radiation as expected.[4] Research done at the Max Planck Institute in Germany in 2006 found that brain synapses may be resonantly heated by up to 100° C while the brain as a whole is heated by only 1° C.[5]

I don’t get a headache from my cell phone. Can it be that bad?

Because brain tissue has no pain receptors, we don’t feel the injury. Even a headache doesn’t tell you what’s happening inside your head. Neurosurgen Leif Salford and his colleagues in Sweden found that a single two-hour exposure to a cell phone permanently destroys up to two percent of a rat’s brain cells.[6] Superficially the rats are fine, but two percent of their brain is gone. The experiments gave similar results even when the exposure level was reduced a hundredfold. And in experiments on the blood-brain barrier, they reduced the exposure level ten thousandfold and found that damage to the blood-brain barrier was worse when the exposure level was reduced.[7]

That means that holding the phone away from your head does not protect you. It means that if you use a Bluetooth headset, which emits only 2.5 milliwatts, you are doing more damage to yourself than if you hold the phone to your head. The blood-brain barrier keeps bacteria, virusus, and toxic chemicals out of your brain and maintains the brain at constant pressure. Too much intracranial pressure can lead to a stroke.

How fast does the damage to the blood-brain barrier happen?

Leakage of the blood-brain barrier is detectable within two minutes of exposure and probably begins within seconds.

What do the stroke statistics tell us?

Continue reading →

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California releases cell phone safety guidance: comparison of 2017 version vs. 2009 draft

Posted on January 21, 2018 by admin

From SaferEMR.com

January 4, 2018 (updated January 17, 2018)

In June, 2009, the Division of Environmental and Occupational Disease Control in the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) prepared a draft cell phone safety guidance document. Although the document reflected the consensus of the division, it was not released until May, 2017 pursuant to a court order–the outcome of a lawsuit filed under the California Public Records Act.

In December, 2017, the CDPH finally published their cellphone safety guidance document.

A side-by-side comparison of the contents of the original 2009 draft with the 2017 published version of the document appears below. The side-by-side can be downloaded at http://bit.ly/CDPHsidebyside.

For more information:

Cell Phone Safety Guidance from the California Public Health Department California’s Cell Phone Safety Guidance: Media Coverage

http://www.saferemr.com/2018/01/CDPHsidebyside.html

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Why don’t Prime Minister Trudeau and Premier Horgan care about Smart Meter fires? The Goddard Report with Sharon Noble – January 11, 2018

Posted on January 21, 2018 by admin

From the Goddard Report, Talk Digital Network.com

Why Don’t Trudeau and Horgan Care About Smart Meter Fires? Sharon Noble – January 11, 2018
24:43

What BC Hydro didn’t want you to know about Smart Meters

Guest’s website: http://www.stopsmartmetersbc.com/

Also:

(podcast 24:30) January 11, 2018 | Why Don’t Trudeau and Horgan Care About Smart Meter Fires? – The Goddard Report with Jim Goddard – HoweStreet.com – January 11, 2018:
https://www.howestreet.com/2018/01/11/why-dont-trudeau-and-horgan-care-about-smart-meter-fires/

– – – – – – – –

BCUC & Smart Meter Fires Report (July 2017):
http://www.stopsmartmetersbc.com/bcuc-smart-meter-fires-the-failure-to-protect/)

The Goddard Report Video Archives of Interviews with Sharon Noble, Director, Coalition to Stop Smart Meters re Smart Meters and Health Issues from Wireless Technologies:

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British Columbia Utility Commission & Smart Meter Fires: The Failure to Protect — Report

Posted on January 21, 2018 by admin

From the Coalition to Stop BC Smart Meters

9-13-17

The BC Utilities Commission’s prime reason for being, as stated in the BC Utilities Commission Act, is to ensure that the citizens of BC receive service that is safe and secure. Section 25 says:

If the commission, after a hearing held on its own motion or on complaint, finds that the service of a public utility is unreasonable, unsafe, inadequate or unreasonably discriminatory, the commission must

(a) determine what is reasonable, safe, adequate and fair service, and

(b) order the utility to provide it.

 

In July 2015 I lodged an official complaint with BCUC, charging that ITRON smart meters are not safe, have never been certified to be safe, and I provided 8 examples of fires and failures in BC that had put lives and property at risk. I asked for a formal investigation of this device and, if it was found to be unsafe, that a formal recall be made, with ITRON refunding all monies paid and charges incurred.

6 months later BCUC responded in a draft form, asking for me to respond, which I did. Included with my response were statements by Electrical Engineers who had inspected the smart meters and found them to have serious design flaws which cause them to be fire hazards. In addition I provided more evidence of fires in BC and elsewhere.

BCUC’s response was that my evidence was not “persuasive”, stating that they had been told, and were convinced, that the meters were safe based upon a report that had been commissioned and paid for by BC Hydro, a report that Len Garis wrote using one source only – the annual Fire Commissioner’s report. Nothing else. BCUC did not seek expert input from Electrical Engineers. Neither did they ask me for more information. Rather, they put the onus on me to prove them and Len Garis wrong.

This report does this, in spades. I now charge that BCUC has failed to do its job by ordering BC Hydro and FortisBC to provide “reasonable, safe, adequate and fair service” after having received a complaint with evidence that the public’s safety is being jeopardized.

I hope you will read the report and consider the following:

1)   No agency is tracking fires;

2)   Regulations and laws are being broken with impunity, e.g. meters are being removed from the fire scene, electrical inspections are not being done;

3)   Reporting is haphazard at best;

4)   The meter is combustible, poorly designed, and not certified by any agency to be safe;

5)   BC Hydro did not perform its due diligence by having an independent Electrical Engineer inspect the meter prior to signing the contract. Rather, it accepted ITRON’s assurances;

6)   Smart meters have burned, melted and caused homes to burn. BC Hydro and BCUC both deny this is happening.

None of these factors were taken into consideration by either Len Garis in his “report” or by BCUC in their rejection of my complaint.

Consumer Affairs recalls defective devices, e.g. cars, electrical appliances. But because a utility owns the smart meters, they are not considered consumer goods and Consumer Affairs has no jurisdiction. Who is watching out for us, ensuring that these devices that are being put on our homes without our permission, mandated by law, are safe?  No one. This is in our hands and this report provides the means by which we can and must demand a recall.

The files are all large, so please be patient when downloading them – it will take time.

1) http://tinyurl.com/SMFireReport

2) http://tinyurl.com/AppendixWSpreadsheet

3) http://tinyurl.com/SuperReportDataVol-I – Supporting Documentation (A-M)

4) http://tinyurl.com/SuperReportDataVol-II – Supporting Documentation (cont’d)  (N-W)

5) Addenda 

http://www.stopsmartmetersbc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Letter-to-Premier-John-Horgan-Smart-Meters-A-Fire-Hazard-by-Sharon-Noble-September-01-2017.pdf

http://www.stopsmartmetersbc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Letter-to-David-M.-Morton-CEO-BCUC-Smart-Meters-A-Fire-Hazard-by-Sharon-Noble-September-01-2017.pdf

http://www.stopsmartmetersbc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Letter-to-Energy-Minister-M.-Mungall-BCUC-and-Smart-Meter-Fires-The-Failure-to-Protect-by-Sharon-Noble-September-02-2017.pdf

http://www.stopsmartmetersbc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Letter-to-Transportation-Minister-C.-Trevena-BCUC-and-Smart-Meter-Fires-The-Failure-to-Protect-by-Sharon-Noble-September-02-2017.pdf

http://www.stopsmartmetersbc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Letter-to-MLA-Sonia-Furstenau-BCUC-and-Smart-Meter-Fires-The-Failure-to-Protect-by-Sharon-Noble-September-02-2017.pdf

__________________________________________________________________________

Press Release – http://www.stopsmartmetersbc.com/press-release-bcuc-smart-meter-fires-september-21-2017/

BC Hydro Response & Sharon Noble’s Response Back – http://www.stopsmartmetersbc.com/bc-hydro-response-to-bcuc-request-for-comment-on-ms-nobles-correspondence-re-smart-meter-fires-report-october-20-2017/

Additional important information & links re smart meter fires:

BCUC & Smart Meter Fires: The Failure to Protect

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“This is what the ratepayers in South Carolina are up against” – State Senator Fanning makes a roomful of lobbyists stand (VIDEO)

Posted on January 20, 2018 by admin

“[T]he Good Ol’ Boy system is still in force, where the lobbyists run the show.

…It was literally 80 people. It was more than I expected. I knew it was a large crowd, but it was literally 80 of the 110 people in the room.

My response was, this was what ratepayers across South Carolina were up against,” Fanning said.

Video below

From the News and Reporter Online Chester:

By Brian Garner
January 18, 2018

As a former educator, State Senator Mike Fanning (Dist. 17) is used to teaching lessons and has probably even resorted to object lessons that dramatically illustrate a point. He apparently still knows how, because he dramatically illustrated a point to a room full of nuclear lobbyists at the State House during the Senate’s V.C. Summer Nuclear Project Review Committee earlier this week. Sen. Fanning talked with The N&R by phone about the point he was making and why he made his point the way he did.

Fanning provided some background about the potential deal with Dominion Energy, who has offered to buy SCANA, the parent company of SCE&G, for $14.6 billion, but with some major contingencies attached.

“Dominion walked in the door with a gun to our heads. They walked in a little cocky and a little arrogant, which doesn’t surprise me, because the folks in SCANA are the same way, but they walked in as if they were the only game in town, take it or leave it, and giving us the full-court press. They said in effect, ‘If you don’t take this deal, SCANA is going bankrupt and you will need to do something tomorrow,” he said.

At the Gressette Building meeting earlier this week, Sen. Fanning asked the lobbyists or anyone else who was being paid by any of the energy companies to stand and be recognized. Three-quarters of the room stood.

“That,” Fanning said, indicating the army of lobbyists and energy company execs “is what the people of South Carolina, the ratepayers, are up against. Right here.”

There were two things that Fanning wanted to point out during that meeting, he later said in the interview, “You’ve got SCANA, a massive power player, teamed up and said to the ratepayers: ‘You will pay billions of dollars for reactors.’ And they did. Now we’ve got Dominion walking in the door and telling us: ‘You will not stand in the way of us taking over SCANA.’

“And it was just that big corporate bully vs. the average citizen.”

Fanning said when he arrived at the Gressette 105 room, the largest Senate meeting room that holds 100-120 people, the room was packed. When he looked over the crowd, it looked like the vast majority of the people in the room were lobbyists for large energy concerns.

“It bothered me that once again, the full-court press was on where they’re going to dangle $1,000 (which is the rebate Dominion said ratepayers would get back if the deal goes through) and they’re going to put the full-court press on and then hire 18 lobbyists (including former S.C. Governor Jim Hodges).

Why would former Governor Hodges be sitting on the front row unless it was to leverage power to get us to make the deal?

“And I’m not knocking him – he is a person that earns a living, and that’s his job. Having said that, there was a sense of bullying, ‘We are the big dog and you’re going top take our offer or else.”

Fanning said this was what the common man in this entire issue has been up against for the last 10 years.

“Nine straight rate increases, where we don’t have a chance to say ‘Whoa, slow this down’ and after the rate increases, the company walking away, and after the company walks away, our rates are still high, and then Dominion walks in the door and says ‘We’re still going to keep the rates higher than they should be,” he said.

Secondly, Fanning recalled he ran for office because he was opposed to the “Good Ol’ Boy” system in state politics, saying that was what gets in the way of genuine policy reform that could positively represent the regular citizens in the street. The Good Ol’ Boy system was in evidence when he looked across the sea of faces in the meeting, Fanning said, including former legislators and former governors who are now lobbyists for the energy companies.

“When I looked over the audience and saw that, I wanted to be able to paint a picture of this David vs. Goliath, Regular-Man-Versus-The-Energy-Machine. The only way I could think to do that was to have them stand up,” he said. Then the former educator proceeded to teach the day’s lesson.

“I was very cautious not to tip my hand as to why I was asking them to stand up. I said ‘We have a great crowd today. We want to recognize all that were here and all the folks that were interested in our energy problem. In fact, if any of you are here today and have received any money or are in any way connected with a utility company, an energy company or a power company, (and I named the names) would you please stand and be recognized.’ It was literally 80 people. It was more than I expected. I knew it was a large crowd, but it was literally 80 of the 110 people in the room.

“My response was, this was what ratepayers across South Carolina were up against,” Fanning said.

He said he wasn’t disparaging the people who were doing their jobs, but many times, people say ‘You are government. Make this right.”

“I wanted to call attention that the Good Ol’ Boy system is still in force, where the lobbyists run the show. The reason we are in this mess (and the General Assembly did pass the Base Load Review Act) but it was lobbyists for SCANA and Santee-Cooper that worked with the law firm to draft the BLRA and hand it to legislators (who then didn’t give it the due diligence they should have – I’m not taking the legislature off the hook at all) but it was started by lobbyists for nuclear power industries in South Carolina wanting to get this done,” he said.

“And here we are trying to get out of the deal, and we are once again being pressured by big-time lobbyists wanting to get something done,” he pointed out.

“The other reason you want to paint a picture is because Dominion Energy has been doing a very effective job of painting their picture. We are getting ready to get into House primary elections, where every member of the House is up for reelection and right before people file, Dominion unveils a deal that says ‘We will cut a $1,000 check to every single constituent in your district. Please feel free to oppose the deal and tell your people you’re going to keep them from getting a $1,000 check.’

“It was brilliant, and it is hard for us to explain why taking a $1,000 is bad. My point was (Dominion) had painted a vivid picture of themselves as the cowboy with the white hat on the white horse coming to save the day, with a $1,000 check for everybody there. That visual imagery was what we were trying to hold back to keep folks focused on what was really good for themselves and the state, long-term. I needed to paint a picture of who is really in the white hat and on that white horse. Are these folks doing this because they woke up one morning and said ‘We want to sacrifice our lives for the betterment of South Carolina?’ Or were they there because they see profit value?” Fanning asked.

That question has yet to be answered.

http://www.onlinechester.com/content/what-ratepayers-sc-are-against

Posted under Fair Use Rules

Comment on Twitter below the post from “Brandon Smithwood”

“man, oh, man, his PAC is going to be hurting this cycle.”

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Testimony in Michigan: “They treated me as if I was a criminal…terrorized me…they cut me off” – what Consumers Energy did to one disabled customer with five doctors’ letters who asked to keep her analog meter (VIDEO)

Posted on January 19, 2018 by admin

Jaime Chimner testimony to Michigan House Energy Policy Committee
January 16, 2018

 

Excerpts:

Jaime Chimner: I was cut off on September 11 of 2015 because I had 5 doctors’ letters saying that a Smart Meter or digital meter would severely harm me healthwise…And it’s still shut off. ..They cut me off because I couldn’t, for my life, have a Smart Meter or a digital meter. I was given 13 hours notice that they were going to cut our power because I couldn’t, I would not accept a digital or Smart Meter.

…What gives them the right to do that? Where do we live in a world where this Smart Meter program was supposed to be voluntary when it first started, we were supposed to volunteer to get it? We didn’t have to get it. Well, now I’m proof that you have to get it, or they’ll cut your power.

It doesn’t matter what you have, what reasons, they just smile at you and terrorize you. And he terrorized me that day when he came to shut of our power. I begged him , I begged this man not to shut my power off. I have machines I have to use to live…

…they treated me as if I was a criminal….

…Please do the right thing and pass the Meter Choice bill or I’m not going to have a choice and I won’t be here much longer if that goes on my house. Thank you very much….

…

Rep. Lower: …What’s wrong with the digital opt-out meter? What problems does it cause? Or could you have that meter?

Jaime Chimner: No, that was the meter that was on my house actually for 6 years, and I, we didn’t realize it. It affects my health.

Rep. Lower: In what way?

Jaime Chimner: It paralyzed me. After 6 years and finally figuring out what was on our house, when the Smart Meters were coming. I was paralyzed from the waist down most days. I was homebound in a wheelchair by that point and not given a whole lot of time left to live. We couldn’t find what was causing my problem.

NOTE: Jaime Chimner was given disabled accommodation by the Michigan legislature. She is disabled by electromagnetic sensitivities (EMS). The legislature allowed her to testify first so that she could limit her time in the hearing room, which has wireless internet (Wi-Fi).

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Michigan: DTE threatened to shut off electricity to village including water and sewer system for refusing Smart Meters (VIDEO)

Posted on January 19, 2018 by admin

Testimony to the Michigan Energy Policy Committee, January 16, 2018

DTE threatened to shut off the Village of Columbiaville for refusing to allow a Smart Meter to be installed on the office and Department of Public Utilities building. The DPU building contains controls for the village water and sewer systems,

“DTE did not care about the village and our residents and the extent of damage they could have caused by shutting off our power.”

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