Hi , 

We hope you're having a wonderful holiday season and had a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and are enjoying whatever it is you celebrate during this time! 

We are writing to let you know that we are not holding this week's National Call for Safe Technology and picking back up on Friday, January 6th.

You can register in advance at this link:  https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAvdO6sqDMqHNNi3D48xQU23aSBBegUi8eo

*After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

We also wanted to share some good news and a couple bits of information which were passed onto us.

First, the good news (update from Virginians for Safe Technology): Two of the three Virginia families who had their power cut by Dominion Energy for attempting to keep an analog meter on their house had their power restored December 21st. One family had the power turned back on with an analog meter, the other got an "opt-out" meter, but was not correctly informed of the terms. The third family has now invested a lot of money in becoming energy independent so they are not at the mercy of the power company, and therefore declined any of Dominion's options.

Although this is overall good news - especially because the temperatures have been below freezing - this is just the beginning. Virginia needs an analog option added to the opt-out, and for consumers to be fully informed about the true capability of the "smart" meter and the current "opt-out" meter, which is what various groups there are working on.

Virginians for Safe Technology would also like to also know what can be done on the federal level (and who would like to be involved) since every state has, or is going to have, their time with the electricity meter issue. Please contact Jenny DeMarco and Mary Bauer at VirginiansforSafeTech@protonmail.com to discuss this further.

Moving onto an email from Nina Beety and some articles - all sent to us by Nancy VanDover (thank you, Nancy!): 

• Verizon Admits It Violated Federal Acts in re Small Cell Tower Installations in Five States; Will Pay “civil penalty” https://www.activistpost.com/2022/12/verizon-admits-it-violated-federal-acts-in-re-small-cell-tower-installations-in-five-states-will-pay-civil-penalty.html

• Smart meter catches fire, utility company denies homeowners’ damage claim: https://www.wmar2news.com/matterformallory/smart-meter-catches-fire-utility-company-denies-homeowners-damage-claim

• U.S. Reclassifies Bat Species as “Endangered”; May Affect Compliance for Wind Energy, Infrastructure, and Other Projects https://www.activistpost.com/2022/12/u-s-reclassifies-bat-species-as-endangered-may-affect-compliance-for-wind-energy-infrastructure-and-other-projects.html