Category: Energy

By Matthew Wood

A potential new cell phone tower could be going up on the roof of the Newport Antique Center, at 4864 Newport Avenue.

Craig Gerwig, owner of the antique store between Sunset Cliffs Boulevard and Cable Street, confirmed that he had plans to add the tower, but said no contracts were in place. A group of men were seen on the rooftop of the building late last week, presumably scoping out the site.

Gerwig refused to answer any questions about the possible addition to his business, but did say he had no concerns about any health issues that might arise from having a tower so close to a residential area.

From East County Magazine / September 4, 2013

On the heels of a hefty rate increase that took effect September 1st, SDG&E wants ratepayers to pay for costs of decommissioning the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Stations. Ratepayer advocates, meanwhile, say ratepayers should receive a refund for charges assessed when the nuclear facility was off-line for more than a year before being shut down permanently.

The California Public Utilities Commission will hold two hearings on Tuesday, October 1 at 2 p.m. and again at 6:30 p.m. Both will be held in the Al Bahr Shriners auditorium, 5440 Kaerny Mesa Road, San Diego 92111. The commission will consider whether or not ratepayers should be charged for the decommissioning costs, as well as whether ratepayers should receive refunds for charges assessed while the nuclear facilities were offline for more than a year before the shut-down decision.

By Jay Powell

Hold on to your wallets, you are about to get walloped. International energy giant Sempra Energy, owners of SDG&E, have set up a front group called “Fix My Energy Bill” to promote a whopping $120 per year fixed charge on every electric customers bill in the State of California. It is pending in the State Senate in the waning days of this legislative session.

What started out as a bill sponsored by Assemblyman Perea from Fresno to ostensibly help poor elderly folks sweltering in the Central Valley heat be able to afford air conditioning, AB 327 has morphed into a full blown attack on working families ability to control their energy bills and to make homeowner investments in energy efficiency devices and improvements including roof top solar much more difficult.

The Sierra Club and local and state solar industry representatives are trying to blunt this latest proposal by the three huge investor owned utilities Pacific Gas and Electric, SoCal Edison and SDG&E to perpetuate their antiquated business plans that depends on them building more and more power plants and huge transmission lines.

by John Lawrence

From coast to coast, we saw a variety of record-breaking weather in July 2013. Several cities recorded one of their hottest Julys on record. A heat wave that lasted a week in middle July helped propel Hartford, Conn., Bridgeport, Conn., and Providence R.I. to their hottest July and calendar month on record. In the west Salt Lake City, Utah, Reno, Nev., Elko, Nev., Medford, Ore., Roseburg, Ore. and Bend, Ore. all saw their hottest July and calendar month in history.

Although July is typically the driest month of the year in the Pacific Northwest, it was exceptionally dry in July 2013.

Seattle, Olympia, Wash., Portland, Ore., Eugene, Ore. and Salem, Ore. were among the slew of locations in western Washington and western Oregon that recorded no measurable rainfall in July 2013. Only four other Julys since 1890 have had no rain in Portland (downtown). For Seattle, it was the first time in more than 50 years with no measurable rain in July.

By Frank Gormlie

Like many San Diegans I watched images of the recent Chariot Fire that began on July 6th destroy sections of Mt Laguna with great concern. That mountain is one of my favorite spots in the county and I waited for the local media to give us an update on the damages that the fire caused to the natural habitat of the area along Sunrise Highway. Not satisfied with the paltry amount of news of the burn since the fire was put out, I decided to head out there myself and do a photo gallery of the destructive havoc wreaked by a wildfire.

On Friday afternoon, August 2nd, I drove east on I-8, heading for Sunrise Highway – the road that traverses Mt Laguna. With camera at the ready, I took notes in my search for the burn, holding my fears in check as I hurried towards the 6000 foot plus ridges that separated the mountains from the desert. There were sections of the mountain that I worried had been destroyed, as reports of the fire had it crossing Sunrise Highway, and eating its way west through pine forest.

Southern California Edison Announces It’s Over for the Local Nuke

Southern California Edison has just declared today that the San Onofre Nuclear power plant is to be shut down for good. It’s over.

Citing “continuing uncertainty about when or if it might return to service”, the company concluded that questions over when or if the plant might return to service was not good for customers or investors. Concerns about the environment or planet earth were not mentioned.

Since the shutdown of the nuclear power generating station in January of 2012, there has been an epic struggle over whether the plant could safely be returned to operating status.

The UT-San Diego has a poll for its readers going right now on whether you think the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant should be shut down.

As of yesterday, May 1, “Yes”was winning – but as of today, the “no’s are ahead.

C’mon OBceans and San Diegans – Vote to shut it down. We have the link right here so you can vote.S

Here’s the link to vote

OB Crime Watch Citizens Patrol Meeting on May 13th at Woman’s Club

Please join us to discuss and share ideas to help keep OB safe.

Calls for public hearings on San Onofre grow, fears about summer power supply may be exaggerated

See this post at The Reader by OBcean Dave Rice:

Food Network shoots show at OB Noodle House – Guy Fieri visits Hodad’s again also

… and more

A Tour of the Best Bicycle Route Around San Diego’s Aquatic Playland

The tour I now present around Mission Bay is a great one and it is a ride that has been honed by me and a few riding friends over the last three decades – since the early Eighties. It is a ride along a route that has a minimum of traffic and street exposure, and it is a route that is practically 13 miles round trip from the Ocean Beach Skateboard Park in Robb Field.

Don’t Miss this Event!

XL Pipeline Protest

April 17, 2013 11:30 – 12:30

Silver Strand Blvd & Coronado Bay Rd, Coronado

Join organizes for a press conference and protest outside the Loew’s Coronado Bay Resort where the American Petroleum Industry (API), the primary trade association of the oil and gas industry, will be holding its annual Pipeline Conference.

They will be there to say that climate change demands an end to the fossil fuel industry’s “business as usual” and to call on President Obama to reject the Keystone XL Pipeline. They”ll also draw attention to the recent tar sands spill in Arkansas, and the surprising revelation that tar sands are already being brought by train to Los Angeles for refining.

Editor: Apparently, the commmunity of North Park has something to show Ocean Beach: North Park is about to initiate San Diego’s first “EcoDistrict”. What is that?

By John Anderson / San Diego Free Press

North Park in the first stages of becoming the first sustainable-focused neighborhood in San Diego following the U.S. lead of Portland, OR. I recently talked with Paulina Lis, who is heading up the North Park EcoDistrict project along with colleague Jennifer Owens, to learn more about the project.

New Study: Cancer decline since Rancho Seco nuclear plant closed over 20 years ago

by Michael Steinberg

Recently Southern California Edison asked the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for permission to restart Unit 2 at its San Onofre nuclear plant. Units 2 and 3 at San Onofre have been shut down since January 2012 after radioactive steam escaped into the environment, and subsequent investigation found that steam generators installed less than two years before had suffered significant damage to large numbers of critical tubes in the generators.

Now Edison wants to restart Unit 2 in June, and receive permission from the NRC to operate that reactor for two years, despite failing to substantially address the damage to the steam generators or pinpoint the reasons for the problems, according to environmental group Friends of the Earth.