Maine’s Supreme Court has determined that Maine’s Public Utility Commission failed to address health and safety issues before it authorized the deployment of smart meters statewide. (July 12, 2012)
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(AP) Maine’s highest court agrees with critics who say state regulators failed to adequately address safety concerns about so-called smart meters. But it’s unknown what impact the ruling will have since more than 600,000 smart meters already have been installed in Maine homes and businesses.
The Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday ordered the Public Utilities Commission to reconsider a complaint that raised health concerns.
It also dismissed claims by critics that the smart meter program poses constitutional problems related to privacy and trespass.
The Public Utilities Commission issued a brief statement saying it’s considering how to comply with the order. The plaintiff, Ed Friedman of Bowdoinham, says he wants “full evidentiary hearings” and for regulators to approach the issue with “an open mind and a willingness to dismantle the program.”
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the hearing:
Maine Supreme Court Oral Arguments (5/10/12)
Original May 10 2012 hearing in Maine Supreme Court (audio & news):
http://thepowerfilm.org/smart-meters-in-maine-supreme-court-oral-arguments-10…
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Press Release
For Immediate Release 7/16/12
American Academy of Environmental Medicine Recommends Smart Meter Removals
Smart Meter Opponents Call for PUC & CMP to Cease & Desist Meter Program
Contact: Ed Friedman, Lead Plaintiff: edfomb@comcast.net
Dianne Wilkins, Maine Smart Meter Coalition: dwilkins@aol.com
On Saturday the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) issued a statement detailing medical conditions and disabilities likely to persist or worsen from exposure to smart meter radiofrequency (RF) radiation and electromagnetic (EMF) fields.
In light of both the AAEM statement and last week’s Maine Supreme Court decision that the PUC had not determined smart meters were safe before ordering their statewide deployment, Dianne Wilkins of the Maine Smart Meter Safety Coalition called on CMP to:
“Do the right thing and immediately cease and desist smart meter operations and the charging of associated fees. Utilities have known for years of the ill effects caused by RF exposure, effects that hit hardest our most sensitive populations; children, pregnant women and the disabled”, she said. “It’s inexcusable for CMP to hide behind a PUC order while harming all Mainers. This is no different than had the PUC ordered CMP to go out and expose all ratepayers to a deadly virus and the utility complied; both parties would be guilty.”
In their statement, the Academy specifically targeted smart meters, writing:
“Because Smart Meters produce Radiofrequency emissions; it is recommended that patients with the above conditions and disabilities be accommodated to protect their health. The AAEM recommends that no Smart Meters be on these patients’ homes, that Smart Meters be removed within a reasonable distance of patients’ homes depending on the patients’ perception and/or symptoms, and that no collection meters be placed near patients’ homes depending on patients’ perception and/or symptoms.”
Saturday’s statement follows a January AAEM letter to the California PUC calling for an immediate moratorium on smart meter installations.
Because of issues such as theft and or sale of personal data, ease of hacking and breaking and entering all facilitated by smart meter data collection, opponents found safety issues inseparable from the constitutional fourth and fifth amendment claims the Maine court refused to address. Despite their partial victory last week, meter opponents thought the Court hypocritical in requiring the PUC to address their statutory mandate to ensure safety while they the Court, avoided their own duty to address the constitutional issues brought forward as part of the appellants complaint. According to the Supreme Court website: “The Court’s major job is to decide appeals on questions of law that arise in civil actions and criminal trials.”
In their decision, the Supreme Court noted since the PUC had never determined the safety of smart meters, the Commission could not deny opt fees might be unreasonable or unjustly discriminatory or that a claim raising these issues should be summarily dismissed. Complainants called on the PUC to schedule full public adjudicated evidentiary hearings on safety and to issue an immediate order staying opt out fees until the matter was resolved.
Lead complainant in the case Ed Friedman said:
“The new American Academy statement is the latest in a skyrocketing body of evidence backing our claims on the acute problems with smart meters. The PUC’s careless actions in refusing to adequately vet meters before their deployment have put all Mainers in jeopardy. They got us into this mess and now we call on them to immediately halt the program. With thousands of peer reviewed studies documenting the biological effects of low level non-thermal RF there is simply no way the Commission can ensure safety as state law mandates they do. If they continue to hang their hat on inapplicable and obsolete 1996 FCC guidelines for thermal radiation exposure, they can kiss any residual ratepayer credibility they might have, goodbye forever.”
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More news on the decision:
WGME 13: Top video: Opponents of CMP “smart meters” celebrate victory
http://www.wgme.com/news/top-stories/stories/iframe_vid_12661.shtml
Bangor Daily News: Maine Public Utilities Commission didn’t address smart meter safety, court says
Find dozens of citizens groups in your area standing against smart meters:
http://thepowerfilm.org/taking-action/global-directory/
American Academy of Environmental Medicine Recommends Smart Meter Removals
http://aaemonline.org/AAEMEMFmedicalconditions.pdf
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