IJ article about Inverness resisting Smart Meter

Opponents battle with SmartMeter installers in West Marin

By Richard Halstead
Marin Independent Journal
Posted: 12/28/2010 06:31:41 PM PST

In an escalation of protests against Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s SmartMeters, opponents Monday and Tuesday jousted with employees of a company PG&E hired to install the meters in Inverness.

"Yesterday we got a report there were four Wellington Energy trucks going towards Inverness," Katharina Sandizell, of Point Reyes Station, said Tuesday. "We have a phone tree, so we got together and basically stopped them."

Sandizell, who has children ages 3 and 6, is co-director of West Marin Citizens Against Wireless Smart Meters.

Sandizell said Wellington Energy, hired by PG&E to install the meters, returned to Inverness on Tuesday with eight trucks, twice as many as on Monday.

"It's like a war," she said. "Today was shock-and-awe as far as I'm concerned."

Opponents of the meters blocked the path to some houses as Wellington employees approached. In other cases, they videotaped and photographed the Wellington employees. Police were called by Wellington twice. No arrests were made, however.

Paul Moreno, a PG&E spokesman, said, "We remain committed to reaching out to our customers to provide them with information about the SmartMeter program. We've been doing that in a variety of ways for many months in Marin, and we continue to invite our customers who have any concerns whatsoever to give us a call."

Moreno said PG&E has postponed installation of SmartMeters in some instances when customers call. But he said

there was no certainty future requests would be granted."Eventually all the meters will be upgraded," Moreno said. "In the meantime, we are continuing to review options for a non-wireless smart meter."

Dan Morse, who lives on Forres Way in Inverness, said a Wellington employee installed a SmartMeter on his second-unit cottage Tuesday before knocking on the door of his home. Morse said he asked the employee to remove the SmartMeter he had installed.
"He said no," Morse said.

Morse said the employee left without installing a SmartMeter on the main house after he told the employee he didn't want it.
"He told me, 'If I don't do it, PG&E will,'" Morse said.

Morse said what bothers him the most about installation of the meters is his lack of choice. He also wants more information about their safety.

Sandizell said the "time-averaged" radiation levels emitted by the devices have been deemed safe by the Federal Communications Commission. She worries, however, because the meters emit energy in pulses, which she says are much higher than the radiation emitted by a cell phone.

Scott McMorrow, an Inverness resident who spent time Tuesday filming Wellington employees as they installed meters, said he is eager to see the results of a California Council on Science and Technology review of the issue, which is due out soon. Until then, McMorrow said he is urging his neighbors, even those who have no objections to the meters, to reject their installation.

Sandizell and nearly 100 of her members attended a Marin County Board of Supervisors meeting on Dec. 14 and asked supervisors to enact a county ban on SmartMeter installation. Supervisors promised to take the matter up when they meet on Jan. 4, she said. After that December meeting, Sandizell's group and other SmartMeter opponents blocked the entrance to a PG&E office in downtown San Rafael. The company closed the office for several hours.

Sandizell said she doubts PG&E wanted to arrest the protesters because of the bad publicity it would generate.

"It's not like a bunch of hippy activists," she said. "It's just normal people not feeling comfortable with the technology that's being imposed on them by an uncaring corporation."

IJ article about Inverness resisting Smart Meter - Wireless Meter