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VOL. 8, NO. 19
SDG&E proposes rate hikes to cover fire costs
THISWEEK
By Rachel Stine
ENCORE!
Acting instructor Monty Silverstone continues to teach up-and-coming thespians from around the A12 county the trade.
CROWDFUNDING
Artists and entrepreneurs are turning more and more to crowd-based funding sites like kickstarter to help fund B1 their projects.
INSIDE
TWO SECTIONS, 32 PAGES
Arts & Entertainment . . A12 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . B7 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . . B13 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . B11 Food & Wine . . . . . . . . . A10 Frugal Living . . . . . . . . . B8 Hit the Road . . . . . . . . B10 Machel’s Ranch . . . . . . . B6 Odd Files . . . . . . . . . . . . B3 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4 Pet of the Week . . . . . . . B5 Scripps Health Watch . . B8 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . B11 Who’s News . . . . . . . . . . B4
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NOV. 16, 2012
The newly-elected Rancho Santa Fe School Board members are Todd Buchner,Todd Seltzer and Richard Burdge. Seltzer was appointed last year and was successful in his first electioin bid. Burdge, the veteran takes his seat for the last time. When he finishes this four-year term, he will have served 14 years. Buchner, a newcomer from Colorado takes the place of Jim Depolo who has served on the board for 10 years and who decided not to run again. Photo by Patty McCormac
School board will stay on course By Patty McCormac
RANCHO SANTA FE — Three of the newly elected board members of the Rancho Santa Fe School District attended the Nov. 7 board meeting. Tyler Seltzer and Richard Burdge are continuing board members. Newcomer Todd Buchner came to get up to speed before taking his place on the board in January. Seltzer received 1,000 votes, or 21.59 percent, of the vote. Burdge received 981 votes equaling 21.18 percent of the vote. Buchner gar-
nered 979 votes and 21.14 percent of the vote. The results of the election showed that the community wanted to stay the course of the school board. Candidates for change Lorraine Brovick Kent received 883 votes for 19.07 percent of the vote and Heather Slosar earned 788 votes with 17.02 percent of the vote. “I want to publically thank all the candidates who ran for the board,” said Lindy Delaney, superintendent. “I think we are going to have a
fine board. We will have to say goodbye to Jim (Depolo) next month after 10 years.” Depolo decided not to run again for the board.After competing his upcoming term, Burdge will have served a total of 14 years on the board. Seltzer was appointed last year to take the place of Jim Cimino who was transferred to Texas with his job. Seltzer was successful with his first election bid. The board is still glowing about the outstanding TURN TO SCHOOL BOARD ON A15
SAN DIEGO — San Diego ratepayers may be billed for hundreds of millions of dollars in expenses from the 2007 wildfires and also for costs of wildfires to come pending on the request of SDG&E and Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) to raise utility rates to cover the costs related to wildfires. SDG&E and SoCalGas have applied to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to raise utility rates to recover the costs from past and future wildfires that are not covered by a utility’s insurance. The utilities plan to establish a Wildfire Expense Balancing Account (WEBA) to track the wildfire costs that can be recovered from ratepayers. The utilities’ request was submitted to the CPUC in light of the mounting costs of the massive 2007 wildfires in Southern California. The CPUC’s investigation determined that three of these fires were linked to SDG&E power lines: the Witch Creek fire, the Guejito fire, and the Rice fire. SDG&E does not know the final costs of the 2007 wildfires that the utility hopes to recover from ratepayers because of outstanding lawsuits and counter claims, said Stephanie Donovan, SDG&E’s Senior
Communications Manager. SDG&E estimated in April that the utility may attempt to recover up to $400 million of the costs of the 2007 wildfires through the WEBA.
CPUC Proposed Decisions
The CPUC will vote on the utilities’ request on Nov. 29 based on two proposed decisions from the Commission released in mid October. Administrative Law Judge Maribeth A. Bushey’s proposed decision denied the request, claiming that the utility companies had not proven that the proposed raised rates were reasonable. CPUC Commissioner Timothy Alan Simon’s proposed decision partially approved the utilities’ request, limiting the wildfire costs recoverable through the WEBA to 90 percent of the uninsured wildfire costs over $10 million per wildfire. SDG&E, SoCalGas, PG&E, and Edison initially filed the claim in 2009; PG&E and Edison have dropped out of the claim and SDG&E has taken primary responsibility for the request to the CPUC.
SDG&E’s Proposal SDG&E has claimed that TURN TO RATE HIKE ON A14
Trend of local lobsters going overseas reverses course By Jared Whitlock
Wayne Campbell’s boat, the Sonya C, ambled into the Oceanside Harbor near sunset. While securing his boat to the dock, Campbell was happy to report a larger than expected haul of spiny lobsters. But there was bad news to go along with the good. The lobsters didn’t fetch as much as they would have
last season. Last year in San Diego County, lobster was being sold for around $18 a pound. Now they’re going for about $12 to $13, the first drop in eight years. It’s cause for celebration for many consumers and restaurants that were previously priced out of the local lobster market. Lobstermen like
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Lobstermen Wayne Campbell (right) and Scott Kirby look over the lobsters they caught earlier in the day. Campbell said the price of lobster falling in San Diego County is another difficulty he’ll have to contend with this season. Photo by Jared Whitlock
Campbell, however, say the decline is piling onto a perfect storm that hit earlier this year. “My catch is down; my income is down,” Campbell said. “Any fishermen in Oceanside will probably say Lobster prices for San Diego County from 2000 to 2011. Prices so far this the same thing. This industry year are hovering around $12 to $13. Source: Doug Neilson, is getting tougher and environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Game tougher.”
Among the fishermen’s woes: New marine protected areas that went into effect in January across San Diego.The marine protected areas are designed to replenish fisheries over time, but less territory means fewer catches this season. Further, Campbell said a
large sand replenishment project that kicked off in September has destroyed some traps and could hurt fishermen’s prospects by displacing the lobster. The price of local lobster falling is yet another damper on his busiTURN TO LOBSTERS ON A14