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Welcome to the seventh edition of the Slo Coast Journal. Published online monthly, the Journal is here to bring you information specific to our part of the Central Coast. So jump in! Browse, read, smile. Then come back next month for more. Want a reminder? Check below for information on how to receive an email or tweet letting you know about updates and the newest issue.
A Note
From Shana Ogren
Shana Ogren is the 29 year-old daughter of good friends of Stan Thompson and Vicki Leon. About two months ago, while working for the Peace Corps in Africa, she was thrown from a truck and sustained extremely serious injuries, including multiple skull fractures and brain hemmorages. This letter from Shana was written recently and is shared here to help start your new year off with confidence in renewal, faith in the human experience, and fresh starts. Read More
People Helping People
This week I was involved in a situation where a woman, living alone on a fixed income, had a major plumbing problem at her home. She had the dilemma of ‘no money' and the local gas station restroom being too far away. What to do?
Most of us have seen the shinny white plumber's truck with the bright red words "I am A Plumber Looking For Work" written on the side. Well, that is David Robbins who I have known for some time. Like most of us, David has slain his share of dragons in his life and is now passing the blessings he has earned and learned on to others.
David was called and without hesitation arrived on the scene. David spent several hours making the waters at the poor woman's home flow again. If any of you have hired a plumber lately, you know they ain't cheap, especially after hours and hours of labor.
I was there when a mud covered David Robbins crawled out from under the house, gathered his tools and got into his truck. The woman rushed out of her house, hoping to arrange payments of some kind. David Robbins simply smiled, said, "Merry Christmas, there is no charge," and drove off.
The woman got teary eyed and said to me as she went back into her home, "This is really a great place to live." Oh yeah, I was fortunate to get the warm hug that was really meant for the very benevolent David Robbins of "I AM A PLUMBER" fame. David can be reached at (805) 801-9695.
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Morro Bay Power Plant - Past, Present, and Future - Part 3
by Jack McCurdy
It should have been pretty obvious how the California Energy Commission was going to rule on whether it would license a new Morro Bay Power Plant after all the hearings, briefs, reports, and filings were wrapped up in early 2003.
As hearing officer Gary Fay put it as the regulatory review of Duke Energy's application to build a new plant was just starting in early 2001, "As you may have heard, we have something of an energy crisis going on in the state." The message, intentional or not, was clear.
The Energy Commission (CEC) was under enormous political pressure from then Governor Gray Davis and others, the media reported, to build more power plants in the wake of the so-called "energy crisis" in 2000 and 2001, a contrived shortage of electricity which state and federal authorities determined was caused by market manipulation by Enron, Duke Energy, and other power producers. For example, some plants were shut down without good reason in the midst of the "crisis," which created the shortage and allowed virtually-unregulated plant owners like Enron and Duke to charge astronomical prices for what electricity there was.* Duke, Enron, and other power producers were hit with numerous law suits, including one by the state of California, demanding penalties for illegal overcharging after the state went through rolling blackouts and PG&E filed for bankruptcy.
The number of new plants being built in California dwindled to zero in the 1990s because of uncertainty about investing in the state's energy market due to state deregulation of electricity generation in 1996, which also required regulated public utilities like PG&E to sell their existing plants to the merchant renegades like Duke. Read More
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