The newly crafted smart grid failed us. This was predicted. These blackouts will continue and may even affect the entire nation in the near future. The CPUC and AZ PUC (state regulators) are guaranteed to cover it up; they don't want bad press on smart grid problems.
Make no mistake, this is a serious failure of the newly developing smart grid—experts have heavily criticized its insecurities. Our national security is being risked with the interconnectivity of the grid, which easily fails like a stack of dominoes, with one event. Conducting a search on smart grid and security issues will readily bring up information about these criticisms that have been swept under the rug by bureaucrats and utilities alike.
I am interested in knowing what the documentable costs of the blackout were:
A. How many people got hurt and died as a result of the blackout? I ask the Patch editors and other members of the press to please look into this. The ways they may have been hurt, at minimum:
1. Traffic accidents
2. Other accidents
3. Failure of life-supporting equipment
B. Also, the financial cost for consumers.
1. Spoiled food: I know that people had to throw out what was in their refrigerators. Yesterday, that cost me $50 and I am not done. It will run up to $100. Multiply that times the number of households affected.
2. Other costs: People had to leave their cars, had them towed, that costs. etc.
3. Losses to business : Those with refrigerated items that spoiled—restaurants, markets, grocery stores; businesses that had to shut down.
This was no small thing and had no small consequence. It is but practice for living with the experimental, dangerous, risk-ridden "not-so-smart" grid, conceived of by "not-so-smart" bureaucrats, public utility commissions and utilities.
We will ultimately be hooked, with our “smart” grid, up to all nations, including China and Russia. The equipment is often made in China. We will be totally dependent on the other nations — they (and terrorists) can set our whole country up for power failure through events in their countries and/or hacking into our new, interconnected system. It is a very dumb plan and we saw the results (just a peek) this week.
There are billions to be made with the smart grid so the utilities and their institutional cronies such as the California State Regulatory Commission have been covering up and trying to shut down any bad press and protesting citizens.
The national authorities have their heads in the sand, as they have financed these mistakes with Recovery Act funding, to the tune of many billions. The White House has named establishment of the smart grid as a high priority. Complaints fall on deaf ears all around.
In addition to that, the smart meters (new utility meters on our homes and businesses, part of the new grid) are a menace to public health, and are making people sick from the RF radiation they emit. The La Mesa Patch has carried a series of articles on these issues in San Diego County, recently.
Our organization, Center for Electrosmog Prevention (CEP), a national nonprofit based in La Mesa, CA, along with a number of others throughout the state and nation, is fighting the mistakes in the national smart grid plan. Visit our websites, www.electrosmogprevention.org , www.smartmeterdangers.org and http://www.scribd.com/SusanBrinchman for a collection of info to help you understand the dangers and especially:
CEP Consolidated Utilities Smart Grid Protest Filed CPUC 7.30.11
Reasons to Say No to Smart Meters
If citizens wish to have a secure, safe country to live in, we need to take action. Relying on our dysfunctional government agencies is not going to work in this instance. Organize and join concerned groups, write and call your legislators and all elected officials, attend meetings, research the problems yourself, inform all you communicate with. For if we don't, these mistakes will only increase, exponentially. The public health, safety, and security of the nation is at risk. Concentrating only on our daily activities is not going to solve these emerging energy-related problems. Take action!
“If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.” Charles Darwin
“The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is.” Winston Churchill
Respectfully yours,
Susan Brinchman,
Founder / Director Center for Electrosmog Prevention (CEP)
Southern Californians Against Smart Meters (SCASM)
American Coalition Against Smart Meters
Smart Meter Dangers www.smartmeterdangers.org
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/No2SmartMeters;
Educational Speaker's Packet: Reasons to Say No to Smart Meters
P.O. Box 655
La Mesa, CA, 91944-0655
email director@electrosmogprevention.org
Recent blog articles:
Living Nightmare: How SDG&E Smart Meter Led to Headaches, Hearing Loss
Smart Meter Nightmare #2: San Diego man sick from bank of smart meters
Smart Meter Nightmare #3: East County Woman and Pet Sick, Begging for Help http://lamesa.patch.com/blog_posts/smart-meter-nightmare-3-east-county-woman-and-pet-sick-begging-for-help#c
Smart Meter Nightmare #4: SoCal Landlord Says Meters Hurting Her Tenants
Smart Meter Nightmare #5: Senior Citizen Replaces Smart Meter With Analog http://lamesa.patch.com/blog_posts/smart-meter-nightmare-5-senior-citizen-replaces-smart-meter-with-analog#comments
Message for SDG&E: Allow Opt-outs from Smart Meters
How to Opt-Out of Take Action: How to Opt Out of Radiation-Emitting Smart Meters
Open Letter to the La Mesa City Council: Tell SDG&E to Stop the Smart Meters
How many people stopping having ringing in their ears, buzzing, fatigue, sleep problems, joint pain, heachaches, heart irregularities, shortness of breath, etc. when the power stopped? I know of people who told me they were actually physically relieved when the power went out because they got relief from the pain the smart meters caused. Now maybe people will start to understand what is making them sick and help us stop the smart meters. By the way, Northern Orange County that also gets power from the Songs Nuclear plant had power -- BUT THEY DON'T HAVE SMART METERS YET! I don't believe this was a coincidence - it just is another demonstration of the risks of smart meters. Terrorists figured out your less vulnerable when you decentralize. This should be a wake-up call for us all. The terrorists will definately noting this power outage.
News Video (1 minute) http://www.energynow.com/video/2011/08/10/preview-mix-james-woolsey
No business owner would continue a practice that harmed its customers and caused ill health and financial harm from it's product, ....no business I have heard of would force anything on an unwilling consumer.. Only the good old boys (utilities, gas corporations, coal corporations et. al.), These companies know in advance that it can break laws and harm citizens without consequences....because of huge money thrown at political campaigns and appointments by corrupt politicians of regulators that are sure to turn their head the other way and ignore mass complaints by citizens. The fox guarding the hen house. So sad to see my country I was so proud of has, from top to bottom, become a facist state...so sad...so disheartening. Even MORE sad is to see millions of fellow citizens sitting on the side lines not standing up and saying, " I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore:!!! Don't leave it to the few....do at least one thing to help...just one thing, if we all do it, makes millions of voices.....
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Blackout_s_Cost_Estimated_at__100_Million_San_Diego-129622848.html This was not a party, this was serious. Everyone who lost food and more should be calling and writing CPUC, SDG&E, state legislators, members of Congress, and insisting that the smart grid be halted, due to national security reasons. This is just the tip of the "dumb grid" iceberg.
I simply used my emergency generator to watch TV , keep a fan on and keep the beer and perishable food cold in the refrigerator. Nothing to it if you are prepared. But if you are totally dependent on others for power , water and security, you are in a world of hurt, which sounds like your situation. Nothing in life is guaranteed and power and water are included. No one seems to realize the slender thread from which we hang, I hope this was a lesson for all.
FEDERAL REGULATORS PINPOINT THE CAUSE OF THE GREAT SEPTEMBER 2011 BLACKOUT "...the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) described a scenario of bad planning, bad communications and bad judgment that contributed to the massive blackout of 2011. For example, the regulators found that "several transmission operators did not know that over 600 MW of generation in a key location was out for maintenance.." And they discovered that the transmission operators were effectively flying blind, unaware that a 500kV line had tripped and that the Coachella Valley transformers had shut down. In a scathing report, the regulators attributed blame to all of the utilities involved and ordered a number of important changes to operations. ...For more about this report, click here for the entire report." http://www.ferc.gov/legal/staff-reports/04-27-2012-ferc-nerc-report.pdf Whole article at: http://www.ucan.org/featured/featured_items_front_page/federal_regulators_pinpoint_cause_great_september_2011_blackout