Photo: "Hummingbird Moth (9691010084)" by Larry Lamsa - Hummingbird MothUploaded by PDTillman. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons -

March 10, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) - Anza Borrego’s desert wildflowers are both beautiful and fragile.

Originally Published on the ECOreport

Editor’s Note: The ECOreport is pleased to present a unique article by Dr. Allan Hoffman, former senior executive at the Department of Energy, who served under five Presidents between 1978 and 2012, reviewing ECOreport partner, Robert Lundahl’s film, “Who Are My People?”

At the ECOreport, we have been aware that Lundahl’s film captures a key transition in the history of renewable energy, as concentrating solar, which had been developed in the US, began to return in the hands of international firms building large solar facilities in the Mojave desert.

Lundahl ventured to these remote locations to capture responses from Native American elders whose communities and tribal groups have had a connection to the land since time immemorial. The film is about resulting conflicts in values that define renewable energy in its current form, and provide a consultative view about how we implement these technologies today, and in the future.

March 6, 2015--I was invited to review the documentary film “Who Are My People?” because of my professional familiarity with concentrating solar power technologies. I was responsible for the U.S. Department of Energy’s broad range of renewable energy electricity programs for several years during the Clinton Administration. “Who Are My People?” is well worth watching.

By Miriam Raftery

February 27, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – The Natural Resources Defense Council has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency claiming the federal agency ignored dangers to Monarch Butterflies posed by glyphosate used in Monsanto’s Roundup and other herbicides.

Monumental changes in solar market set to spur largest demand in history

East County News Service

Hear our interview with Erica Johnson, Sullivan Solar Power, on why some solar incentives will soon be going away as well as advice for consumers and ratepayers:  http://kiwi6.com/file/3v2a5ryrbc

February 20, 2015 (San Diego’s East County)--The rules of solar are changing for California property owners, and property owners who wait for the future will not receive the favorable conditions of today.  The first region to lose incentives may be San Diego, where a cap on net metering is close to being attained later this year.

By Miriam Raftery

February 12, 2015 (San Diego's East County)--Six days after Supervisor Dave Roberts voted for the highly controversial Soitec industrial-scale solar projects in Boulevard which were approved 4-1 on February 4th,  he sent supporters an e-mail with an invitation to a fundraiser for his campaign at the La Jolla home of Jim Waring, co-founder of CleanTech San Diego.

Waring lobbied and testified on behalf of Soitec, which has a manufacturing facility in San Diego, at the Feb. 4th hearing.  Co-hosts of the fundraiser also include Jim Whalen, whose firm, J. Whalen and Associates, represents Sempra Energy and Hamann Companies. Hamann owns land on which the Soitec projects are slated to be built. Whalen, too, testified before Supervisors on February 4th and other occasions in favor of the Soitec projects.

These cozy ties raise a serious question: just how impartial was Roberts when casting a vote to scrape bare  more than 1,100 acres of habitat in East County including land along a scenic highway, putting a town’s groundwater supply at risk as two hydrologists have warned, and increasing fire danger with an unmitigatable fire risk as Supervisor Dianne Jacob observed?  Whose interests was Roberts really representing?

Reprinted with permission from Reporting San Diego

By Nadin Abbott

February 7, 2015 (San Diego) On Feb. 6, at the stroke of midnight, the busses left the Old Town Transit center parking lot. On board were activists from SanDiego350, as well as students from King Chavez Community School in downtown San Diego with their teacher, Keith Fowler.

By Miriam Raftery

View video of full hearing: http://sdcounty.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=9&clip_id=1660

Note: Tune in Friday to our radio show on 89.1 FM from 5 to 6 p.m. to hear interviews with Boulevard residents and a hydrologist sharing their views on this outcome.  Jim Whelan, a representative of Soitec project property owners Hamann and Gibson was invited and refused to participate.

February 4, 2015 (San Diego) – Boulevard residents fought down tears in stunned disbelief today (photo, left) as San Diego Supervisors voted 4 to 1 to approve Soitec’s Tierra Del Sol and Rugged Solar projects, overriding a unanimous vote by Boulevard’s elected planning group that opposed the projects. Collectively the two massive projects will cover 1,185 acres (the equivalent of 185 city blocks) of rural terrain with thousands of concentrated solar tracking panels, each 48 feet wide by 30 feet tall.

Only Supervisor Dianne Jacob voted against the project, following an extensive speech in opposition. She called county staff’s finding that the project was compatible with rural community character “absolutely incomprehensible to me.”  Jacob pointed out that the General Plan is supposed to assure environmental stewardship, preservation of agricultural lands, open space and community character, among other qualities – all of which will be destroyed if the Soitec projects are built.

Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

January 25, 2015 (San Diego's East County) - The U.S. Department of the interior announced Sunday that President Barack Obama plans to ask Congress to designate  12 million acres of Alaska’s 19 million acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness to protect it from oil and gas drilling.

By Miriam Raftery

January 23, 2015 (San Diego)—Soitec Solar may exit the solar business, Greentech Media reports.  A quarterly report indicates the company plans to “refocus” efforts on its electronics business .

Greentech’s article indicates that the language may be vague, but the publication predicts, “…the message is clear: Soitec is exiting this business as quickly as possible.” 

The news comes as San Diego Supervisors are poised to vote Feb. 7 on whether to approve massive  industrial solar projects proposed by Soitec in Boulevard.

County planners approved despite serious environmental and financial issues; rural group vows to sue if approved

By Miriam Raftery

January 19, 2015 (Boulevard) – Rural  planning group chairs and environmentalists are blasting county planners for approving Soitec Solar’s controversial industrial scale solar projects.  Planners largely ignored evidence that the projects could deplete groundwater supplies, threaten wildlife and create fire hazards—as well as Soitec’s precarious financial position.

Next up, San Diego Supervisors will hold a hearing on the project February 4^th.  At least one citizens’ group, Backcountry Against Dumps (BAD) has promised to file a lawsuit against the County if Supervisors approve the projects, which would cover 1500 acres with approximately 8,000 massive solar trackers, each 30 feet high.

Massive release of emails between CPUC and utilities also ordered by administrative law judge

By Miriam Raftery

January 18, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – Taking the helm of the scandal-ridden California Public Utilities Commission, new president Michael Picker announced reforms aimed at ending back-door access by utilities to state regulators and improving transparency to the public.

East County News Service

January 17, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) announced last week that the new East County (ECO) Substation project has been energized and is now operating as an integral part of SDG&E’s electric transmission system.

East County News Service

January 5, 2015 (El Cajon)--Milholland Solar and Electric, the premier solar installation and electrical contractor in Southern California, celebrates its 25^th anniversary this year.

By Miriam Raftery

Hear our interview with Jack Shu, Cleveland National Forest Foundation president: https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/sites/eastcountymagazine.org/files/au... 

December 31, 2014 (San Diego)—Jack Shu, president of the Cleveland National Forest Foundation (CNFF), sat down for an in-depth interview with East County Magazine on KNSJ radio.  CNFF and other environmental groups filed a lawsuit challenging the regional transportation plan proposed by the San Diego Association of Government (SANDAG) .  California Attorney General Kamala Harris joined the suit in support of environmentalist.

CNFF contends that instead of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, as state law requires, SANDAG’s plan will increase them by 700 percent (see chart). 

San Diegans rely 95% on automobiles for transportation and only 3% on transit, yet SANDAG’s plan calls for more freeways instead of expanding transit in the near future.  San Diego also has the seventh worth ozone pollution in the nation as well as serious asthma issues, CNFF argues, yet SANDAG failed to provide a health impact analysis in its plan.

An appellate court and trial court agreed with plaintiffs that SANDAG failed to adequately address air pollution and climate change concerns, yet SANDAG voted 20 to 1 to appeal to the California Supreme Court.

East County News Service

December 29, 2014 (San Diego)—Pope Francis, who has voiced concerns over climate change impacts, is set to issue an edict calling on 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide to take action on climate change—and a San Diego scientist may have played a role in influencing the Pope to take action.