Progress. Got some excellent help from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund after taking their course on Community Rights Organizing: the CELDF helped me with a Town Ordinance against Smart Meters, which acts on a local level to prevent the corporate-controlled Legislature in Montpelier from shoving smart meters down the throats of residents. Here's the plain English version, the actual ordinance may be found here. I plan to bring it to my Town Meeting in (formerly bucolic) Ripton... just watch the sparks fly!
You can adapt this to your own Town as well ! Get involved.
Town of Ripton, Addison County, Vermont
ORDINANCE NO. _____ OF 2012
Right to Community Self-Government and Freedom from Smart Meter Installation Ordinance
A RIGHTS-BASED ORDINANCE TO PROTECT THE HEALTH, SAFETY, AND WELFARE OF RESIDENTS AND ECOSYSTEMS OF RIPTON, VERMONT BY ESTABLISHING A BILL OF RIGHTS FOR RIPTON RESIDENTS; BY PROHIBITING THE INSTALLATION OF SMART ELECTRIC METERS THAT VIOLATES THE BILL OF RIGHTS, AND BY RECOGNIZING A RIGHT TO A SUSTAINABLE ENERGY FUTURE AND THE RIGHT TO SELF-GOVERNMENT.I. Findings and Intent: reasons for the ordinance – the Town recognizes the need for a community – controlled energy policy and the right to be free from centrally-controlled energy policies that dictate the use of smart meter technologies.
2. Definitions: meaning of terms for the purpose of the ordinance.
3.Statements of Law: Bill of Rights for Ripton residents.
(a) Ripton residents have a right to decide their own energy future.
(b) Ripton residents have a right to privacy. No warrantless search and seizure of personal information.
(c) Ripton residents have a right to self – including freedom from invasions to their personal bodies.
(d) Ripton residents have a right to access local government to assert rights over corporate entities and to protect themselves from harm.
(e) The people are sovereign and shall have access to local government.
(f) Rights are enforceable, as they are inherent.
(g) Nature lifted out of the property status. Nature has rights.
4.Statements of Law – Prohibitions:
(a) No corporation is allowed to install smart meters in Ripton.
(b) Corporations seeking to violate the ordinance cannot claim constitutional protections that would allow them to override the ordinance. Corporations are not “persons”.
(c) Corporations cannot enforce state or federal preemptive law on the town of Ripton to override the ordinance.
(d) All local, state, federal permits that are in violation of this ordinance are nullified.
5.Enforcement:
(a) Describes the method of enforcement.
(b) The Town may enforce the ordinance.
(c) Any resident may enforce the ordinance.
(d) Any resident may bring a suit to protect the ecosystems in Ripton from being affected by the smart meter technology, for violations (related to the prohibition) that damage ecosystems.
6. Sustainable Energy Policy: the town will make a plan for a reduction in energy use, at the behest of the voters.
7. Effective Date: the local law goes into effect 5 days following the adoption of the Ordinance.
8. People’s Right to Self-Govern: The people’s right to local self-government is inalienable. Should state or federal governments attempt to overrule the ordinance, and challenge the people’s right to govern, the Town may secede.
9. Severability: If any section is found to be “illegal” and the Town determines that decision to be “legitimate” the Town declares the rest of the ordinance remains in tact.
10. Repealer: Any other town ordinance that disagrees with this ordinance will be adjusted to comply.
Make up your own minds. Here's the Vermont ACLU on this subject. Original post may be found here. Please note the last sentence, Vermonters need to speak up! Only by holding your State reps and senators accountable, running against them if necessary and voting them OUT, will they listen & learn.
Wiring the state into a “smart grid,” with every house having a “smart meter,” has seemed like science fiction -- until now. The state recently received a multimillion-dollar federal grant to be the first state in the nation to build a smart grid.
This past legislative session lawmakers gave the necessary authority to move the plan forward. And shortly, the Vermont Public Service Board will take up policies that address critical issues associated with smart grids.
So far, the focus of discussions about the system has been on energy conservation: Electrical “loads” can be better managed, outages pinpointed more quickly, and the system made to function more efficiently to everyone’s benefit.
A “smart meter” will be installed in everyone's home. Several times an hour, the meter will record exactly how much electricity is being used. This data will be automatically transmitted to utility headquarters for monitoring and analysis.
The ACLU’s concern is this: We feel that privacy issues around “smart meters” and “smart grid” data have not been fully considered. We’ve been working to get those issues raised either in legislation or regulation. We’ve been having some success, as people realize how detailed knowledge of a home’s use of electricity can tell a lot about what the people in the home are doing.
The temptation to use this information for something other than managing electrical loads will be strong – as it has been for cell phone tracking data and GPS information. Police will want it to know your general comings and goings or whether you’re growing marijuana in the basement. Advertisers will want it to sell you an expensive washing machine to replace the energy hog you got as a wedding present 20 years ago.
Information flowing in a smart grid will become more and more “granular” as the system develops. New appliances will have computer chips that will tell the grid exactly how much electricity they are using. The grid will be able to turn appliances on or off to avoid peak loads.
We should all worry about this collection of energy use data and who will have access to it.
As with cell phone data, we think it's fine if police have access to the data -- provided that they go to a court, show probable cause to a judge, and a warrant is granted. But we don't want police secretly obtaining access through, for example, "inquest" proceedings where you never know what personal information is being demanded of whom and turned over to which agency for what purpose.
Consumers need to know who can access their data and under what conditions. Strict privacy controls are needed. Regulators -- or the legislature -- should set the controls, make sure they are in place, and are followed.
We wish to work with the Department of Public service, other advocates, and the utilities on this issue. We believe we have common interests that go to core values. We don’t want people to feel that the smart grid is just one more reach of corporations and government into our private lives, that smart meters are like surveillance devices George Orwell described in his “Big Brother” novel, 1984. Utilities have stated affirmatively that they are committed to protecting customer privacy.
Below are links that explain the ACLU’s concerns about smart meters, as well as a sample letter you can use to contact the Vermont Public Service Board with your concerns. The PSB is taking up this matter now. Vermonters need to speak up.
- ACLU-VT position on smart meters
- ACLU-VT testimony to Vermont Public Service Board
- Sample letter to send to the Vermont Public Service Board
- For information about potential adverse health effects of smart meters, visit the EMR Policy Institute or Vermonters for a Clean Environment.