Schreiner’s Media Landscape

The editorial board of the Provo Daily Herald suffers from the same psychopathy that the Bush Regime has: constantly searching for ways to attack their opponents instead of reading the facts and doing what’s right. In their latest campaign to stop renewable energy in Utah, they’ve written a volume of steaming excrement saying “wind power will be an environmental disaster.” They strangely cite West Virginia’s “much-lauded mountain skyline” as being potentially ruined by the sight of windmills. Apparently, they haven’t seen the pictures of the tops of that state’s gorgeous mountains already ruined by being blown off to dig coal.

Why does a newspaper that ostensibly serves the public spend so much time defending the wealthy fossil fuel industries that gouge not only their customers but our precious natural landscapes as well? Why do they ignore Utah’s abundant renewable resources- solar, wind, geothermal, biomass- and advocate more drilling, mining and other destruction of Utah’s public lands so the rich can get richer?

To their credit, they did run the story by AP about how the oil sands project in Canada is ruining the environment while producing little oil and doing nothing to lower prices. But the question is: IS THE EDITORIAL BOARD OF THE PROVO HERALD ACTUALLY READING WHAT’S IN THEIR OWN NEWSPAPER? Or is there something bigger going on here. My reporter instincts tell me- follow the money.

I get a charge out of so-called “conservative” media’s ravings that are about as conservative as Bush’s accountants. But this one hits the trifecta of wacko radical right-wing paranoia, blind-deaf-dumb parroting of the fossil fuel lobby’s boilerplate script, and the dismally poor and irresponsible “reporting” ruining newspapers across the country- not this one, unfortunately. This editorial by the Provo newspaper is a LOL for lovers of irony, a self-delivered black eye to the fossil fool industry, as well as even more proof that defenders of America’s enslavement to oil, coal and the usual suspects will not go quietly. 

If it wasn’t for inept Republican leadership, out-of-control OPEC oil barons, colluding with our own corrupt fascist government ideologues, and America’s addiction to oil (Bush’s words, not mine)- ALL THE CURRENT GOVERNMENT AND BUSINESS POLICIES THAT GOT US INTO OUR CURRENT ENERGY CRISIS- maybe the Provo Herald’s editorial board wouldn’t have written such an outdated, anti-public health, anti-American waste of words.

But such is the imagination of a newspaper that clearly doesn’t understand the concepts behind freedom enough to write about them. Then again, REMEMBER WHO THE OPERATORS OF THE PROVO HERALD ARE REALLY SERVING. It’s not you, me, their readers or average citizens of the state of Utah. It’s the already-wealthy corporations licking their chops waiting for the chance to waste billions more of our dollars on squeezing a few drops of oil out of Utah’s irreplaceable public lands. And attacking environmentalists? Come on, guys- you can be more creative than that. Attack the real culprit here- THE AMERICAN SYSTEM OF JUSTICE THAT ALLOWS ORDINARY CITIZENS TO CHALLENGE THE SINGLE-MINDED GREED AND INCOMPETENCE OF THE EXPLOITERS OF OUR COUNTRY’S ESSENCE FOR INCREASED PERSONAL ENRICHMENT. Your true masters.

Like the Bush Regime, the Provo Herald’s editorial board loves to see our justice system circumvented on environmental matters- like in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Patriot Act, Guantanamo Bay- to keep the proven inept and self-serving federal and energy industry leaders in power and keep those nasty green goons handcuffed in their treehouses. Conservation? Conservative? Any resemblance here is purely accidental.

It’s not only amazing that Big Oil- BP Solar- is financing a huge solar project to help power an entire university. They just announced it last week and it’s going to be in full operation AT THE END OF THIS AUTUMN! More proof that solar is here NOW- so much so that even the oil companies are pushing it.

So another western state walks away with a fantastic new renewable energy system while Utah keeps using the same finger to look for oil and coal that it keeps planted up its butt the rest of the time. What is it about Utah’s political and corporate “leaders” and George W. Bush that makes common sense invisible to them? Maybe they need x-ray glasses. Probably just replacements. Not of their glasses. Of them.

Most Utahns grimace and stick their fingers in their ears every time Al Gore says something. Which is highly ironic because after seven sorry years, it’s clear they’ve been listening to the wrong guy. In his latest speech/warning, Gore says America needs to change its energy ways fast if we are truly interested in helping our economy, helping our citizens, making America energy-independent again and, perhaps least important, avoiding a possible global catastrophe via a super-heated climate. But for a moment, forget global warming, Gore’s Oscar-winning, self-promotion vehicle and the sad fact that, JEEZ- HE SHOULD’VE BEEN PRESIDENT INSTEAD OF THIS LOSER WE GOT.

Al Gore is right- ESPECIALLY FOR UTAH. While our state leaders grasp for new ways to play the same, sad song, Gore is looking for better instruments for a new orchestra. Yes, Utah has coal, natural gas, uranium and all the other fossil fuels that have helped create the environmental crisis we must get ourselves out of. But we also have greater than average supplies of solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and other renewable fuels. Instead of just a few utilities, oil companies and corrupt political representatives getting rich while the world gets hotter and sicker, more smaller Utah companies providing renewable energy services could share the profits but building a new, sustainable energy infrastructure. The new revenue flow would make not only Utah as a whole richer, but put that energy money in the pockets of local communities, home and business owners instead of a very few utility magnates living in Portland, Los Angeles or wherever.

Ironically, Utahns and their leaders should be FOLLOWING AL GORE instead of opposing him if they are truly CONSERVATIVE. But we all know that common sense evaporates into our filthy atmosphere whenever politics get into the details. Utah must wake up and realize the incredible opportunity we have to distribute our energy wealth for the common good instead of handing more and more of our hard-earned money to wealthy fat cats who are no more concerned about Utah, you or your family than they are about our planet or future.

With the exception of Governor Huntsman, Utah Republicans don’t give a crap about you, the environment, your power bills or anything that involves something other then the legislature and those it really serves: powerful special interests like utilities, construction companies, the fossil-fuel and mining industries. That’s why the release of the new report on global warming and its effects on the western U.S. drew nothing but scorn from Utah’s lead idiot, alleged Representative Mike Noel R-Kanab.

Despite the fact that most of the symptoms of excessive fossil-fuel consumption already exist here i.e. increased respiratory and childhood illnesses, hotter summers, longer droughts, he and his fellow incompetents insist nothing should be done and the report is just more hooey coming from the radical environmental movement. OOPS! This is a federal report done by the Bush Regime’s own EPA. Are the only remaining Bush supporters in America going to tell their boy that he’s wrong?

If that happens, maybe they’ll even find the brain cells to see how wrong he’s been about Iraq, homeland security, Social Security, immigration, stem cell research, North Korea, China, energy, the economy, the environment and virtually everything else life consists of.

Naaaaaaaaahhhhhh.

If Utah’s so-called leaders were interested in really helping their constituents- ostensibly, their bosses- they would do something about ever-increasing fossil-fuel energy rates: oil, natural gas, coal, etc. Instead, we get the now-infamous Bush Shrug: “There’s nothing we can do.” So with nothing to stop them, here comes Rocky Mountain Power asking for another rate hike, the second since December, this time for 11%.

But there is something Utah’s so-called leaders can but refuse to do: encourage and nuture its abundant and vibrant renewable energy industry. Utah’s legislators only talk about more coal, more oil and gas and even nuclear power (not going to work here because of lack of water). Not only are they ignoring the need for renewable energy from an environmental perspective i.e. air pollution, climate change, resource depletion, destruction of public lands. They are ignoring the economics: as the cost of “traditional” energy continues to climb, the cost of renewable and sustainable energy sources- solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and the rest- continues to fall as sales and demand increase.

The subsidization of filthy and costly fossil fuels in the face of environmental and economic crisis DOES NOT MAKE SENSE. Which is just another reason why our legislators look like a bunch of dunderheads every time they get together each January. Their misguided, misinformed and potentially corrupt collusion with the fossil fuel industry is just another reason they need to be cleaned out this November and replaced with people who care about Utah, care about the planet and even care about the economic health of our state and country.

They don’t see it that way, of course. But that’s not surprising- seeing as their eyes are closed.

Utah Republican representative and grandstanding blowhard Mike Noel seems to represent a constituency of one: himself. If it’s not defending breaking the law by allowing ATVs and ORVs to drive through protected public lands, it’s trying to shove nuclear power down Utahns’ throats. It would be different if his groundless campaigns were not costly and dangerous to the “consumer” whom he argues he’s trying to help.

Utah is a terrible place for nuclear power because of our lack of reliable water supplies needed for cooling reactors and because we are in a high earthquake risk zone. And don’t forget it’s the most expensive and regulated energy source in America. Utah’s public lands are being eaten up by oil, gas, ranchers and other private interests and Noel’s defense of increased ORV/ATV access makes the erosion and destruction even worse. And he calls human-induced climate change “bunk” even though the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF UTAHNS BELIEVE IT. 

It’s clear Mike Noel uses his power to get things done. But for whom? Sure isn’t Utah.

Kane County, Utah’s ridiculous, ill-advised and costly crusade to open up public lands for destruction by a few has been knocked down by a federal judge. The criminal element of Utah’s off-road vehicle “community” (more like a gang) will not like this ruling and it could force a showdown with law enforcement. My guess is that a few ORV operators will have to be imprisoned or die in a firefight before they give up their right to drive anywhere they damn please whenever they please. Such is the price of progress.

Hey, speaking of that- are ORV/ATVs allowed to drive through the state capitol building? That’s public property too.

It’s not the least-polluting vehicle fuel out there but there’s a lot of it, it works, and it’s a lot cheaper than gasoline. Utah has more natural gas-running vehicles than any state per capita, mostly because we have a lot of it here and the state legislature and corporate superstructure are all invested heavily in fossil fuels. Most environmentalists, including me, are for it but are stronger advocates of electric cars, biodiesel and sustainable fuels. Natural gas is plentiful and cheap- but it has a finite supply. Not a bad stop-gap though. It’d be especially great if people would convert their stupid ATVs and ORVs to run on it. Then drive out to the California desert to play in that sand box instead of ripping up what’s left of Utah’s pristine wilderness.

There’s no gag order in force here so I will say it now: I participated Tuesday night in a focus group on solar power with Rocky Mountain Power. The sandwiches were fresh, the seafood pasta was delicious, and the questions were lame. The moderator wanted a bunch of us who are solar power owners to tell Rocky Mountain Power what we think of their attitude and performance in dealing with solar energy consumers in Utah. I’m sure they got my name because I’ve made so many calls to them complaining about their terrible handling of my net meter installation (FYI: when I told the person assembling the group that it was happening on Earth Day, she had no idea). The consensus: they suck. And that’s the good news.

Remarkably, I’d returned home from a shoot earlier that afternoon to see an RMP meter reader emerging from my backyard. I took the opportunity to chase him down and tell him how awful our service has been from Day One (more than one year ago) trying to get RMP to install a net meter- one that sends our surplus solar power back to the grid for credit- and make it work right.

I told him, and later the focus group, that it took us six weeks from our installation to get someone from RMP to even get back to me. I said that it took until August, 2007- nearly five months- to get RMP to send someone out to install the net meter. And when they did show up, they didn’t know what they were doing, gave up and drove away. A couple weeks later, another RMP tech showed up and installed the new net meter, but not after looking at my panels, looking at my meter, wondering if he had the right equipment, calling HQ and finally deciding it was OK.

A few months later, after it appeared the new meter was working correctly, we were still receiving estimated bills. The meter was clearly not being read properly if at all. So RMP sent someone else out a couple of months ago to install a new net meter that could be read remotely, not requiring an ill-trained reader to look at the meter, scratch his head and walk away after recording another estimate. Unfortunately, the new meter has not helped as we are still getting estimated power bills and RMP is still unable to read our meter properly.

After the meter reader heard my sad story, he called his supervisor, got me on the phone with him and I related the whole story again. He told me they know my meter’s not working right or they just aren’t reading it correctly and promised they would get it fixed soon. As I finished my tragic but valuable tale to the leader of the focus group, I could tell she was tired of it and not interested in what I was tellling her and the RMP executives sitting silently behind the one-way mirrors. It was obviously not what they wanted to hear even though, according to their literature, it was exactly the reason the focus group was assembled.

Maybe something will come of my chance to speak to power, besides free cookies. It will likely be a minor attitude, political or business strategy shift that won’t affect me but hopefully future solar owners and installers. But all I could use now is a little, good, old-fashioned customer service, which you’d think is a whole lot easier than changing your entire company’s raison d’etre. My conclusion to the focus group: Rocky Mountain Power doesn’t understand solar power or renewable energy in general and they don’t care because that’s not their product. And as long as that’s the reality, RMP can hold a thousand focus groups and all they’ll care about is making more money burning cheap, dirty coal and keeping “nuts” like us solar owners off the public relations radar screen while they hold the people of Utah hostage.

Thanks, RMP. But every day that goes by, I want to just throw the switch on my inverter and never have to deal with you again.