By Miriam Raftery

May 16, 2012 (San Diego) – On Friday at 2 p.m., a federal judge will consider a temporary restraining order motion filed by the Quechan Indian tribe seeking to halt construction at the Ocotillo Express wind facility site on federal land.

Despite discovery of six more cremation sites with what are believed to be human remains (12 sites total) that federal law requires be preserved, Pattern Energy is moving forward with heavy equipment, destroying vast acreage in the fragile Yuha desert near Ocotillo.

County to offer discounted zero-emission lawn mowers at 13th Annual Trade-In Event

May 15, 2012 (San Diego) -- County residents can roll their old, gas powered lawn mowers down to the County Administration Center this Saturday and come away with new, zero-emission models. The price? The Black & Decker mowers, which normally retail for $400 plus tax, will cost just $99.99.

How did the number of homes powered by the Ocotillo wind project get reduced to just one-fifth of what Pattern has been promising?

By Jim Pelley

May 12, 2012 (Ocotillo)--Pattern Energy does a very good job deceiving the people. For example, all throughout the Ocotillo Wind Energy Project process Pattern Energy has been making statements deceiving the press, public and officials about the number of homes this facility will produce power for. Pattern’s website states: “The project will produce enough clean and renewable wind energy to serve more than 130,000 households a year. http://www.patternenergy.com/media/news/announcements/ocotillo_011312

"I thought wind energy was something I could believe in. This film suggests it's just another corporate flim-flam game. - Film critic Rogert Ebert

May 10, 2012 (San Diego)  A special free showing of the award-winning documentary ‘Windfall,’ an exploration of industrial wind impacts on a rural community, will lbe held tonight at 7 p.m. at the Landmark Theater in Hillcrest. The showing is cosponsored by Backcountry Against Dumps and The Protect Our Communities Foundation.

Hundreds of industrial wind turbines are currently proposed for public, private and tribal lands in East County with 400-800 thousand acres of Wind Resource Area proposed for designation in the County's Wind Energy Ordinance & Plan Amendment DEIR.

By Miriam Raftery

“Our rural East County communities are facing industrial transformation with the potential for hundreds of towering and churning industrial wind turbines surrounding, and looming over, virtually all of our residential neighborhoods and along most of our ruggedly beautiful ridgelines.” – Donna Tisdale, Protect Our Communities Foundation

View a map of industrial-scale renewable energy projects proposed for East County, including many at formerly protected Cleveland National Forest and Bureau of Land Management public lands.

May 9, 2012 (San Diego’s East County)—The County's Wind Energy Ordinance & Plan Amendment Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) will be reviewed at a special San Diego County Planning Commission Workshop at 9 a.m. on Friday, May 11 at 5201 Ruffin Rd., Suite B. The workshop is a response to Commissioners' request for more information after evidence presented at an April 13 hearing indicated that wind turbines can result in negative health impacts from audible and sub audible noise, vibrations, and dirty electricity/stray voltage.

May 7, 2012 (San Diego) -- The Center for Electrosmog Prevention is offering shielding products to help reduce consumer radiation exposure and to raise funds for its battle to oppose smart meters. 

April 25, 2012 (Alpine) – The Center to Help Instill Respect & Preservation for Garden Wildlife, Inc. (CHIRP) is hosting the 15th Annual Alpine Sage & Songbirds Festival & Garden Tour May 4-6 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m at the Show Court at Viejas Outlets, 5000 Willows Road, Alpine.  This year’s theme is Waterwise & Butterflies and the garden tour will include 6 bird and butterfly friendly gardens, a place of worship habitat garden and a raptor rehabilitation facility.

April 27, 2012 (Santee) – On April 27 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. an estimated 250 volunteers will clean-up, beautify and restore the area of the San Diego River Trail in Santee.  Volunteers will meet at the northeast pavilion in the Walmart parking lot, 170 Town Center Parkway.

The event is sponsored by Mormon Helping Hands with the City of Santee, the San Diego River Park Foundation, Santee Kiwanis and Santee-Lakeside Rotary Clubs joining in the community effort.

By Miriam Raftery

April 26, 2012 (Ocotillo) – A former firefighter who has parachuted into raging wildfires, Viejas Community Relations Director Charlie Brown (photo, left above) has no shortage of courage. But he choked back tears as he spoke about what Ocotillo and its ancient geoglyphs means to him and other tribes that have long considered the site sacred.

Brown has heard stories from his grandfather, who lived to be 109, about Ocotillo--where mountains are named in tribal creation stories. He has taken his own son there to learn about his heritage. One giant geoglyph is registered on the National Registry of Historic Places. Tribes across the southwest convene here for sacred ceremonies.

But soon, Brown fears, the sound of turbines atop his ancestors’ graves will “be like beating on somebody’s soul…sacrificing something that’s been there for 10,000 years.”  http://youtu.be/FbPmplN2UDA.

By Miriam Raftery, Editor, East County Magazine

April 23, 2012 (Ocotillo) – In San Diego earlier this month, the county's planning commission heeded concerns of residents, environmentalists, tribes and health experts who voiced alarm over harmful impacts of industrial wind turbines. Planners voted to postpone enacting a wind ordinance and more fully study the issues. Their remarks made clear that most planners had serious reservations about potential impacts on human health, wildlife, cultural resources, environment, character of rural communities and public lands. http://eastcountymagazine.org/node/9354

This was not the case with planners in Imperial County, who ignored a mountain of evidence as well as legitimate community concerns. Their zeal to rubberstamp a project that promises tax revenues and temporary jobs, along with renewable power, clearly came at the expense of public health and safety, protection of resources on public lands, and the long-held rights of Native Americans. http://eastcountymagazine.org/node/9173

Imperial Valley Supervisors should reverse their planning commission’s decision and reject Pattern Energy’s proposed Ocotillo Express wind project.  Here are compelling reasons why.

April 22, 2012 (San Diego’s East County) – For years, the tobacco industry claimed that cigarettes don’t cause cancer—long after compelling medical evidence proved otherwise.  A similar scenario is now happening with the wind industry, which has put forth various “experts” funded by the wind industry to claim that no evidence exists of negative health impacts caused by wind turbines.

Those are dubious claims that ignore mounting medical and anecdotal evidence around the world indicating that living near wind turbines can harm human health. View a video made by residents living near wind turbines in Wisconsin, discussing health problems they are experiencing which are consistent with symptoms found at many other wind sites around the world: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71DxuicwCXw&feature=player_embedded

April 21, 2012 (San Diego) -- To help celebrate Earth Day 2012 the Environmental Protection Agency has a number of activities that anyone can take part in.  Ideas include a photo project and an essay contest among others.

April 21, 2012 (El Cajon) -- Join the Water Conservation Garden, the Heritage of the Americas Museum and the Ornamental Horticulture Department at Cuyamaca College on Saturday, April 28  from 9a.m. to 4p.m. as they present the 19 th Annual Spring Garden Festival.

Petition drive launched to support Kehoe measure set for hearing April 24

By Miriam Raftery

April 18, 2012 (San Diego) – State Senator Christine Kehoe (D-San Diego) has introduced SB 1537 to halt efforts by utiliy companies to jack up rates on solar energy producers as much as 600%. 

Daniel Sullivan, president of Sullivan Solar Power in San Diego, says that utilities in alifornia have "launched an offensive on solar producers led by San Diego Gas and Electric. SDG&E has unfairly targeted commercial solar producers by proposing to increase the demand electricity rates they pay by as much as 600%, but only increasing the demand rates on non-solar producers by a mere 52%," he said. To prevent the utilities from derailing our State’s renewable energy goals, Senator Kehoe is introducing SB 1527, which is set for hearing in Sacramento on April 24.