Calendar
Today, there was a fatal shooting in Newtown, CT that cost us the lives of children and teachers. Fatality from gun violence is something the people of Oakland face on a daily basis. From Oakland to Newtown to Afghanistan, we will hold a space that says, “These lives matter, enough is enough. Violence is systemic, root to canopy, state to individual.”
Please join us at OGP, at 6pm this Friday, December 14, 2012. Wear black, bring your candles, your signs, your grief, your poetry, and music and thoughts. We will have a silent candlelit funereal procession through the streets of Oakland in honor of those who have died this year as a result of gunfire and then hold vigil in the amphitheater, where people can stay, talk, and heal as a community.
From the expanding porn industry to the escalating attacks on abortion rights… In a world like this, there is no “neutral.” If you are not fighting the oppression of women, you are saying it’s okay!
There are lots of important reasons to protest at the CPUC, not only ‘Smart’ meters, but also Diablo Canyon’s nuclear power plant, massive toxic dumping by PG&E (remember Hinkley, Hunters Point, and many more), AT&T’s push to get rid of landlines (an accessibility issue), gasline explosions due to neglect, etc etc etc.
These issues are about environmental health, community defense, disability justice, and labor. The people who are most immediately impacted by the decisions of the CPUC are the workers forced to implement them.
For example, this former PG&E meter reader was fired for refusing to be silent about the fact that ‘Smart’ meters are a fire hazard, and lays out the financial reality that these meters are actually more expensive than meter readers, who were the only people working for the utility who regularly checked for gas leaks like the one that preceded the San Bruno explosion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnxIoItNUek
One of the victims who died in a fire caused by ‘Smart’ meters was Larry Nikkel, of Vacaville, a member of Stationary Engineers Local 39: http://stopsmartmeters.org/2013/06/21/when-smart-meters-kill-the-story-of-larry-nikkel-details-emerge-of-vacaville-ca-smart-meter-fire-death/
Please mobilize your friends and comrades to come out on Thursday – Peevey’s last day – and bring your friends and your own grievances against this supposed watchdog agency that acts more like a lapdog of the corporate utilities. Tell Peevey: Good Riddance!
Details below.
PRESS CONFERENCE/ DEMONSTRATION AT CPUC IN SAN FRANCISCO OPPOSING “SMART” METER POLICIES AND GENERAL CORRUPTION
California Public Utilities Commission
Thursday, December 18 8:30 AM
Van Ness at McAllister, San Francisco
Give CPUC President Michael Peevey the send-off into retirement that he deserves after a dozen years of corruption and complicity with corporate utilities.
Protest the CPUC’s proposed decisions in the ‘smart’ meter opt out proceedings. Show strength in unity against their proposals that:
• Ignore serious public safety hazards including toxic injuries, fires, homelessness, violations of privacy, higher bills, loss of meter readers, and no promised energy savings.
• Continue to impose coercive extortion opt out fees
• Violate laws, and deny customer and disability rights
• Prohibit opt-outs for communities, apartment buildings, and businesses
• Reward utility companies with millions $$$ more for smart grid failings
Join us in demanding that the CPUC:
• Reject the proposed decisions
• Rescind and refund ‘opt out’ extortion fees
• Halt the ‘smart’ meter program
Bring any other past or present grievances against the CPUC (toxic dumping, nuclear plants, gas line explosions, accessibility, public power, etc.)
We will be raising our demands both outside before the meeting, as well as inside. Please come prepared to make some noise and be seen. Wear black if you can. Rain or shine.
For more information about the proposed decisions, go to these links:
The proposed decisions would (as summarized by the EMF Safety Network):
- Give 37 million dollars to the Investor Owned Utilities (PG&E, SCE, SDG&E, and So Cal Gas) for providing the opt-out program.
- Adopt permanent fees for residential customers who “do not wish to have a wireless smart meter.”
- Continue the same interim fees of $75 initial fee plus $10/month, and $10 initial fee plus $5/month for low income.
- Local governments and multi-unit dwellings may not collectively opt out of smart meter installations.
- Charging an opt-out fee does not violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
- They will not address health and safety impacts in this decision.
- Assess fees on a per location basis, for example if you have two or more meters on your property, that will be one fee, per utility company.
- If you have two utilities, they can both charge you fees.
- President Peevey proposes putting a cap on the opt-out fees at 3 years.
- Neither proposal considers a no-fee option.
Ecological Options Network
EMF Analysis
EMF Safety Coalition
EMF Safety Network
No Nukes Action
Smart Meter Health Alert
Stop OC Smart Meters
Smart Meter Harm
Stop Smart Grid
Stop Smart Meters!
Stop Smart Meters Irvine
United Public Workers for Action
Wireless Radiation Alert Network