There are a few easy solutions to our Global Warming Challenge.
This is one of them. We must not be tree-huggers, we must become tree lovers.
Friday, April 17, 2015
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Utility Steals $4.7-Billion from Customers
You must see this special report by Amita Sharma of KPBS News.
I've loved Sorrentino's Pizza in Clairemont Mesa for 20 years, you must try them, they make the best pizza in San Diego. They are right next to the SDG&E "Energy Innovation Center" & Stellar Solar (perfect irony), but Sorrrentino's business is being ruined by high utility bills.
Now, KPBS reveals that former California Public Utilities Commmission (PUC) President, Michael R. Peevey, a former executive for Southern California Edison had secret meetings with the utility company (in Warsaw Poland!), and squashed investigations into the San Onofre Nuclear Power Station (SONGS) debacle.
Peevey met with Southern California Edison executive Stephen Pickett at the opulent Hotel Bristol in Warsaw, Poland. There, they discussed a framework for a settlement agreement on San Onofre.
Former San Diego City Attorney, Mike Aguirre, wanted to know just how did the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) reach a $4.7-Billion dollar settlement with such little public input. CPUC officials have had scores of private meetings and other contact with executives at Edison and minority owner San Diego Gas & Electric about San Onofre.
The Federal Oversight, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), says that Southern California Edison (SCE) never property licensed the defective generators, that caused the radiation leak and ultimately shut down SONGS. SCE's own contractor documents concerns about the design before the generators were installed. These PRIVATELY OWNED Utilities, like SCE and SDG&E, passed on their business costs for the $700-Million Generators to their customers without permission from the CPUC. Now, they are simply shifting the costs for their mistakes, and the premature decommissioning of our nuclear power plant, directly onto the rate-payers.
Rather than subtracting these business expenses out of their huge profit margins, investors in the utility corporations expect YOU, the rate-payers, to shoulder them. The California Public Utilities Commission had promised a probe into who was responsible for San Onofre’s defective equipment, but instead the secret back-room deals shifted the costs for their failure onto the utility customers.
Our Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs) are privately held MONOPOLIES, and those who own their stock, like SEMPRA Energy, are taking a very limited MARKET RISK. With guaranteed cost-plus profit margins, these publicly regulated businesses are shielded from free-market competition, but they should NOT be shielded from losses due to incompetence and malfeasance. In passing on the costs of their mistakes on to utility customers, rate-payers are bearing the burden that would otherwise come out of utility profits.
Those who control our energy utilities, are simply gaming the system to avoid accountability.
I've loved Sorrentino's Pizza in Clairemont Mesa for 20 years, you must try them, they make the best pizza in San Diego. They are right next to the SDG&E "Energy Innovation Center" & Stellar Solar (perfect irony), but Sorrrentino's business is being ruined by high utility bills. Now, KPBS reveals that former California Public Utilities Commmission (PUC) President, Michael R. Peevey, a former executive for Southern California Edison had secret meetings with the utility company (in Warsaw Poland!), and squashed investigations into the San Onofre Nuclear Power Station (SONGS) debacle.
Peevey met with Southern California Edison executive Stephen Pickett at the opulent Hotel Bristol in Warsaw, Poland. There, they discussed a framework for a settlement agreement on San Onofre.
"That Poland meeting only came to light this year, after state investigators found notes about San Onofre’s defective replacement steam generators on Hotel Bristol stationery during a search of Peevey’s home in January. PUC officials and utility executives are the target of federal and state probes for alleged inappropriate contact and possible influence peddling.
"Edison never reported the secret meeting to the PUC as required until after U-T San Diego published a story about the seized notes.
"The company explained the 23-month delay by characterizing the Poland conversation as an “update” on San Onofre that was “permissible and not reportable.” But the company goes on to say it now appears Pickett may have crossed into substantive communication."
Former San Diego City Attorney, Mike Aguirre, wanted to know just how did the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) reach a $4.7-Billion dollar settlement with such little public input. CPUC officials have had scores of private meetings and other contact with executives at Edison and minority owner San Diego Gas & Electric about San Onofre.
The Federal Oversight, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), says that Southern California Edison (SCE) never property licensed the defective generators, that caused the radiation leak and ultimately shut down SONGS. SCE's own contractor documents concerns about the design before the generators were installed. These PRIVATELY OWNED Utilities, like SCE and SDG&E, passed on their business costs for the $700-Million Generators to their customers without permission from the CPUC. Now, they are simply shifting the costs for their mistakes, and the premature decommissioning of our nuclear power plant, directly onto the rate-payers.
Rather than subtracting these business expenses out of their huge profit margins, investors in the utility corporations expect YOU, the rate-payers, to shoulder them. The California Public Utilities Commission had promised a probe into who was responsible for San Onofre’s defective equipment, but instead the secret back-room deals shifted the costs for their failure onto the utility customers.
Our Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs) are privately held MONOPOLIES, and those who own their stock, like SEMPRA Energy, are taking a very limited MARKET RISK. With guaranteed cost-plus profit margins, these publicly regulated businesses are shielded from free-market competition, but they should NOT be shielded from losses due to incompetence and malfeasance. In passing on the costs of their mistakes on to utility customers, rate-payers are bearing the burden that would otherwise come out of utility profits.
Those who control our energy utilities, are simply gaming the system to avoid accountability.
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Green Scene; Dr. Richard Somerville, Action on Climate Science
DR. Richard Somerville
"What does a climate scientist think we should do about climate change?"
Event Summary:
Join us for this SPECIAL EVENT to hear from renowned climate scientist Dr. Somerville!
Dr. Richard Somerville has a lifetime of research and peer relationships to share with us on this Special Evening. Register now to hear his unique perspective on the challenge of Climate Change and what needs to be done to alter our course.
Event Detail:
Dr. Richard Somerville, sits on the Science and Security Boardof The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists which recently moved the "Doomsday Clock" to 3 minutes to midnight.
He worked on the Forth UN Inter-government Panel on Climate Change, (IPCC) Assessment which won the organization theNobel Peace Prize for their work on Climate Change Science. This 2007 Nobel Prize was shared equally by the IPCC and Vice-President Al Gore.
Climate science is robust and tells us that the world is on a path to dire consequences. Can citizens, businesses and governments generate the will, both politically and economically, to act on this issue before it is too late?
Special Guest:
Dr. Richard Somerville
Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Research Professor
Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of California, San Diego.
Richard C. J. Somerville Climate Scientist Professor, Researcher, Author, Speaker, Consultant Richard Somerville is Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Research Professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, U.S.A. He is a theoretical meteorologist and an expert on computer simulations of the atmosphere. He received a B.S. in meteorology from Pennsylvania State University in 1961 and a Ph. D. in meteorology from New York University in 1966. He has been a professor at Scripps since 1979. His research is focused on critical physical processes in the climate system, especially the role of clouds and the important feed backs that can occur as clouds change with a changing climate. Somerville is an authority on the prospects for climate change in coming decades. He is an author, co-author or editor of more than 200 scientific publications. His broader interests include all aspects of climate, including climate science outreach and the interface between science and public policy. He was an organizer and signer of the Bali Climate Declaration by Scientists, in which more than 200 climate scientists from more than 20 countries urged climate change negotiators to agree on large and rapid reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions.
He is also a co-author of The Copenhagen Diagnosis, a report by 26 climate science experts from 8 countries, summarizing important new research results. Somerville comments frequently on climate and environmental issues for the media. He has also trained schoolteachers, testified before the United States Congress, briefed United Nations climate change negotiators, and advised government agencies on research, education and outreach. He has received awards from the American Meteorological Society for both his research and his popular book,"The Forgiving Air: Understanding Environmental Change," a new edition of which was published in 2008. Among many honors, he is a Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Meteorological Society. More information here
http://richardsomerville.com.
Recorded on Tuesday, March 24, 2015
@SIMCenter http://www.wrsc.org
1088 Third St., San Diego, CA 92101
Venue available for rent - (619) 234-1088
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Friday, February 20, 2015
From GIZMODO - Scatter, Survive, Adapt
A Guide to the Most Destructive Events in the History of Earth
If you want some epic disaster tales this evening, you can watch this How Stuff Works podcastabout possible causes of the five mass extinctions that nearly extinguished all life on Earth. After that cheerful topic, I also talk about why scientists believe we're heading into a sixth mass extinction.
I've been obsessed with mass extinction for some time, and even wrote a book about it a couple years ago. What I'm discussing here are some of my favorite scientific hypotheses (sorry — I called them theories, but I meant hypotheses!) about what caused horrific mass extinctions in deep geological history. Understanding these previous events allows us to make judgements about whether we're in another mass extinction period right now. More importantly, it helps us figure out how we might stop the extinctions before they reach the epic levels required to qualify for a mass extinction.
Monday, February 16, 2015
SEMPRA, THE F.B.I., and AZANO by VOSD
Voice of San Diego's reporter, Liam Dillon, has a new three part report on the FBI investigation into SEMPRA Energy and there questionable business practices in Mexico. SEMPRA has successfully used the Federal Government to harass their Mexican competitors.
On KPBS.org Friday Roundtable they talked about this SEMPRA Scandal and the strange narrative that includes so much of the back-room dealing within the San Diego/Tia Juana region. This is the ghost of the secret power struggles behind your energy utility and politicians.
As reported on KPBS
Voice of San Diego investigates SEMPRA and AZANO
The Politician that Gave SEMPRA Mexico
VOSD's Report on the Mexican Businessman describes
José Susumo Azano Matsura as a Goliath;
heir to a Mexican development empire, defense contractor,
high roller and political wheeler-dealer.
All this is part of
Sempra’s Shady Road to Dominance in Mexico
Liam Dillon |
It began in late 2011 with District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis. She was running for San Diego mayor and Azano invited her to one of his Coronado homes for lunch. Dumanis would only be the first.
A few months later, Azano met with Dumanis and San Diego Sheriff Bill Gore in Gore’s downtown office. That summer Azano hosted a lunch for then-mayoral candidate Bob Filner. In September, hedined at a downtown restaurant with then-congressional candidate Juan Vargas. Prosecutors say Azano gave more than $600,000 to campaigns backing Dumanis, Vargas and Filner between December 2011 and November 2012.
In the end, it wasn’t the investigations into drug trafficking or money laundering that took Azano down. And it wasn’t the claims of bribery or extortion or tax evasion. After six years of warfare with one of San Diego’s most powerful companies, Azano was arrested and charged with making a campaign contribution that was publicly disclosed and available for anyone in the world to see.
Read the 5 take-aways from this VOSD story
Here are links to all the stories in A Cross-Border Clash of the Titans and a timeline that lays out the whole tale:
Part II Sidebar: The Politician Who Gave Sempra Mexico
Part III: The Fall of José Susumo Azano Matsura
Thursday, February 12, 2015
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