“On its face…it appears that the DEIS [Draft Environmental Impact Statement] fails to include any legally enforceable Public Health and Safety mitigation measures….A failure to mandate even minimal fire protection standards or a protection plan will not only endanger workers on-site, it represents a potential fire threat to the surrounding communities.” 

– Cynthia L. Eldred, attorney for the San Diego Rural Fire Protection District

By Miriam Raftery

February 26, 2013 (Campo) – An attorney representing the San Diego Rural Fire Protection District has sent repeated letters  to the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) taking the agency to task for ignoring health, safety and fire concerns in its consideration of the Shu’luuk Wind project.    In a February 25, 2013 comment  submitted to the BIA, the district further accuses the BIA of violating federal law and failing to require mitigation of serious problems for the proposed project on the Campo Indian reservation.

By Miriam Raftery

February 21, 2013 (San Diego’s East County) – Environmental groups are reacting with shock and outrage to  a U.S. Department of Interior rule change that would allow private wind energy corporations to apply for unprecedented 30-year permits to kill  our nation’s national symbol, the Bald Eagle, as well as Golden Eagles.  

“Outrageous,” Terry Weiner with the Desert Protective Council in San Diego said of the proposal.  The DPC has joined a call mounted by the nonprofit American Bird Conservancy asking  that further consideration of the revise rule be suspended until Sally Jewel, President Barack Obama’s nominee to replace Ken Salazar as Secretary of  the Interior Department ,has an opportunity to fully review the proposal and evaluate its long term impacts.

By Miriam Raftery

February 18, 2013 (Ocotillo) – As mitigation for major projects including Sunrise Powerlink and Ocotillo Express Wind Facility, energy companies were required to mitigate damage by restoring vegetation.  But now residents and some environmentalists are raising criticisms over the level of restoration efforts put forth by Pattern Energy and SDG&E.

February 17, 2013 (El Cajon)--Feb. 23, 2012 is a Day of Celebrating Community Gardens in El Cajon. Events are scheduled throughout the day from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at different gardens and venues. Please see attached flyer.

At 11 a.m. there will be a grand opening celebration at Circle Community Garden, 476 Highland at Farragut Circle. We will celebrate with a ribbon cutting at 10:55, short speeches by dignitaries, introduction of committee and Master Gardeners. Cake then will be served and Master Gardener Joyce Gemmell and others will be there to answer gardening questions.

February 17, 2013 (Alpine) – Sullivan Solar is hosting an open house on Saturday, February 23 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 2855 Via Viejas Oeste in Alpine.

Learn about incentives for going solar.

If your average electric bill is $197, installing a 5 kW solar system is now possible with zero out of pocket costs and new monthly solar payments of $165—less than your current utility bill.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo and video by Jim Pelley

February 15, 2013 (Ocotillo) – A turkey vulture narrowly escaped death as it soared between moving blades at a wind turbine at the Ocotillo Express Wind Facility on February 12.  ECM photographer Jim Pelley documented the close call on video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo7fLJ9uSew

The Administration is opting to needlessly turn multiple-use public lands into permanent industrial zones. Solar development belongs on rooftops, parking lots, already-developed areas, and on degraded sites, not our public lands."- Janine Blaeloch, Western Lands Project

February 12, 2013 -- Three public-interest environmental organizations have filed a legal challenge against Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s decision to keep millions of acres of public land available to industry for siting of destructive utility-scale solar plants.

In the complaint filed Tuesday, the Desert Protective Council based in San Diego, Western Lands Project in Seattle, and the Western Watersheds Project cited the government’s failure to consider alternatives that would focus solar development on degraded lands and in the already-built environment.  The government’s analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) ignored alternative approaches that would be less damaging to the environment, more efficient, and less costly to taxpayers and ratepayers.

Developer failed to provide system that keeps lights off except when planes approach

By Miriam Raftery

February 11, 2013 (Ocotillo)--Why are Ocotillo residents being subjected to 94 turbines each with red lights flashing all night long into windows of homes?  View videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AHA7u4AurQ , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP7OeAP58So

By Roy L Hales  sandiegolovesgreen.com

February 8, 2013 (San Diego's East County)--As problems with the large wind and solar projects in East County continue to surface, I suspect there will be a tendency to say Big = Bad. I’ve been doing that myself the last few weeks. I think we need to isolate the problems and deal with them one at a time.

The wind farm at Ocotillo appears to lack the necessary wind, but am also aware that one of the problems with wind farms in East Germany has been too much wind. The Czech and Polish governments are said to have flipped the switches, to cut off the flow of surplus energy into their countries.  The alleged lack of wind at Ocotillo could be an insurmountable problem, which raises serious questions about how the facility came to be built in the first place. The alleged surplus in East Germany will cease to be a problem once we develop a method of storing the excess energy for months rather than minutes.

Challenge Launched to Support and Expand Workplace Charging Availability for U.S. Employees

February 2, 2013 (Washington, D.C.)-- San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) is one of 13 major U.S. employers and eight stakeholder groups to join the U.S. Department of Energy’s new Workplace Charging Challenge to help expand access to workplace charging stations for American workers across the country. In a speech at the Washington Auto Show today, Energy Secretary Steven Chu outlined the new initiative, which aims to expand the availability of workplace charging, increasing the convenience of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) and providing drivers with more vehicle charging options.

Speakers see parallels between destruction by energy companies in our region to environmental degradation, erosion of protections for people around the world

By Miriam Raftery

January 31, 2013 (San Diego) – Idle No More, a movement for the rights of indigenous people and environmental protections that began in Canada, has spread around the world and has now taken root here in San Diego.  Earlier this month,  members of local Native American tribes met convened at a forum sponsored by Activist San Diego to share their concerns and invite all people to join the movement.

“We must stand up to unite, to respect the Mother Earth,” Dennis  Alto, a Viejas tribal member, said.  “We are not just addressing the red nations; we are addressing all people.”

The Idle No More movement arose in Canada as a protest against the Canadian Government passing bills which enabled the government to control lands reserved for native people and reduce environmental protections for lakes and rivers.  Tar sands, pollution from mining and other sources are polluting  the waters and the lands.  Tribal members draw parallels to what is happening in the U.S., where mining, dams, and now large-scale wind and solar projects are ravaging the environment , destroying cultural resources and the way of life for many indigenous Americans.

By Roy L Hales

Originally printed at San Diego Loves Green 

January 28, 2013 (San Diego)--Peder Norby’s interest in renewable energy goes back to his wind powered home in Denmark. Even then, Peder knew that someday he would drive an electric vehicle. In 2005, he and Julie built a 4,600 square house, overlooking the Agua Hedionda Lagoon in Carlsbad. Peder wanted a cheaper form of transportation, powered by sunshine. Julie was more concerned that it be dependable, comfortable and fun to drive. They installed 21 solar panels on the roof and a year later bought their first EV.

An ECM special investigative report:

Serious questions raised over industry claims on wind production here and around the world

By Miriam Raftery

Photos and videos by Jim Pelley

January 23, 2013 (Ocotillo) – Since taxpayer dollars were used to fund the destruction of public lands for the Ocotillo Wind Energy Facility, why won’t the federal government tell us how much power the project is producing?

Engineer and award-winning photojournalist Jim Pelley lives in Ocotillo.   A series of videos shot nearly each day since the wind project went online December 5, 2012 raises serious questions.  Turbines are not  turning , or scarcely moving,  in nearly all of the videos shot in December and January.  Wind speed readings and weather reports further suggest wind speed measurements are far below the minimum needed for the project to produce any power at all—let alone the levels claimed by developer Pattern Energy.

When the project went online December 5, Pattern claimed that with wind forecasts looking “favorable” it expected to power more than 125,000 homes. http://news.yahoo.com/video/controversial-ocotillo-wind-farm-goes-025000610.html.  But Ocotillo residents have long voiced concerns that their area lacks sustained strong winds needed to power the massive, controversial wind project on public lands that has been opposed by tribes, environmental groups and most residents.

After viewing videos bolstering concerns over lack of wind, East County Magazine sought public records to learn how much power has been produced.  The shocking result?  Federal and state authorities claim they don't know--and further, that public officials and the public have no right to find out.

By Miriam Raftery

January 17, 2013 (Boulevard) – Two nonprofit groups, Protect Our Communities Foundation and Backcountry Against Dumps, will convene a community meeting Thursday, January 24, 2013 to inform residents about planned industrial conversation of Boulevard and surrounding areas.  A dozen or so big energy corporations—most from outside the region--seek to push through zoning changes to allow massive projects that would forever transform this now-rural area. 

“Learn about the many industrial scale wind, solar, and related transmission line projects planned in and around our residential neighborhoods (on public, private, and tribal lands), adversely impacting many homes,” a flyer for the event states, “and what you can do to help protect and defend your family, your property, your future.”

The meeting will be held at the Boulevard Fire Station Equipment Bay, 39923 Ribbonwood Road, Boulevard 91905 (northeast corner of Old Highway 80 and Ribbonwood Road) from 7 to 9 p.m. on January 24.

By Miriam Raftery

January 21, 2013 (San Diego) – On Friday, January 18, U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel heard arguments in a lawsuit filed by the Quechan tribe of the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation against the U.S. Department of the Interior and Bureau of Land Management, as well as Pattern Energy and other defendants.

The suit contends that the federal government failed to protect Native American cultural resources, including sacred sites, when it allowed the Ocotillo Wind Energy Facility to be built. Moreover, Quechan contends that the federal government's reclassification of protected lands to accommodate the wind project was arbitrary--and that a similar decision to industrialize almost any public lands regardless of damage to resources could be done if the government's action is allowed to stand.