Michigan's New Public Utility Rules Hearing

Below is a close approximation of what I said at the Michigan Public Service Commission hearing on September 22, 2016, regarding the new rules for Michigan natural gas and electric utility customers.  

About 35 people spoke.  A lot of those who spoke have been harmed by new public utility meters (digital, "smart", AMI, AMR ERT), and a few severely disabled by them.  

Time will tell if our comments will fall on deaf ears.  Is corporatocracy alive and well in Michigan? We will see...

This is regarding Case No. U-18120

It is my view that "Full disclosure by public utility companies to customers regarding equipment" must be added to the "Consumer Standards and Billing Practices for Electric and Natural Gas Service" Rules.  

If a public utility customer asks any questions about metering technology, the public utility company must be obliged to give all the information possible on the equipment, to the customer.  

I argue that public utility customers have a right to know exactly what public utility companies propose to install on homes and businesses.  

This is my view because:  Instead of telling us that their new AMR ERT natural gas meters transmitted over 450,000 times per month, our natural gas provider told us that they transmit only once per month.  That's a huge discrepancy, in my opinion.  Had they been obliged to give us full disclosure, we would have refused installation.  

I was already avoiding cell phone use because of a sensitivity I had developed to radiofrequency radiation, so had our natural gas provider told us their new AMR ERT meters pulsed radiofrequency radiation over 450,000 times per month, we would have refused installation.  

According to the proposed new Rules, our natural gas provider could have then turned our natural gas service off, right then and there, without notice.   

It is my opinion that here in Michigan, that rule could prove to be catastrophic for public utility customers.  In the winter with below freezing temperatures, if gas or electricity is shut-off, it could be just a matter of hours before pipes begin freezing and bursting, leading to loss of property. 

It is my view a minimum of a 21-day notice must be given to public utility customers prior to any shut-off, for any reason.  

It is also my view that an "Analog Meter Choice" be added to the new Rules.  As evidenced by the Oversight Committee Hearing in December of 2014, and perhaps about half of the people here today, there is a growing number of people in Michigan unable to tolerate new metering technology.  I can not tolerate new AMR ERT meters, but our natural gas providers have no analog choice.  

I argue that it is our right to choose what radiofrequency radiation and electromagnetic field emitting devices are in, and/or on, our homes. 

Thank you.    

(End of my comment.)

The Commission will continue to take written and electronic comments through 5:00 p.m., October 13, 2016.

Send written comments to:  

Executive Secretary

Michigan Public Service Commission

P.O. Box 30221

Lansing, Michigan 48909

Electronic comments can be e-mailed to mpscedockets@michigan.gov.  If you require assistance, contact Commission staff at (517) 284-8090 or by e-mail at mpscedockets@michigan.gov.  

All information submitted to the Commission in this matter will become public information available on the Commission’s website and subject to disclosure.  All comments should reference Case No. U-18120.  Please do not include information you wish to remain private.

The new proposed rules for gas and electric public utility companies can be found here:  http://efile.mpsc.state.mi.us/efile/docs/18120/0001.pdf

For more information, please see "Large Turnout for Michigan Utility Rules Hearing."

And here's the stories of two Michigan women who also testified at this hearing:

• Georgetta Livingstone 
• Jamie Chimner

Inadvertent Activists

This is what I said to the City Commissioners of Battle Creek at the City Commission meeting on Tuesday, September 20, 2016:

New, non-analog public utility meters are sometimes called smart meters, digital meters, AMR ERT, advanced meters, or upgraded meters.  These new meters have inadvertently created a growing number of activists speaking out against them.  The issues include privacy, cyber security, explosions and fires, safety, inaccuracy, over-charges, and health complaints. 

New non-analog/smart metering technology has never been subject to human safety testing. 

On the website wearetheevidence.org, you will see testimonies from all kinds of people, from medical doctors, attorneys, teachers, musicians, all who have one thing in common: They developed electromagnetic hyper sensitivity caused by electromagnetic fields. 

New public utility meters all generate electromagnetic fields in the radiofrequency radiation range, and thereby increase everyone's chances of developing this potentially fatal condition. 

Old analog public utility meters do NOT create electromagnetic fields.

The BioInitiative Report, with 29 authors, mostly medical doctors and PhD's, states: 

"Bioeffects are clearly established and occur at very low levels of exposure to electromagnetic fields and radiofrequency radiation."

Radiofrequency radiation is emitted by SEMCO Energy's new gas meters, Consumers Energy's new electric meters, and the City of Battle Creek's new water meters.  Battle Creek's Perry Hart (the Director of Public Works) told us the new water meters pulse this radiation every 14 seconds.  That's over 6,000 pulses per day of radiation from water meters alone!

Michigan is no stranger to health complaints from new non-analog public utility meters, as evidenced by the Michigan OversightCommittee hearing in 2014.

We are asking for something very simple: To keep the old, safe, time-tested analog public utility meters on our homes without penalty.  Analog meters have been used for approximately 100 years without issue.

No one complained about analog meters, not even the utility companies.  That is, until smart meters came along.  That's when utility companies started to complain.  They needed an excuse to "fix" what wasn't broken.

Thank you for listening.  May you all be blessed.

(Comments are limited to three minutes, strictly enforced.)

Burden of Proof

To the City Commission of Battle Creek, on Tuesday, September 6, 2016, I quoted parts of this letter written to the North Carolina Utility Commission, and said:

The precautionary principle states that the introduction of a new product or process whose ultimate effects are disputed or unknown should be resisted.  It is a form of risk management, with the intention of reducing risk.  If an action or policy has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public or the environment, in the absence of scientific consensus, the burden of proof that it is not harmful falls on those taking the action.  Which would be all of you in regards to smart metering technology.

This is a letter, co-authored by a group of scientists and health professionals who together have co-authored many peer-reviewed studies on the health effects of radiofrequency radiation. 

"The majority of scientific literature related to radiofrequency radiation stems from cell phone studies.  There is strong evidence that people who use a cell phone held directly to their ear for more than 10 years are at significantly increased risk of developing gliomas of the brain and acoustic neuromas of the auditory nerve."

"Smart meters and cell phones occupy similar frequency bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, meaning that cell phone research can apply to smart meter radiofrequency radiation.  Smart meter radiofrequency radiation consists of frequent very intense but very brief pulses throughout the day.  Because smart meter exposure is over a 24 hour period, it can be very prolonged.  Pulses can average 9,600 times a day... and because there is building evidence that the sharp high-intensity pulses are particularly harmful, the cell phone study findings are applicable when discussing adverse health impacts from smart meters."  

"While the strongest evidence for hazards coming from radiofrequency radiation is for cancer, there is a growing body of evidence that some people develop a condition called electromagnetic hypersensitivity. "

I did, once smart meters were installed where I live. 

"These individuals respond to being in the presence of radiofrequency radiation with a variety of symptoms including headaches...."

These professionals have said:

"There is absolutely no safe level of exposure established for radiofrequency radiation."

So, given this information from these educated professionals and their studies, the burden of proof of safety is now on all of you.  So where is your proof that smart meters are indeed safe?

Thank you for listening.  May you all truly be blessed.  

(End of three minute "General Public Comment")

Speaking of "burden of proof," I've come across a couple of new websites with more scientific studies on radiofrequency radiation:

• EMF - Portal
• Powerwatch - Scientific Studies on EMF

Knowledge Is Useless Unless It's Used

I love how Richard Kimberley, in his blog post titled "What You MUST Know," compares becoming electro-sensitive with a glass slowly being filled with drops of water:

"Imagine a glass under a dripping tap.  You are the glass and the drips are microwave radiation. As the glass fills up throughout your life, there’s no cause for alarm, no damage is perceived as being done.  However, once that glass fills to the top, the trouble is about to start.  The final drip overflows the glass and now we have a mess.  You can move the glass away from the tap, but only a little of the contents will evaporate.  One or two more drips, and we’re overflowing again."

Most people don't feel microwave radiation.  That is, until they do.  When their glass overflows.

Cell phones were no problem for me.  Until they were.  After several months of cell phone use, I started to feel pain and a burning sensation in my "phone ear."  My glass was overflowing.  So I stopped putting the cell phone to my ear, and the pain went away.  My body began to heal, and perhaps some of the water in my glass began to evaporate.

Just a few months after new gas meters were installation, I felt the first symptom of my glass overflowing again.  I didn't know microwave radiation emitting utility meters had been installed.  New gas meters are not called "smart."  But, I found out later, they do pulse microwave radiation over 600 times per hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, non-stop.  That's the same frequency as cell phones, by the way.

And the gas company wont remove the new not-smart meters unless we want our natural gas turned-off.  Permanently.

New symptoms of my glass overflowing were occurring, beyond just my phone ear hurting.  I describe some of my experience here and here.  Within a short period of time, I went from radiantly healthy, to achy all over, extremely exhausted, and more.  I was rapidly declining.

Several months later, I identified the problem as being the not-smart gas meters, and began to remedy the microwave radiation problem.  

It's been ten months now since we first blocked the radiation emitting from the not-smart gas meters.  I've also been turning electric breakers off at night, to cut down on the dirty electricity.  Though many of my symptoms have lessened considerably, not all symptoms are gone, and I still don't have the energy I had before not-smart gas meters were installed.  Maybe I never will.  But it is what it is.

Biological effects from microwaves and radiofrequency radiation have been known about for many years, and have even been researched by NASA.  But our governments seem to be run by large corporations and powerful utility companies, and they seem to be calling many of the shots.  At the expense of human health and safety.

"While human health and safety continue to be dismissed by many, growing scientific evidence is showing a dark side to cell phone, WiFi, smart meter and point-to-point technologies." ~ Dr. Albert Manville, Adjunct Professor, Johns Hopkins University

Is this the world you want to leave to your children's children's children?  One that cares more about profit than human health and safety?

Knowledge is useless unless it's used.

Thank you for reading ~ May all beings be blessed!

Some information:

• Beyond the Van by Richard Kimberely
• If you live in Michigan
• Naval Medical Research Institute: Biological Effects of Microwave and Radio Frequency Radiation 
• NASA - Electromagnetic Field Interactions With The Human Body: Observed Effects and Theories