Update from Patricia Feb. 4-5 EMF TECH and UTILITY NEWS
From Kate Kheel – My updates usually focus mainly on 5g and the IoT – developments, actions, and how 5g will impact us all. As I am behind in all my 5g/IoT endeavors, I am forwarding an update from Patricia.
Feb. 4 5 EMF TECH and UTILITY NEWS
I did not realize that the Lifeline FCC issue pertains to landline phones – lots of FCC
FEATURED: MAJOR ALERT: 5G being deployed in many places. Learn more about 5G & see our new “Stop 5G Action Plan”
INFO ABOUT 5G: Public Health Alerts: 5G small wireless cells
WHAT TO DO: Stop 5G Action Plan
http://www.electrosmogprevention.org/category/stop-5g-action-plan/
Basic 5g letter for local governments \
FEATURED: An urgent message from Dr. Gabriel Cousens
Dear People of the World,
This scientific article outlining the potentially disastrous consequences of 5G and 20,000 satellites beaming 5G onto our planet, is to both inform you and also to ask each reader to take action by sharing this article with all your friends around the world with the intent of creating a tidal wave of millions of people acting responsibly and lawfully to defeat this overt threat to the planetary web of life. Send this to everyone you know, as we need millions of people to act on this.
The full paper goes into significantly documented scientific evidence to help us fully understand the how and why of the negative health effects of 5G and, in addition, the potential dangers of disrupting the Schumann Resonance and the Global Electric Circuit on the ecology and the planetary web of life. Once understanding the basic science behind the global effects of 5G and the 20,000 satellites, the author hopes the population will take proactive, protective lawful actions to stop the use of 5G. For this reason, the author strongly recommends that you read the whole paper so that you can be fully informed.
Blessings to your health, wellbeing, and spiritual joy and to your empowerment to protect our living planet.
Rabbi Gabriel Cousens, MD, MD(H), DD(doctor of divinity)http://treeoflifecenterus.com/5g-a-toxic-assault-on-the-planetary-web-of-life/
FEATURED: “Is the ‘Electrosmog’ Finally Clearing?” Olle J.Associate Professor: “Is the ‘Electrosmog’ Finally Clearing?”
The industry is pressing on for 5G, and further future versions of the same. But the road to success is suddenly not as smooth as it used to be, the small pebbles – in the form of critical scientists, medical doctors, technicians, inventors, entrepreneurs, campaigners and activists – have grown in size and are now together forming a counterforce that may awake also the most techno-prone, naive politicians and civil servants.
Maybe it is time for all of us to feel the inner meaning of the latin proverb “per aspera ad astra” (“through hardships to the stars”)?
By Olle Johansson, associate professor; previously – before retirement – at the Karolinska Institute and the Royal Institute of Technology
https://newsvoice.se/2019/02/electrosmog-clearing/
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2019/02/04/china-and-threat-open-societies/RgCjeZlVHeH8od28Njk1EO/story.htmlARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: ‘AI Farms’ Are at the Forefront of China’s Global Ambitions (listen or read)http://time.com/5518339/china-ai-farm-artificial-intelligence-cybersecurity/
AI: AI Deep Learning ‘Godfather’ Yoshua Bengio Alarmed Over Use In China To Dominate SocietyAI: The Merging Of Government With Artificial Intelligence
https://www.technocracy.news/the-merging-of-government-with-artificial-intelligence/
AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES: Fractals Brighten Radar Reflections for Driverless Cars, Satellites
AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES: Study: Self-driving cars could increase urban congestionhttps://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/study-self-driving-cars-could-increase-urban-congestion/547469/
AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES: Tempe, AZ faces $10M suit following fatal Uber AV accidentDive Brief:
- The family of a woman who was struck and killed by an Uber self-driving car last spring is suing the city of Tempe, AZ for $10 million, charging that poor street design created an unsafe situation at the intersection where the accident occurred, reports the Arizona Republic.
- The suit claims that the city created a “hazardous condition” by having a paved pathway on a median without crosswalks or lights to accommodate pedestrians. The victim, Elaine Herzberg, was crossing at the median when she was struck by the Uber vehicle.
- The city has since removed the paved walkway and replaced the median with landscaping, the Republic reports. The city has not responded to the claim.
AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES:Self-driving cars will never be moral. Let’s stop pretending otherwise
If humans can’t make a moral decision in the split second before an unavoidable accident, why do we think robotic cars can?
BIG TECH: Robots’ Lead Role in Super Bowl Ads Hint at Tech AnxietiesThe people who make ads may be at least as worried as the rest of us
https://www.wsj.com/articles/robots-lead-role-in-super-bowl-ads-hint-at-tech-anxieties-11549311804
BIG TECH: Record profits put new bull’s-eye on tech giants
https://thehill.com/policy/technology/428451-record-profits-put-new-bulls-eye-on-tech-giants
CHILDREN: Why screen time for babies, children and adolescents needs to be limitedSCHOOLS: Are 150+ Letters from Doctors and Scientists Enough to Convince Schools to Replace Harmful WiFi with Wired Internet?SCHOOLS: Classrooms in Crisis: Verbal, physical, sometimes violent outbursts plaguing Oregon classrooms
DRONES: Swarms of drones will soon keep tabs on our aging city infrastructurehttps://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/drones-used-to-inspect-wind-turbines/
ECONOMICS AND BIG TECH: Tech Is Splitting the U.S. Work Force in TwoA small group of well-educated professionals enjoys rising wages, while most workers toil in low-wage jobs with few chances to advance.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/04/business/economy/productivity-inequality-wages.html
ENERGY POLITICS: The Green New Deal is already at work in one Portland neighborhoodHow one community is building a green workforce to combat climate change.
“Sustainability as an anti-poverty strategy.”
Verde Builds will construct the building’s green features; green roofs and walls, solar panels, water reuse systems are all being considered in the design. Verde Landscaping will provide local skilled workers to build out green stormwater infrastructure as well as sustainable landscaping. The housing project is expected to be completed by 2020.
In addition to Las Adelitas, Living Cully partners are not only creating energy-efficient affordable housing but also preserving existing low-income housing, through initiatives like a mobile home weatherization program that aims to lower bills of low-income residents who pay a disproportionate amount of their paychecks to utilities.
FCC: House E&C Dems to FCC: Show Your Work
House Energy & Commerce leadership have asked FCC Chairman Ajit Pai for a bunch of documents, signaling, literally, that the time for vigorous oversight of the agency, oversight it said was lacking under its Republican predecessors, has begun. Literally because the e-mail supplying a link to a Feb. 4 letter to the chairman seeking lots of info was headlined: “It’s Oversight Time,” evoking, perhaps, the “it’s clobbering time” advisory from the Fantastic Four’s The Thing.
One piece of information they are looking for is how many items are pending before the FCC’s Administrative Law Judge (ALJ).
We ask that the FCC update the Committee with information about, among other things, the FCC’s current workload, the work of its bureaus and field offices, and the FCC’s interactions with the public through its handling of consumer complaints and Freedom of Information Act requests. They want answers to a lot of questions by March 4, including the number complaints filed about privacy issues, net neutrality, wireless coverage, customer service, internet availability and more. They also want lots of info on FOIA requests between 2016 and 2019.
And finally, seemingly to make their point about the need for responsiveness, they ask for a list of every letter sent to the FCC between 2016 and 2019 “to which the FCC has not yet provided a response.” The Dems have the power to subpoena documents if Pai does not comply.
https://www.multichannel.com/news/house-e-c-dems-to-fcc-show-your-work
FCC: Telecom Alert – Circuit-Shopping Concerns for FCC Small Cell Order; Restoring Internet Freedom Order Oral Argument; Spectrum Frontiers Auction Closes; Form 477 Deadline Extended; NG911 Grant Funding; KH Broadband Webinar – Vol. XVI, Issue 5
FCC: Ex-FCC counselor says the agency ‘abdicated’ its public safety role
“Verizon was throttling the Santa Clara Fire Department’s broadband, and there was eight months of communication between the fire department and Verizon, saying ‘look, we’re in the middle of this huge fire, at the time, was the biggest fire in California history, the Mendocino Complex Fire, please don’t throttle us. We need this to communicate with the public, and with other first responders,’ ” Gigi Sohn told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti on “Rising.”
FCC: FCC loses bid to cut tribal broadband subsidies
It couldn’t prove that it needed to drop Lifeline to spur carriers.
https://www.engadget.com/2019/02/04/fcc-loses-tribal-broadband-subsidy-ruling/
FCC: Court decision casts shadow on Lifeline reformshttps://www.aei.org/publication/court-decision-casts-shadow-on-lifeline-reforms/
AND:
Overcoming Lifeline’s paternalism to empower low-income consumersOver the past several years, the Federal Communications Commission has brought sweeping changes to Lifeline, the telecommunications aid program for low-income households. These changes are designed to shift the program’s focus from telephone service to broadband service. Although few would question the need to narrow the digital divide, many (including me) have criticized the way the commission has chosen to do so. This blog post focuses on one oft-overlooked aspect of the Lifeline transition: the paternalism inherent in the decision to phase out voice-only service as an option for Lifeline recipients.
Lifeline and voice service: A complicated, messy breakup
Traditionally, Lifeline offered a $9.25 monthly subsidy toward the telephone bills of eligible households. This subsidy can be used toward landline or, since 2008, wireless voice service. Recognizing that “the internet has become a prerequisite to full and meaningful participation in society,” a 2016 order allowed Lifeline recipients to use their subsidy toward a purchase of broadband instead of voice service. It also established a gradual phase out of the voice subsidy: Beginning in December 2019, recipients on voice-only plans will receive only $7.25 monthly, and that figure will fall to $5.25 per month in December 2020. On December 1, 2021, the program will no longer support voice-only service: Lifeline-eligible plans can include voice service only if they also include broadband service as well.
https://www.aei.org/publication/overcoming-lifelines-paternalism-to-empower-low-income-consumers/
AND:
Ajit Pai loses in court—judges overturn gutting of tribal broadband program
Court: FCC failed to provide evidence and ignored harm to broadband access.
The Pai FCC’s 2017 decision would have limited the $25 subsidy to “facilities-based” carriers—those that build their own networks—making it impossible for tribal residents to use the $25 subsidy to buy telecom service from resellers. The move would have dramatically limited tribal residents’ options for purchasing subsidized service, but the FCC claimed it was necessary in order to encourage carriers to build their own networks.
The same FCC decision also would have eliminated the $25 subsidy in urban areas, reserving it only for tribal lands in rural areas. The court’s decision Friday, in response to an appeal filed by tribal organizations and small wireless carriers, overturned both of these limitations.
A three-judge panel said the FCC failed to consider that facilities-based providers have been leaving the Lifeline program and provided no evidence that banning resellers would spur new broadband deployment. The FCC also failed to properly consider how eliminating the subsidy in urban areas would affect consumers, judges determined.
“This is another example of Chairman Pai pushing his own agenda over the obligations he has to the American public. We saw it with net neutrality, and we’re seeing it with Lifeline,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said in a statement Friday. “He comes in with his mind already made up, ignoring the process he is supposed to take to revisit rules and programs. This is not what Congress intended, and the court is right to overturn the FCC’s misguided and unsupported order.”
Broadband access in tribal areas is worse than the US as a whole, and tribal access is likely even worse than previously thought because FCC data overstates deployment, according to aSeptember 2018 report by the US Government Accountability Office.
Separately from his tribal Lifeline plan, Pai has proposed kicking resellers out of the Lifeline program nationwide, not just in tribal areas. This would greatly limit poor people’s choices, as more than 70 percent of wireless phone users who rely on Lifeline subsidies buy their plans from resellers.
But even Pai’s usual supporters criticized that proposal, and Friday’s court ruling could make it harder for Pai to kick resellers out of Lifeline entirely.
FCC: Former FCC Chairman Wheeler, Powell to Testify at Feb 7 Net Neutrality Hearing
Former Federal Communications Commission Chairmen Tom Wheeler and Michael Powell will be among the high-profile witnesses at the Feb 7 House Communications Subcommittee hearing on network neutrality. Others testifying include:
- Jessica González, deputy director and senior counsel, Free Press & Free Press Action Fund
- Denelle Dixon, COO, Mozilla
- Ruth Livier, actress, writer, and UCLA doctoral student.
https://www.multichannel.com/news/wheeler-powell-to-testify-on-net-neutrality
FCC: Death by a Thousand Cuts—the Lifeline Editionhttps://www.newamerica.org/weekly/edition-234/death-by-a-thousand-cutsthe-lifeline-edition/
FCC: House Democrats demand FCC documentshttps://thehill.com/policy/technology/428402-house-democrats-demand-fcc-documents
FCC: FCC struggles to convince judge that broadband isn’t “telecommunications”Skeptical judges question FCC’s justification of net neutrality repeal.
5G: Joe Martino Discusses ET Disclosure, 5G, The Shift, & Mental Health45 minute radio interview at about 15 minutes he talks 5G
5G: Marek’s Take: Will fixed 5G be a broadband savior for wireless operators?If you have been paying attention to the fourth-quarter 2018 earnings reports from the major wireless operators, you may have noticed a bit of backpedaling and strategy tweaking occurring on the 5G front. I guess it’s not surprising. After all, 5G is a very complicated network overhaul and no one seems particularly clear on what new services and applications will be the big game changers once these new networks are deployed.
What’s been particularly interesting to me is how the two major U.S. operators have waffled on their timelines and business strategies for fixed 5G vs. mobile 5G. In 2018 Verizon pushed hard to be the “first” operator to launch 5G and it was going to do so by offering a fixed wireless service. The company fulfilled that goal with its prestandardized fixed 5G service, called 5G Home, that it launched in four markets in October 2018. The prestandard version is based upon 5G specs created by the 5G Tech Forum, which is a group organized by Verizon and includes vendors such as Ericsson, Samsung, and Cisco.
There’s still a lot of unknowns when it comes to determining whether fixed 5G will be a viable residential broadband service. Verizon’s 5G Home may be a winner with some residential customers but for it to really be cost-effective the operator needs to get rid of the truck roll and get a bigger footprint. For AT&T, it needs to move beyond the experimental stage with its fixed wireless tests and see what real users think of the service.
5G: “Synthetic Electric Shock” — From Electrification To 5G WiFiA number of professors from Jageillonian University Medical College in Krakow, Poland and the Janus Maxwell Institute for Electromagnetics Research, Krakow, co-writing a paper under the title ‘Electromagnetic Field Induced Biological Effects in Humans’ state:
The intensity of electromagnetic radiation in the human environment is increasing and currently reaches astronomical levels that have never before been experienced on our planet. In today’s maximum exposure, standard EMF’s are 10 ‘to the power of 15’ and 10 ‘to the power of 18’ times higher than the natural Earth electromagnetic field.. The current phase of environmental degradation by artificial microwave frequency electromagnetic fields have become dangerous for biological life. The most influential process of EMF impact on living organisms, is its direct tissue penetration.
As our planet – and indeed all planetary life, including humans – reel under the attack of institutionalised toxic pollutants that are considered ‘essential’ for ‘economic growth and expansion’ we have cause to reflect on the nature of our disposition for self destruction.
https://www.naturalblaze.com/2019/02/synthetic-electric-shock-from-electrification-to-5g-wifi.html
LINKS TO:
5G Gigantic health hazard – dr Barrie Trower & sir Julian Rose2 hour video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLVIbPtNrVo
5G; Ohio and Tennessee – AT&T Plans to Fry You with 5G
https://www.activistpost.com/2019/02/ohio-and-tennessee-att-plans-to-fry-you-with-5g.html5G: The Threat 5G Poses to Human Health
What you don’t know will alarm you
https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-threat-5g-poses-to-human-health_2790506.html
5G: Why You Should Think Twice Before Getting a 5G ConnectionThe new generation of connectivity can allow for spying of data over airwaves
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/327421
5G: 5G initial use cases are going to be all about businessYes, wireless carriers are talking up the consumer 5G dream, but the reality is that the real use cases are going to be all about the enterprise out of the gate.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/5g-initial-use-cases-are-going-to-be-all-about-business/
OTHER TELECOM: A Vortex of Problems with Big Tech (PRIVACY)https://www.benton.org/blog/vortex-problems-big-tech
OTHER TELECOM: Net Neutrality, Investment & “Title II”: Almost All that You Heard Is Not True.Excerpt: Verizon NY 2017 Financial Annual Report, Published June 2018
- ar of the 75%-25% rule for network “investment” expenses? 75% of the construction budgets are being paid by “Local Service” (state-based services) while only 25% are billed to services classified as “interstate”.
- Did you know that the fiber optic wires for FiOS broadband and much of the fiber optic wires for Verizon’s Wireless services are using the construction (investment) budgets of the state utilities and this was done claiming that these networks are Title II (and the services are classified as ‘interstate’)?
- Did you know that the FCC’s accounting rules that are used to allocate expenses of the different lines of business using the state-based utility infrastructure were set to reflect the year 2000 and this makes the majority of expenses (and investment) end up being charged to Local Service — and used for rate increases of Local Service?
- Did you know that these same rules have inflated the profits of these other services, so that America pays some of the highest wireless prices per-gig, among other harms?
- Did you know that 5G Wireless requires a fiber optic wire every 1–2 blocks, and ‘in-region’ this appears to be coming out of the wireline utility budgets.
While the oral arguments are being made about the fate of Net Neutrality, one thing is abundantly clear — all of the statistics about investments in America’s networks for broadband being presented on either side of the aisle are fundamentally wrong — no one actually details that the majority of this ‘investment’ are the construction expenditures that are part of the state utilities. More importantly, these seat-of-the-pants analyses by the Free State Foundation, Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF), Hal Singer, the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy, Phoenix Center and others stretch the data to make their point, then the FCC selects what they think is best to tilt public policy towards AT&T et al. While they sound plausible, it is all make-believe.
OTHER TELECOM: This Congressman Wants to Build a ‘Digital’ Border Wall that Would Also Provide Rural Broadband
Congressman Will Hurd is the only Republican representing a district along the border, and he wants to use technological solutions to secure the border and possibly close the digital divide.
OTHER TELECOM: AT&T is putting its fake 5G logo on iPhones toohttps://www.foxnews.com/tech/atts-fake-5g-logo-now-on-iphones-too
HEALTH OT MERCOLA (INFLAMMATION)
Glycine Quells Oxidative Damage by Inhibiting NOX Superoxide Production and Boosting NADPHhttps://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/02/04/what-is-nadph-and-nox.aspx
HEALTH: Poor sleep linked to buildup of dangerous plaques throughout body, study says (no mention of RF)https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/14/health/poor-sleep-plaque-buildup/index.html
HEALTH: Dementia patients to be tracked by smart meters so that doctors can monitor any sudden changes that indicate illness, falls or mental decline
- Devices will track patients’ daily routines such as when they boil the kettle
- Meters then send alerts to family members or carers who can check on patients
- Critics warn about a huge range of privacy concerns over data sharing
INSPIRATION: BELLA GAIA Beautiful Earth 4 minute video promo
Despite his collaboration with NASA, whose breathtaking images he uses, Williams has not put together just another planetarium show. It is a multi-media experience, combining music, dance, other-worldly vocals and a lesson in just how dangerous and damaging our ever worsening human behavior is becoming for Bella Gaia (Beautiful Earth).
: “A visceral flow of unencumbered beauty manifests for all the senses by combining supercomputer data-visualizations from NASA, high-fidelity orbital views of Earth, cultural photography, and stirring LIVE performances of music and dance from around the world, with an ‘iridescent landscape of gossamer melodies and labyrinthine rhythms’ (Nooga.com) to create the ‘Sublime’ and ‘Out of This World’ experience (Village Voice, USA Today).”
LINKS TO: The Overview Effect 20 minute video – Asturonauts
Published on Dec 9, 2012
‘Overview’ is a short film that explores this phenomenon through interviews with five astronauts who have experienced the Overview Effect. The film also features insights from commentators and thinkers on the wider implications and importance of this understanding for society, and our relationship to the environment. http://www.overviewthemovie.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHMIfOecrlo
POLITICS TRACING TECH MONEY ON 2020 DEMS — The Democratic senators running for president share a common feature: They’ve all received congressional campaign donations from the tech or telecom industries. Here’s a rundown, compiled from OpenSecrets data:
— Cory Booker (D-N.J.): The latest Democrat to throw a hat in the ring for 2020, Booker has drawn substantial campaign contributionsfrom employees of media, tech and telecom firms since 2013. That includes $76,744 from the Walt Disney Co., $60,350 from Facebook and $57,580 from Microsoft. The companies’ PACs have also chipped in to Booker’s campaigns, including $19,000 from Verizon, $15,000 from Comcast, $12,500 from Google, $7,500 apiece from Microsoft and Amazon, $4,500 from Facebook, $4,000 from AT&T, and $1,000 apiece from WarnerMedia (the former Time Warner, now part of AT&T) and Disney.
— Kamala Harris (D-Calif.): Though Harris has a long history of run-ins with the tech industry from her time as the state’s attorney general, she also has raised substantial sums from employees of several tech and media companies since 2015, including $126,975 from Time Warner (now WarnerMedia), $90,958 from 21st Century Fox, $88,237 from Google parent company Alphabet, $54,660 from Apple and $48,735 from Comcast. As for corporate PACs, Harris has garnered $10,000 from Alphabet and $1,000 from WarnerMedia.
— Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.): The two senators have drawn in relatively smaller sums from the tech and telecom industries. In terms of individual donations from employees, no industry firms have cracked Gillibrand’s list of top 20 contributors, and only one made that list for the 2018 cycle: AT&T, whose employees chipped in $36,235. Tech and telecom staffers also failed to make Warren’s all-time top 20 , but they made the list during the 2018 campaign, when she drew $37,709 from Alphabet employees, $33,368 from AT&T employees and $30,586 from Comcast employees.
PRIVACY: Opinion: Regulate social media now. The future of democracy is at stake
PRIVACY: Privacy Battle Coming Over Home Security Cameras
https://www.technocracy.news/privacy-battle-coming-over-home-security-cameras/
PRIVACY: Illinois Supreme Court Opens Floodgates for Biometric Lawsuits: Will the Business Community Lobby for Change?
SECURITY: SpeakUp Linux Backdoor Sets Up for Major Attack
https://threatpost.com/speakup-linux-backdoor/141431/
SPACE: Darth Trump: From Space Force to Star Wars
https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2019/02/03/darth-trump-from-space-force-to-star-wars/
SMART CITIES: US Conference of Mayors launches smart city institute
https://cities-today.com/us-conference-of-mayors-launches-smart-city-institute/
SMART CITIES: Why Connected Intersections Are the Backbones of Smart CitiesConnected traffic signals linked to the platforms and networks underlying a smart city can act as intelligent conductors of urban life.
https://statetechmagazine.com/article/2019/02/why-connected-intersections-are-backbones-smart-cities
SMART METERS (WATER) Philadelphia Selects Sensus for Advanced Metering Infrastructure Upgrade
SMART METERS: Virginia Is 4th State To Reject Smart Metering Planshttps://www.technocracy.news/virginia-is-4th-state-to-reject-smart-metering-plans/
SMART METERS: https://www.activistpost.com/2019/02/smart-meters-how-to-get-them-off-home-out-community.html
SURVEILLANCE: Imagine a Clock that Doesn’t Surveil Youhttps://www.activistpost.com/2019/02/imagine-a-clock-that-doesnt-surveil-you.html
TRANSPORTATION: What’s It Like Living in a City Without Uber or Lyft?Ask Vancouver.
https://slate.com/business/2019/02/uber-lyft-vancouver-no-ride-hail.html
UTILITIES ARIZONA: Arizona attorney general drops defamation suit against billionaire, clean energy groupUTILITIES CALIFORNIA: Southern California Gas fined $3.3 million, accused of putting money ahead of safety
https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-southern-california-gas-explosion-fine-20190201-story.html
UTILITIES CALIFORNIA: California’s largest utility continues to fight for the right to reconsider $42 billion worth of power purchase contracts as it goes through bankruptcy proceedings. (San Francisco Chronicle)https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/PG-E-renewable-energy-contracts-tied-up-in-13584460.php
AND:
A PG&E bankruptcy timeline: The road to Chapter 11 and beyondhttps://www.utilitydive.com/news/a-pge-bankruptcy-timeline-the-road-to-chapter-11-and-beyond/547154/
UTILITIES CA: How SDG&E Plans to Quit the Electricity Procurement Business
With San Diego and neighboring cities poised to adopt community-choice energy, SDG&E says it wants a “glide path out of the energy procurement space.”
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/sdge-quit-electricity-procurement-business#gs.ceuWT1IP
UTILITIES CALIFORNIA: CAPITOL ALERT
As California wildfires grew, so did PG&E lobbying spending
PG&E spent $11.8 million on lobbying during California’s 2017-2018 legislative session, the latest disclosure reports show. (Sacramento Bee)
Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article225422540.html#storylink=cpyUTILITIES CALIFORNIA: A power vacuum on safety oversightCalifornia’s governor needs to address the lack of regulatory oversight when it comes to inspecting power lines before the upcoming wildfire season, says the editorial board of theLos Angeles Times.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-power-line-safety-20190201-story.html
UTILITIES CALIFORNIA: Guess Who’s Driving California’s Electric Vehicles
Wealthy, white older men buy more electric vehicles than anyone else in California.(Forbes)
UTILITIES CANADA: Siemens Canada forms partnership with Canadian utilities to develop smart gridUTILITIES FLORIDA – Insurer Lloyd’s blames FPL tree-trimming for $1M Riviera Beach fireFeb. 01–WEST PALM BEACH — FPL has been cursed at for not trimming trees that blew down during hurricanes, leaving homeowners sweltering for days in dark houses.
The state’s largest electric utility has also earned the wrath of community groups who have blasted it for butchering beloved trees in the name of power preservation.
This week, FPL’s often controversial connection with trees sparked a lawsuit that blames it for a January 2018 fire that caused more than $1 million in damage and destroyed aRiviera Beach tire warehouse.
In a lawsuit filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, Lloyd’s of London claims that if FPL had trimmed trees hovering near New and Used Wholesale Tires, the fire that raged for hours could have been averted.
According to Lloyd’s investigation, the fire erupted because of FPL’s “improper vegetative maintenance,” wrote Boca Raton attorney Stephen Barker, who is representing the insurer. Tree branches that should have been trimmed hit electrical lines, producing sparks that ignited the warehouse filled with tires, he wrote in the lawsuit.
Rivera Beach firefighters battled the blaze on West 15th Street for nearly seven hours before it was extinguished, according to media reports.
Accusing FPL and its parent company, NextEra Energy, of gross negligence or at least negligence, Lloyd’s is asking that the utility reimburse it for the $1 million it paid the building owner for damages caused by the fire.
FPL officials declined comment on the allegations, saying they don’t talk publicly about pending litigation. One of the biggest electric companies in the nation, FPL provides power to roughly 10 million Florida residents.
Barker acknowledged that it is difficult to successfully sue FPL, which as a regulated utility enjoys unique protections as a quasi-governmental agency.
West Palm Beach attorney Julie Littky-Rubin in 2017 helped two Fort Myers attorneys score a rare multimillion-dollar victory against FPL in a tree-trimming case. (more at link)
https://www.energycentral.com/news/insurer-lloyds-blames-fpl-tree-trimming-1m-riviera-beach-fire
UTILITIES GEORGIA: Georgia Power files 20-year plan to meet Georgia’s future energy needsThe 2019 plan is a result of the in-depth IRP process, which includes projections of future fuel costs, load and energy forecasts, an analysis of available generation technologies, the 10-year transmission plan, and an economic assessment of potential and proposed energy efficiency and demand response programs. The company also evaluates the cost-effectiveness of its generating resources given changing environmental regulations and emerging technologies and discusses the growing importance of resilience to the electric system.
UTILITIES GEORGIA: Georgia Power accedes to corporate demand for solar with 950 MW programThe vast majority of the utility’s proposed renewable procurements in its latest IRP are to serve demand for large users with corporate sustainability goals. Thanks Facebook.
UTILITIES MAINE: Jim Fossel: A state takeover of Central Maine Power? Not so fastThe company has had a lot of problems of late. But there are better ways to rein them in.
UTILITIES OHIO:Duke agreed to pay record fine for lax security — sources
https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060119265
AND:
Duke fined $10M for cybersecurity lapses since 2015
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/duke-fined-10m-for-cybersecurity-lapses-since-2015/547528/
UTILITIES: Puerto Rico’s Utility Calls for Making the Island into Eight Minigrids
https://microgridknowledge.com/prepa-irp-minigrids/
UTILITIES GRID MODERNIZATION: Grid modernization blowback
These outcomes suggest a disconnect between what utilities want to buy in the name of grid modernization and what regulators think is justified by the public interest. Put another way, there’s some work to be done to achieve a common understanding of what “grid modernization” should and shouldn’t mean.
We’ll be looking for best practices in how utilities define necessary grid improvements and justify the expense for ratepayers.