Tag: County

SmartMeter opponents to seek sheriff recall over enforcement of county moratorium

Posted on by gogreen


SmartMeter competitors are mounting a recall of Sheriff Phil Wowak, quarrelling he has unsuccessful to enforce the county’s SmartMeter moratorium.

The petition drive was introduced Friday about the steps from the county courthouse by about 20 sign-transporting protesters, and it is being brought by StopSmartMeters.org, an organization critical from the wireless meters that headed efforts to find the moratorium passed and it has fought a number of local protests over SmartMeters.

“We now have attempted to describe that the injuries by microwave radiation is equally as serious being an injuries from the gun or perhaps a knife or perhaps a fist,” stated Josh Hart, who heads StopSmartMeters.org. “Despite the fact that it’s invisible, this can be a real injuries. He must take this seriously. If he will not talk with us and listen to the accounts of those who have been hurt, only then do we will seek his recall and discover a sheriff who’ll enforce what the law states and perform.Inch Wowak stated he needs to prioritize limited assets. Facing 100,000 annual requires service and controlling a brief-staffed department, he stated SmartMeter complaints are much less of the priority as imminent public safety risks.

“In my opinion it is a very inefficient utilization of assets and dollars to arrest and provide a criminal history to employees who have employment with whether contractor or PG&E and therefore are just doing their job,” Wowak stated.

The sheriff’s office has asked individuals to file

reviews when they received a meter in breach from the county’s ordinance, but the 2009 week reported none despite a countywide SmartMeter rollout by PG&E.

A large number of cities now utilize laws contacting condition utilities to prevent SmartMeters installations, which offer an in depth take a look at consumers’ electrical usage. Individuals votes are noticed as symbolic, however, because the California Public Utilities Commission, not local government authorities, regulate utilities.

SmartMeters are area of the SmartGrid, an insurance policy objective of Leader Obama’s administration to slash the country’s reliance on foreign oil. Giving clients detailed feedback on the electricity use enables these phones pare it back throughout peak usage hrs, reducing the quantity of energy required to meet demand, advocates argue.

But competitors say they are fully aware lots of people impacted by wireless transmissions, using their health effects the topic of a continuing scientific debate. Some local people report vomiting, uneasyness, head aches and much more serious signs and symptoms after SmartMeters were installed.

“Within 30 minutes, my whole central nervous system was crashes,” stated Aptos resident Tammie Donnelly, who stated she was one of the primary county citizens to obtain a SmartMeter.

While wireless health effects remain a fierce debate, utilities appear to possess been designated by competitors. Wireless can be obtained everywhere from libraries to Carl’s junior fast-food joints, wireless transmission towers us dot the landscape as well as many water meters transmit easily.

“This really is the house. I’ve property privileges. I’m able to not get into Carl’s junior, I’m able to choose not go near a mobile phone tower. But we now have an outdoors corporation mandating on my small personal property that they will put a radio transmitter on my small house, my own haven, against my will,” stated Shaun Nordahl, a SmartMeter opponent.

Among SmartMeter critique, PG&E has suggested an opt-out option that will allow clients to have their analog meters. But it’ll cost you clients 100s of dollars, and also the Public Utilities Commission has yet to approve it.

That option — which SmartMeter competitors have to say is inadequate to safeguards individuals health — will probably take many several weeks being official, whether it does whatsoever, based on a PUC spokesperson. The PUC is scheduled to go over the opt-out in a September workshop.

In recent memory, no county chosen official continues to be remembered. Wowak was offered using the initial recall documents Friday, starting what is a extended process.

Chosen authorities could be remembered unconditionally. When the notice is filed using the county elections office, petitioners have 160 days to gather signatures from 10 % of registered voters to place the recall about the ballot.

In Santa Cruz County, that number is 14,702 voters. Hart stated county citizens can get to determine people gathering signatures through the county.

“We do not think we’ll have problem getting that quantity of signatures,” Hart stated.

Last Year, Wowak was hired through the county board to achieve success retiring Sheriff-Coroner Steve Robbins. He was re-chosen this year.

Environmentalists renew push for plastic bag ban in Santa Cruz County

Posted on by gogreen


Environmentalists are reviving a push for any countywide prohibit on plastic bags, an problem county authorities have analyzed in excess of 18 several weeks, but one which may finally be headed toward a election.

Atmosphere California, a state-wide nonprofit, is pushing the prohibit together with other local advocacy groups in an effort to safeguard the sea, saying plastic bags frequently finish up within the ocean, polluting water and being mistaken for food by marine existence. Additionally they hope enough metropolitan areas pass restrictions that the state-wide law becomes inevitable.

“To ocean turtles, plastic bags seem like jellyfish, among their tasty and delectable goodies,” Stephen Michael, a director with Atmosphere California, stated throughout a little press conference Wednesday at Natural Bridges Condition Beach.

The county was one of the primary to prohibit polystyrene takeout containers, and it has been studying a plastic bag prohibit since 2009.

But your final election was postponed while a suit on the Manhattan Beach bag prohibit performed out. That situation was made the decision a week ago, using the prohibit upheld, and native environmentalists are actually wanting to push forward.

“More and more people we speak with say, Santa Cruz has passed a prohibit, right?’ However it has not. It is extremely, very odd that many places have passed it before Santa Cruz, being this type of progressive town,” stated Lauren Gilligan, a course coordinator with Save Our Shores.

Board of Administrators Chairman Mark Stone would really like a election as quickly as possible, but stated it

may hold back until after

a multijurisdictional waste management meeting in September. That meeting can lead to local metropolitan areas for example Santa Cruz and Capitola thinking about a prohibit too.

“It’s one factor for that county to get it done, but it is better if other areas perform the same factor,” stated Stone, who desires the prohibit to resist — or avert — potential lawsuit.

Santa Cruz County’s suggested law restrictions plastic carryout bags, although not using plastic for produce bags or pre-packed products. Additionally, it implements a ten-cent per bag fee within the newbie following the law passes along with a 25-cent per bag fee next, as well as paper bags to become produced from a minimum of 40 % recycled material.

The-supported Save the Plastic Bag Coalition, that has prosecuted over bag restrictions, disputes the injury triggered by plastic carryout bags, specially when in comparison to paper bags. They are saying claims a good marine gyre of thrown away diapers, empty milk jugs and plastic grocery bags is inaccurate. Based on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Off-shore Garbage Patch includes small bits of debris, frequently plastics, circulating within the ocean, and it is largely invisible towards the human eye alone.

Save the Plastic Bag introduced a suit against a bag prohibit in Manhattan Beach, and a week ago the condition Top Court made the decision the town didn’t require a full environment impact review to pass through the prohibit. Environmentalists saw a victory, however the court particularly left open the chance that other towns would want one, a choice which has each side declaring victory.

“The Top Court situation does not really change anything so far as Santa Cruz can be involved,Inch stated Stephen Frederick, counsel for that Save The Plastic Bag Coalition, that has two more suits pending against California cities and it has objected towards the county’s proposal.

Frederick sees his group as champions from the atmosphere: plastic bags tend to be simpler about the atmosphere than paper, he argues, since paper bags produce methane once they break lower, a significant green house gas. Frederick argues for towns to complete an environment impact review, which Santa Cruz County hasn’t done.

“We are meaning the best environment value, that is environment truth. Before you decide to have action, you’ll want truth,” Frederick stated.

Stone and environmentalists from Save Our Shores and Atmosphere California the plastic bag industry left them no choice by passing a state-wide prohibition on taxes for plastic bags. Your best option left, they are saying, would be to prohibit plastic bags and tax paper bags.