Smart meters were installed by major investor-owned utilities throughout California. Installation costs were partially paid by customers through additional fees. PG&E has installed about 8 million smart meters in California.
The backlash against smart meters in 2009 with Kelly's class-action lawsuit claiming rate-payers were overcharged with bills up to 300% higher than normal in Bakersfield is strong.
A study by the Ponemon Institute of 25,000 U.S. adults found that people worry about the impact these meters will have on their privacy. The primary concern among those surveyed was the use of personal information by the government.
Many customers had no clue they had a smart meter until it was installed without their permission or in spite of their protests. The medical impact these radiation-emitting devices have on health was not disclosed by the power companies.
The EMF Safety Network publishes the harmful health impact associated with electromagnetic fields (EMF) and radio frequency radiation (RF). Customers complained of various symptoms within hours of the installation of Smart Meters in their homes:
- Severe and persistent headaches
- Nausea
- Insomnia
- Agitation and irritability
- Difficulty in concentrating
- High pitch ringing in ears
- Depression
- Lethargy
- Forgetfulness
- Heart palpitations
- Buzzing and humming sounds
- Constant fatigue
Customers were not asked for permission to install these devices and were told that they cannot opt-out or pay from their own pockets to re-install analog devices. Some citizens were forced to move to other areas or live in their cars. Upon return to an area without Smart Meters, the symptoms disappeared.
No testing was done on Smart Meters to back up the claims by government and manufacturers that the meters are safe. Independent testing revealed that Smart Meter radiation is a Class 2B carcinogen according to the World Health Organization. ([url=http://stopsmartmeters.org]http://stopsmartmeters.org[/url])
According to George W. Arnold, the national coordinator or smart-grid interoperability at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), "there is no federal security mandate for Smart Meters." The NIST, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce is not involved in regulations; it is only tasked with promoting standards among industries.
While the 2005 and 2007 energy bills were codified into public laws, "NO part of them creates a federal law pertaining to individual consumers or dictating that the public must be forced to comply with provisions of Smart Grid." (Marti Oakley)
When I sent a letter to my power company to opt-out, I received a form letter telling me that they have no plans at the moment to install smart meters in our area, however, they are safe, and I should visit their website and read their propaganda.
Contrary to manufacturers and utility heads who maintain that there is no "opt out," the consumer must be offered the meter, or request the meter and "opt in." "No one can be forced to comply with an unrevealed contract between private corporations, to which you were never a party and had no knowledge of." (Marti Oakley)
The Department of Energy offered in October 2009 $3.4 billion in stimulus grants under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The state recipients announced 100 smart grid projects with the rollout of 18 million Smart Meters, 1 million in home energy management displays, and 170,000 smart thermostats, advanced transformers, and load management devices. The award selection was divided into categories:
- Advanced Metering Infrastructure
- Customer Systems
- Electric Distribution Systems
- Electric Transmission Systems
- Equipment Manufacturing
- Integrated and Crosscutting Systems
The Department of Energy $3.4 billion award was the largest amount of ARRA made in a single day. The smart-grid projects competing for $800 million in federal grants under the stimulus program had to meet strict cyber security guidelines, standards, and recommendation for state utility boards and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The two figures do not include the frequent "grant" programs devised to federally subsidize private corporations identified as "stakeholders," with taxpayer dollars.
Cementing a police state while pandering to corporations, Congress flooded the Department of Energy and the Commerce Department with billions of dollars through the Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and the 2009 Stimulus package in order to buy access to various states.
A meeting with the Council of Governors followed to determine how to flood the states with cash during severe economic problems caused by the administration's mismanagement of the economy, and how to gain control within the boundaries of states. Most governors accepted the free cash influx. A few initially rejected it. The DOE and some unlawfully created "corporate federal agencies" dispersed cash to "stakeholders," various private utility companies.
The American public was forced to subsidize capital investment and expansion of privately owned utilities, in addition to the initial stimulus package coming from taxpayers.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 ([url=http://doi.net/iepa/EnergyPolicyActof2005.pdf]http://doi.net/iepa/EnergyPolicyActof2005.pdf[/url] ) and the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (
energy.senate.gov) passed Smart Meters pertaining to federal buildings and federal housing only, pursuant to the Constitution which gives the federal government power over "needful buildings, insular possessions, and territories." The word
"voluntary" precedes any other item.
The "Go Green" constant propaganda, aggressive advertising, policies, huge stimuli, and grants are some of the many reasons why the national debt is out of control. The EPA and its myriad of "green" initiatives are killing jobs in every sector of the economy. Going green is promoted as improving public health and reducing the carbon footprint although most of our electricity is still produced by burning coal and fossil fuels.
The EPA is spending $7,180,485,184 on "conservation" programs, mostly aimed at controlling water usage. The "green jobs" created are temporary shows of political pandering. They disappear quickly after the one-time grant expires and the community has to struggle to find the money to keep the program, leaving more deficits and regulations that further destroy the economy of the community.
"According to a report by the National Center for Public Policy Research, as a result of new EPA regulations, several utility companies, American Electric Power, Duke Energy, and Southern Company recently announced they are closing coal-fired plants because of excessive costs to meet the energy's new standards." (Tom DeWeese, American Policy Center)
To enforce UN Agenda 21 Sustainable Development, the state-mandated Comprehensive Development Plans (CDP) is the weapon of choice. The CDP receives its funding from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program that provides money to communities that participate in the program. To get the federal money, communities have to set regulations for energy efficiency and water conservation. The grant money has been used for mandatory energy audits of private property such as $20,000 in Washington Country, Virginia.
To further control energy and water use, Chesterfield County, Virginia received $2.7 million to reimburse residents who purchased energy-efficient appliances such as washers and dryers. (Tom DeWeese) The new generation of washing machines come with a pre-set low level of water and cannot be set by consumers.
The Smart Grid accelerates energy costs; it does not deliver more efficient use of energy. It is a tool of UN Agenda 21 population control and energy control, enabling the energy provider to charge the highest rate possible. It is also a business plan for citizen surveillance without a warrant, extorting the public for corporate profits.
The added bonus for United Nations, who contends that we are overpopulating the earth and thus destroying it, is the people who are getting sick and will eventually die from these meters blasting unsuspecting customers 24/7 with radio frequency radiation that relays information 6-8 times per minute to the utility company. (Marti Oakley)
The EPA blocked the Keystone XL pipeline that would have brought oil from Canadian oil sands to Texas refineries. The construction of the 2,000-mile pipeline could have produced billions of dollars in tax revenue from thousands of construction jobs and the 900,000 barrels a day would have increased our national security and lessened our dependence on foreign oil.
Gov. Martin O'Malley of Maryland has a Smart Growth Subcabinet, which will determine the best "land use" for the entire state and will not be held to voter accountability. Land use and its restriction is another item on the UN Agenda 21. (PlanMaryland plan.maryland.gov)
The "advocacy" (lobbying), "training" and "education" (read indoctrination) to lure the local planning commissions, boards of zoning appeals, governing bodies and their support toward "responsible community planning" (a.k.a. Sustainable Development) are all mentioned in the [url=http://www.planvirginia.com]http://www.planvirginia.com[/url] and are explained in the
postsustainabilityinstitute.org
The 2011 PlanVirginia/Commonwealth Land Use and Zoning Conference, October 9-11, have interesting symposia scheduled: "Resolved: Has Local Planning in Virginia Been Co-Opted by the UN? Is there an Agenda 21?" These individuals are still trying to pull the wool over people's eyes, pretending that UN Agenda 21 does not exist.
Three U.S. Presidents have signed us into UN Agenda 21 goals:
- Bush in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro
- Clinton in 1993 Biodiversity Treaty to implement UN Agenda 21 in the U.S. and Executive Order 12852, creating the President's Council on Sustainable Development to translate UN Agenda 21 into public policy
- Obama in 2011 White House Rural Council
There is on-line "training" (read indoctrination) for $99 by Virginia Tech and Virginia Cooperative Extension into "Community Viability," taking people out of their family homes and cars into public tenements and public transportation, biking, or walking.
There is no end to the deception of UN Agenda 21 and its local supporters. Hylton High School students in Prince William County are being indoctrinated into the "Green" scam, presenting the tangible "green" results of the solar panels that had been installed on their roof; up-to-date readout shows how much carbon the school has saved, dollars saved, and how many kilowatts. All while the proponents of "green" energy are using up electricity and fossil fuel shamelessly at the taxpayer expense, with their true UN Agenda 21, Sustainable Development in mind: abolish private property, control education, control and reduce population, and control the economy. It is the power and control, stupid.
Links:
World Health Organization (pdf) (from
stopsmartmeters.org )
w4ar.com
stopsmartmeters.org
Llsdc.org
ferc.gov
ferc.gov
ferc.gov
seiec.com
jct.gov
jct.gov
house.gov
kema.com
govenergy.com
house.gov
scribd.com
nist.gov
scribd.com
