Smart Electric Meters issues and Climate Ready Communities presented

SWAN VALLEY - The Swan Valley Community Council heard presentations from Swan Valley resident Donn Ware about possible threats from Smart Electric Meters in the valley and from Missoula County employees about a climate resiliency planning process called Climate Ready Communities: Building Resiliency in Missoula County at their monthly meeting April 16.

Ware said that beginning in August 2016, Missoula Electric Coop changed out Swan Valley residents’ meters to level two Smart Meters. Ware claimed these meters are a “huge invasion of our privacy” because they allow a signal to pass into a house to monitor appliance and energy use. “MEC does not have the authorization to do this.” Ware said.

Ware said it is also a health concern since the line from the Seeley Lake substation carries a huge amount of power that can emit electromagnetic waves. According to Ware, these types of waves can cause health issues such as sleep disorders or even cancer. Ware said the large amount of energy being carried is destroying the radio market in the valley. Ware has a recording of a 30 second burst noise that comes through the radio every four hours. “Park your car under a line and listen for it on AM [on the radio], he said.

Council member Henry Westra agreed that the research he had done showed there is a legitimate complaint about Smart Meters. Many have been recalled in large cities and there is much litigation in California.

Questions Ware took are in bold print:

Will MEC put the original meter back? No. They also never got back to me about my hard drives and scanner that blew up. They just lessened my bill and hoped I would go away. My power has been off since 2016, I will get solar before I go back to electric.

Are there others who have heard the noise? Do you need a larger following? There are about 25 people in the valley who have heard it. I would like to try to build a coalition of people to fight the Smart Meters. We don’t need them.

Ware said that MEC needs to take another look. He advised those in attendance to Google Smart Meters, Smart Meter fires and explosions and health disorders.

Missoula County Community and Planning Services Director Chet Crowser and Energy Conservation and Sustainability Coordinator Diana Maneta spoke to those present about the county’s planning and preparing for climate impacts in the region including earlier spring run-off that leads to more flooding and wildfires. The goal is to mitigate the influence on health, safety, the environment and the local economy.

Maneta said that the process of identifying climate change impacts is a joint effort of Missoula County, a non-profit organization called Climate Smart and the City of Missoula.

The group wants to create a Vulnerability Assessment from the input of local stakeholders involved in public health, emergency services, agriculture, forestry, recreation, business, underrepresented communities and local water, energy and transportation systems.

Maneta added that they wanted input from the public about issues they may have missed during the workshop in December with the stakeholders.

Questions to Maneta are in bold print:

Who are the stakeholders? Are they listed? There were over 100 people in the December workshop who come from Federal, state and local entities and also private businesses. They should be listed in the Vulnerability Assessment which is expected to be out in May 2019.

How do we attend the next workshop? Where and When? It is by targeted invitation. Send suggestions to Maneta.

When it is all finalized and adopted what is the goal - further restrictions to land and environment? I can’t give a whole list yet but wildfire smoke strategies and solutions are possible examples.

Will it address ways to combat wildfire such as logging and stewardship? The DNRC, Forest Service and other groups are already addressing this and we don’t want to overlap but will dovetail with other plans. We know not all communities have the same needs.

How did this effort come together? We are modeling it after Climate Ready Community guidelines developed by the Geos Institute. It is a step-by-step process for small to mid-size communities to develop vulnerabilities first before they focus on strategies.

Are others using this process? A few but it is pretty new. It evolved from intensive workshops that hired consultants. We don’t have consultants, we do it ourselves using the community. Missoula County is an early participant so the originators want feedback as to what worked for us during the process.

Is this a nationwide effort? Yes, it is for small to mid-sized communities anywhere with limited resources.

Are we going to be lumped in with Missoula where we clearly have differences? No, we wanted to come and talk to and hear from all community councils across the county and receive feedback from them.

From the underrepresented category of stakeholders who were invited, who from the Condon Swan Valley area was invited to the workshop in December? There was an individual from Seeley Lake but I would have to look at my notes to see who from Condon. There were more than 100 people invited.

Council member Lacey McNutt said, “Adding regulations in the plan for this area which is already heavily regulated will not be met with encouragement. They [the regulations] have already impacted our local industries. I would like to know more about who is paying for this study and who is supplying the information.”

Council member Henry Westra added, “We here are far away from Missoula and are out of sight and out of mind when it comes to these endeavors but not when it comes to enforcing things and telling us what has to be done. I think that opportunity for input is important.”

Maneta recommended those with comments, questions, or to suggest participants to the next workshop to email her at dmaneta@missoulacounty.us and to visit https://missoulaclimate.org/resiliency-planning.html

She said that residents can add their email address to be alerted to when the Vulnerability Assessment is posted along with other milestones in the process.

Crowser also told the Council that the Swan Valley Regional Draft Plan would be one of the priorities of the work plan meeting, being held next week, that they have with the Missoula County Board of Commissioners. He said Commissioner Strohmaier had commented on the hard work put into the plan and that he was interested in working on it.

In other business, McNutt was the only applicant for the two open positions on the Council. She will remain in her position by acclimation. The Council voted to nominate Westra for the other position. Westra accepted. Missoula County Commissioners will appoint an individual to fill the open position and usually choose among those who have been recommended.

The Council was asked to pursue the Holland Lake Day Use permits that allow locals to use the area without paying a fee. The Council agreed they should work with the Swan Valley Community Foundation and meet with the Forest Service and the Concierge, the managers of the campground, to work out a plan.

The next SVCC meeting will be held May 21, 6 p.m. at the Swan Valley Community Hall.