Smart Meters - Public Service Commission
Smart Meters - Public Service Commission
Smart Meters - Public Service Commission
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eters 9/23/12 spawn conspiracy talk: They know what you’re watching on TV! - Las Vegas Sun News<br />
Las Vegas Sun<br />
<strong>Smart</strong> meters spawn conspiracy talk: They know<br />
what you’re watching on TV!<br />
By Anjeanette Damon (contact)<br />
Thursday, March 8, 2012 | 2 a.m.<br />
The tiny box NV Energy is installing on customers’ homes to monitor energy usage and transmit that data to the company has become the latest target of a vocal<br />
cadre of activists.<br />
Many critics of smart meters have raised legitimate concerns about the collection of detailed data and raised issues about the possible effects of radiation emitted by<br />
the devices.<br />
But more vocal opponents who have flooded recent hearings before the <strong>Public</strong> Utility <strong>Commission</strong> have relied on dubious exaggerations that echo enduring<br />
conspiracy theories — tinfoil hats, black helicopters, fluoride in the water.<br />
A sampling of complaints from last week’s hearing:<br />
“We will not be military lab rat slaves to experiment on!”<br />
“Just as coumadin (a blood thinner) is rat poison used in medicine, smart meters are rat poison used in energy!”<br />
“They can know what you’re watching on TV!”<br />
<strong>Commission</strong>ers were startled by the outcry over smart meters — particularly when strange packages began arriving at their homes and their addresses were posted<br />
online.<br />
Some of the public comments were so caustic that the commission took the unusual step of hiring armed security to keep the peace at its most recent hearing.<br />
The hearing was called to ensure NV Energy is implementing the smart meter program appropriately and consider giving customers a way to opt out of the<br />
program. But the firestorm of unprovable claims transformed it into something reminiscent of past debates on fluoridation of public water supplies.<br />
Committee chairs at the Legislature who conduct fluoridation hearings know to schedule blocks of time and arrive with a store of patience. In a conspiracy that<br />
dates back to the 1950s, some opponents of fluoridation believe the chemical is used by the government for mind control. Others believe it’s a poison that causes all<br />
manner of health problems. Some of those who fight it at the Legislature arrive in costumes to make their point.<br />
Despite the outlandishness of some of their claims, opponents of fluoridation have succeeded in moving public opinion and preventing fluoride from being added to<br />
the water supply in localities across the nation, including Washoe County. Similarly, opponents of smart meters convinced regulators to give them an opt-out.<br />
Unfortunately, for citizens who favor a more rational approach and those in charge of setting policy, experts say human nature makes us prone to believe<br />
conspiracy theories.<br />
“It’s a very basic sort of human trait to be looking for patterns,” said Matthew Baum, a public policy professor at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.<br />
“Add that to somebody who is a little extreme, a little paranoid, and you start looking for patterns where they don’t exist. Throw on top of that a culture that is<br />
really stressed out about surveillance these days and it’s not surprising.”<br />
Conspiracy theories are particularly difficult for public policymakers to combat once they take hold in the minds of a vocal constituency.<br />
“Initially, it’s probably just the pretty nutty people who believe it, but then it just percolates a very long time,” Baum said. “Then it’s really hard to prove a negative,<br />
and that’s why conspiracy theories are almost impossible to debunk.”<br />
Beyond harboring a wariness of government’s Big Brother propensities, society is hyper-aware of businesses tracking Internet usage and collecting other personal<br />
data to better advertise to consumers, Baum said.<br />
These concerns have influenced critics of the smart meters.<br />
Science is somewhat inconclusive on whether radiation from cellphones and wireless routers, the same type of radiation emitted by smart meters, is completely<br />
benign. But smart meters, according to NV Energy, emit a tiny fraction of the radiation generated by many cellphones and wireless routers.<br />
(To the annoyance of some commissioners, some opponents complaining about the smart meter radiation were using cellphones.)<br />
But it sets the perfect conditions for the smart meter outrage.<br />
“People vary widely in how paranoid they are,” Baum said. “Some people go to great lengths to protect their privacy and some not at all. But privacy is a real issue<br />
right now.”<br />
The privacy issue is what prompted the Clark County Republican Party to get involved in the smart meter issue. Tea Party groups in California helped fuel the public<br />
outrage against smart meters that led several townships in the northern part of the state to attempt to ban them.<br />
“It’s seen as a Big Brother thing,” Clark County GOP Chairman David Gibbs said. “And it’s NV Energy; it’s not even the government. It’s a private company<br />
getting more access to more information, and you don’t even know what they have access to.”<br />
www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/mar/08/smart-meters-spawn-conspiracy-theories-they-know-w/<br />
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