On Needing a Bigger Boat
As we approach the Fourth of July weekend, thinking about America today reminds me of that infamous warning in Jaws: “You're going to need a bigger boat.” This past decade has had a lot of surprises for us as a …
PG&E Requests CPUC Rehearing on Commercial CCA Speech Rights
Pacific Gas & Electric Company has filed a request to strike a recent California Public Utilities Commission decision where CPUC regulates false and misleading commercial speech of investor owned utilities. The CPUC decision specifically addressed advertising by PG&E; and other …
Multiple WEBA Status Reports Submitted in Latest Round to CPUC
In a sign of great division among competing parties, three separate concurrent status reports were filed with California's Public Utility Commission, revealing no imminent settlement in the Wildfire Expense Balancing Account (WEBA) application by Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & …
Alpine, Supervisor Jacob Warn SDG&E & Forest Service of Wildfires
A San Diego Union-Tribune reader submitted an editorial letter "SDG&E; jumps gun on Sunrise link" over the weekend, indicating that "On June 16, Sempra (SDG&E;) or one of its contractors were using helicopters to land on the Cleveland National Forest …
Redevelopment Agency to Spend Half a Million on Blight Study
San Diego City Council members, wearing their Redevelopment Agency hats, approved the Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC) plan to conduct a blight study at a cost of up to $500,000. The blight study was a rider on CCDC's Redevelopment Agency …
Sunrise Powerlink Comments to Cleveland National Forest Supervisor
The following was sent to the Forest Supervisor, so that he may allow SDG&E to put the Sunrise Powerlink project through the Cleveland National Forest... as long as it is entirely tunneled under the forest. William Metz, Forest Supervisor 10845 …
SDG&E Gets Special Treatment of Billing for Electric Vehicle Recharging
According to Onell Soto in this morning's distinguished daily paper, San Diego Gas and Electric Company will bill electric car owners separately from their residential usage for overnight recharging. California's Public Utility Commission has allegedly approved experimental rates to encourage …
City Council Delays Forgiving $288 Million in Loans Owed to City
By a unanimous vote on June 21, the San Diego City Council delayed until July 13 the consideration of "extinguishing" $288 million in redevelopment loans owed to the City of San Diego. The unanimous vote also delayed a retroactive halt …
Gen. McChrystal, Rolling Stone, and a Supreme Court Interpretation of the Patriot Act
One of the most important things a military officer can do, not just for one's own career but for the safety of the fighting forces he or she serves with, is to anticipate the needs of the commander. In the …
Today's News: San Diego City Council to Forgive $$$,$$$$,$$$ in Redevelopment Loans & Interest after 2009?
Who Says We Have a City Budget Shortfall? Item 203 on today's San Diego City Council agenda includes a provision that the City Council no longer charges interest on tens of millions of loans to its subordinate redevelopment agencies. The …
IS-340 Hazardous Materials Prevention
IS-340 Hazardous Materials Prevention is a FEMA Emergency Management Institute independent study course that is free to all US citizens. Certification in this course may be a requirement for National Incident Management System/Incident Command System (NIMS/ICS) safety officer compliance in …
Last Days for Public Comment on Sunrise Powerlink
These are the last of the 45 days that the forest supervisor of the Cleveland National Forest will be receiving public comments on the Sunrise Powerlink, a SDG&E-proposed power line that SDG&E has chosen to push through the forest. See …
SDG&E Files CPUC Application for Replacement South Bay Substation
Proposed Upgrade from 138 KV to 230 KV Capacity San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E;) filed an application for a South Bay Substation Relocation Project. The proposed project will replace the utility's aging 48-year-old facility in Chula Vista, providing …
Intuit's San Diego Blankout Highlights Online Applications' Risk
The recent Intuit blackout in its San Diego servers should be a warning to small business operators who rely on web-based services as supposedly secure. While encryption may provide security of online content, transmission security is lacking as on each …
IS-700 National Incident Management System (NIMS), An Introduction
The National Incident Management System (NIMS) is a required federal emergency management standard that provides a consistent nationwide template to enable all government, private-sector, and nongovernmental organizations to work together during domestic incidents. Local and state agencies that do not …
Sempra Generation Delivers Solar Electricity to PG&E, Not SDG&E
According to Market Watch of the Wall Street Journal earlier today, Sempra Generation has brought its first 8-megawatt block of solar panels online at Nevada's Copper Mountain Solar facility. Electricity generated at the Boulder City facility will be sold to …
Dear Customers: $25 Million Uninsured Wildfire Billing by SDG&E
Possible WEBA Billing Implications for IOU Power Customers? Onell Soto reports that San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E;) and the ratepayers advocacy division have reached an agreement regarding $25 million to be billed to customers for SDG&E; wildfire-incurred equipment …
What If Proposition 16 Passes and We Get WEBA-Billed?
Let us assume a worst-case planning scenario and assume for argument's sake that we fail the statewide IQ test by amending the California Constitution with the Pacific Gas & Electric initiative Proposition 16 next week. According to FEMA's Emergency Management …
SDG&E, Other IOU Wildfire Billing WEBA Application Still in Negotiations
Southern California Edison has filed a status update in the investor-owned utilities' request to bill customers for uninsured legal costs and other expenses stemming from future wildfire involving power utility liabilities as an ordinary cost of doing business. The filing, …
Breaking News: President Announces Need to Reform Incident Liability Law; BP Responds
President Barack Obama called today for the prosecution of any criminal acts leading to and during the BP oil leak crisis in the Gulf of Mexico. The President stated, "If the laws on our books are insufficient to prevent such …