[Sustain] Glitches hamper radiation warning system in California

Fri Mar 25 11:00:37 PDT 2011

Glitches hamper radiation warning system in California
            By Jack Dolan and Rong-Gong Lin II | Los Angeles Times

      The federal
government’s radiation alert network in California is not fully
functional, leaving the stretch of coast between Los Angeles and San
Francisco without the crucial real-time warning system in the event of
a nuclear emergency.Six of the Environmental Protection Agency’s
12 California sensors — including the three closest to the Diablo
Canyon nuclear power plant — are sending data with "anomalies" to the
agency’s laboratory in Montgomery, Ala., said Mike Bandrowski, manager
of the EPA’s radiation program. 

Similar stories:

 Feds deploy more radiation monitors in western US 

 Feds deploy more radiation monitors in western US 
  Growing concern by Americans over exposure from
damaged nuclear plants in Japan has prompted officials to deploy more
radiation monitors in the western United States and Pacific
territories, federal environmental regulators say. 

 Feds deploy more radiation monitors in western US 

 Feds deploy more radiation monitors in western US 
  Growing concern by Americans over exposure from
damaged nuclear plants in Japan has prompted officials to deploy more
radiation monitors in the western United States and Pacific
territories, federal environmental regulators say. 

 EPA deploys more radiation monitors to the West Coast 

 EPA deploys more radiation monitors to the West Coast 
  As public concern grows about radiation from Japan
possibly drifting to the West Coast of the United States, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday announced that it will
deploy more electronic monitors that measure radiation levels in the
air. 

 Testing finds no health threat along West Coast 

 Testing finds no health threat along West Coast 
  Minuscule amounts of radiation from Japan's stricken
nuclear plant have reached the west coast but federal and state
officials say it poses no health risk. 

 Testing finds no health threat along West Coast 

 Testing finds no health threat along West Coast 
  Minuscule amounts of radiation from Japan's stricken
nuclear plant have reached the west coast but federal and state
officials say it poses no health risk. 

      The
problem delays from 30 minutes to several hours the updating of a
database that would be critical for warning the public in case of a
sudden radiation danger from air wafting to the United States from a
foreign country, for example, or from a radiation leak at a domestic
nuclear facility.The lag has not been a concern during the
Japanese nuclear crisis because the minuscule amounts of radiation that
have reached California have posed no threat to human health, and the
plume of irradiated air from Japan is so widespread that other
equipment from Washington to Los Angeles has been able to monitor it in
real time, Bandrowski said.The agency’s critics, however, say the weakness in the EPA system could pose a public health concern."The
unreliability of the EPA monitoring effort revealed by this event
raises troubling questions about whether Californians would receive
timely warning to evacuate, or take other protective actions, in case
of a nuclear accident here," said Dan Hirsch, a nuclear policy lecturer
at UC Santa Cruz and president of the Committee to Bridge the Gap, an
anti-nuclear group.The troubled transmissions are part of the
federal RadNet system, which is "designed to protect the public by
notifying scientists, in near real time, of elevated levels of
radiation so they can determine whether protective action is required,"
according to a recent press release from the agency.Without
immediate information from RadNet, state and local emergency managers
would be dependent on the private owners of nuclear power facilities to
alert them in the first hours of a dangerous radiation leak from a domestic source.

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2011/03/25/1535784/california-radiation-warning.html#ixzz1HdRsmPi7 

Read more of this story at latimes.com »

Read more: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2011/03/25/1535784/california-radiation-warning.html#ixzz1HdRsmPi7 

Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2011 10:03:44 -0700
From: brookse32 at aim.com
CC: sustainability at sfgreens.org; active at sfgreens.org
Subject: Re: [Sustain] [SFGP-A] PG&E: Hundreds Of Dollars Per Customer To Opt Out Of Smart Meters

    Message body

    Not if it gives people
      higher cancer risk and raises their bills because PG&E as a
      private corporation is gaming the meters to jack up rates.
      PG&E has no intention whatsoever of using these meters to
      lower electricity use; and it will do everything in its power to
      obfuscate their use for that purpose (making them bad for
      conservation goals).

      If the meters were hooked into a more environmentally and health
      safe fiber optic system and run by the city instead of the
      corporation, -then- smart meters would be good and effective.
      Until we get PG&E out of the picture, its smart meters will be
      a bad thing.

      And the best way to reduce electricity use,

      is to use less electricity...

    On 3/25/2011 8:17 AM, Martin Zehr wrote:

      This is such nonsense. We need to support measures for accurate
      and timely monitoring and measurement if we really want to reduce
      electricity use. 

      Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2011 00:18:29 -0700

      From: brookse32 at aim.com

      To: active at sfgreens.org; sustainability at sfgreens.org

      Subject: [SFGP-A] PG&E: Hundreds Of Dollars Per Customer To
      Opt Out Of Smart Meters

      http://www.baycitizen.org/pge/story/pges-plan-smartmeters-opt-out-pay/

      Thursday, March 24, 2011
      PG&E's SmartMeter Plan: Opt Out, Pay a Premium
      Customers who choose to turn off radio signals could pay as much
      as $270 up front plus $14 a month

      By: John Upton

      Pacific Gas and Electric Company plans to charge customers
      hundreds of dollars on top of their regular gas and electricity
      bills if they choose to switch off radio signals emitted by
      SmartMeters, which are being installed in businesses and homes
      throughout Northern California.

      SmartMeters are being installed by PG&E as part of an
      industry-led effort to replace the nation's aging electrical
      infrastructure with digital equipment that can track and manage
      customers' energy consumption. Already, PG&E has replaced 7.7
      million analog electricity and gas meters with the new devices.

      Following years of public outcry about rollout of the meters,
      which some customers say have caused serious illnesses and
      incorrect energy consumption readings, the California Public
      Utilities Commission earlier this month ordered
        PG&E to allow customers to opt out of using the
      technology. 

      PG&E submitted a proposal to the CPUC Thursday that, instead
      of allowing customers to continue using analog meters, would see
      radio signals switched off from their SmartMeters. The SmartMeters
      would continue to monitor a customers' energy use, but they would
      not transmit the results to PG&E through radio signals.
      Instead, a PG&E official would visit the customers' home to
      manually read the meter for billing purposes.

      Customers who select the “radio-off” option would pay a $135
      up-front fee followed by a $20 monthly charge, or a $270 up-front
      fee followed by a $14 monthly charge, PG&E proposed.
      Low-income customers would pay 20 percent less.

      Instead of the fixed monthly fee, customers could choose to pay a
      monthly rate that varies with the amount of gas and electricity
      that they use. That option could be less expensive for customers
      who use little electricity or gas.

      PG&E justified the seemingly high rates by saying that its
      anticipated costs in deploying the “radio-off” option for an
      expected 146,000 opt-out customers would exceed $80 million over
      two years.

      "We wanted to make sure that those who elected that option would
      bear the costs associated with that option, as opposed to the rest
      of our customers," PG&E spokesman Jeff Smith said.

      The opt-out program costs will include expenses associated with
      turning customers’ SmartMeter radios off; switching radios back on
      if customers change their mind or new tenants move into the
      premises; modifying PG&E’s existing
      SmartMeter-related information technology programs and radio
      networks; and communicating with customers about alternatives to
      the opt-out option, PG&E told the CPUC in the proposal.

      Consumer advocates, meanwhile, characterized the rates as just
      another cash grab by a malevolent corporate monopoly.

      “I’m definitely going to ask for the data to support their
      forecasts for how much it’s going to cost to do all this stuff,”
      said Marcel Hawiger, energy attorney for The Utility Reform
      Network, a consumer watchdog.

      Hawiger said that PG&E should give its customers the option of
      reading their own meters instead of paying PG&E a monthly fee.
      Some customers with dogs and fences already read their own meters,
      he said, suggesting that program be expanded.

      Public hearings will be held in the coming months to discuss the
      proposal, and a CPUC ruling on PG&E's proposed opt-out pricing
      system is expected by mid-September.

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