Sebastopol City Council votes no on SmartMeter moratorium | PressDemocrat.com

[Sabrina]

Despite a recent discovery by the Capitol city Council, that Smart Meters have found to be NOT UL Certified, (See the Wacco post from yesterday here: SMART METERS new safety finding: THEY ARE NOT UL CERTIFIED) , the Sebastopol City Council has once again cowardly moved away from a Moratorium on the Smart Meter installations. Let's hope our County supersedes this eventually like our sister counties have (Mendocino and Marin)


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Sebastopol City Council votes no on SmartMeter moratorium

A split Sebastopol City Council voted Tuesday against a one-year moratorium on the installation of PG&E SmartMeters, which transmit usage data by radio waves.

The 3-2 defeat dismayed the line of speakers who had come with a litany of complaints against the meters, which they blame for health maladies, invasions of privacy, increased risks of fire, and other offenses.

But for Sebastopol Mayor Guy Wilson the issue boiled down to jurisdiction. Simply, the town cannot enforce such a restriction without trespassing into an area controlled statewide by the California Public Utilities Commission, he said.

Even passing the ban as a symbolic gesture against the mandatory installation of SmartMeters would risk major liability if someone took the vote literally and used it to affect a citizen's arrest against a PG&E agent -- or as a reason for stronger vigilance, he said.

“I feel it's not appropriate to pass a law knowing it can't be enforced, knowing we do not have jurisdiction,” said Wilson, an attorney, who was joined by Kathleen Shaffer and Patrick Slayter in his vote.

But Councilwoman Sarah Gurney and Vice Mayor Michael Kyes said they saw great value in adding to the public pressure on PG&E by joining other towns and counties in the state that have passed restrictions against the meters.
Mendocino and Marin counties and the Humboldt County city of Rio Dell have enacted moratoriums as have other areas.

Such bans may well violate state laws, Kyes said. But Sebastopol didn't have a problem passing marijuana regulations that contravene federal drug laws, he said. What's the difference in this case, he asked.

A split Sebastopol City Council voted Tuesday against a one-year moratorium on the installation of PG&E SmartMeters, which transmit usage data by radio waves.

The 3-2 defeat dismayed the line of speakers who had come with a litany of complaints against the meters, which they blame for health maladies, invasions of privacy, increased risks of fire, and other offenses.

But for Sebastopol Mayor Guy Wilson the issue boiled down to jurisdiction. Simply, the town cannot enforce such a restriction without trespassing into an area controlled statewide by the California Public Utilities Commission, he said.

Even passing the ban as a symbolic gesture against the mandatory installation of SmartMeters would risk major liability if someone took the vote literally and used it to affect a citizen's arrest against a PG&E agent -- or as a reason for stronger vigilance, he said.

“I feel it's not appropriate to pass a law knowing it can't be enforced, knowing we do not have jurisdiction,” said Wilson, an attorney, who was joined by Kathleen Shaffer and Patrick Slayter in his vote.

But Councilwoman Sarah Gurney and Vice Mayor Michael Kyes said they saw great value in adding to the public pressure on PG&E by joining other towns and counties in the state that have passed restrictions against the meters.
Mendocino and Marin counties and the Humboldt County city of Rio Dell have enacted moratoriums as have other areas.

Such bans may well violate state laws, Kyes said. But Sebastopol didn't have a problem passing marijuana regulations that contravene federal drug laws, he said. What's the difference in this case, he asked.

And regardless of legalities, PG&E is likely to shy away from the publicity of continuing to install the meters in an area that has declared itself against them, he said.

“They'd just as soon keep a low profile,” he said. “I think the risk factor is very low.”

Sebastopol's council has repeatedly debated a SmartMeter moratorium, most recently on Oct. 7 when it was defeated 4-1 with Gurney the sole supporter.

But the November election brought two new faces to the board, including Kyes, who supported a moratorium against SmartMeters during his campaign, and who brought the matter back up for discussion on Tuesday.

No one representing PG&E spoke at Tuesday's meeting. Nor did anyone speak to defend the utility. The company insists its meters are safe and is continuing installations in Sonoma County.

In Santa Rosa, 67,000 out of 90,000 electric meters and 56,000 out of 75,000 natural gas meters have been upgraded, although installations in the Sebastopol area has lagged.

Despite the split, the board was unanimous in voting to support Assembly Bill 37 by Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, which would allow cities to opt out of PG&E's SmartMeter installation program.

But while Wilson championed that as the proper course of action, Kyes said a local ban was still needed to address the problem in a timely fashion.

You can reach Staff Writer Sam Scott at 521-5431 or at [email protected].