Elisa Boxer-Cook doesn’t own a cell phone. Her home doesn’t have a wireless Internet connection, or a microwave oven. The radio frequency waves emitted by those devices give her migraine headaches, she says.
So it’s not surprising that, in the fall, Boxer-Cook tuned in when she heard about Central Maine Power Co.’s plan to replace all of its electricity meters with digital “smart meters” that communicate via a wireless network. Her concerns helped prompt the Maine Public Utilities Commission this month to start an investigation of smart meters, and whether customers who don’t want them should be able to opt out.
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And it’s not surprising that Boxer-Cook was able to organize residents who have similar worries. Boxer-Cook, a former WMTW-TV news anchor who has crusaded against toxic chemicals and children’s exposure to them, has used her passion and professional experience to make a compelling case in the media.
In doing so, she has become a catalyst in Maine for an evolving debate over the new technology and the limits to its universal application.
“I didn’t mean to start a movement,” she said, “but I guess that’s what has happened.”
In addition to Boxer-Cook’s opt-out request, four formal complaints have been filed with the PUC, two of which concern health effects. One involves the potential for fires.
In the Legislature, at least four bills on the issue are proposed.
And recently, Boxer-Cook helped to organize a group called the Smart Meter Safety Coalition, which is fighting CMP’s mandatory program. The group’s web address is http://smartmetersafety.com.
Boxer-Cook’s evolution as an environmental health activist has been chronicled by local media.
The story of how her young son had breathing problems after she and her husband moved into a new house is widely known. So is the fact that the condition was linked to formaldehyde, adhesives and fumes from the new construction. And how the family ended up moving out of the home, setting Boxer-Cook on a course she hadn’t anticipated.
In 2008, her testimony helped persuade the Legislature to pass a law to phase out toxic chemicals from products used by children. In the fall, she became a finalist in the Healthy Child Healthy World’s Mom on a Mission contest.
Boxer-Cook, who is 40 and lives in Scarborough, says she spends a large part of each day involved with smart meters. Initial concerns over health have expanded to include privacy and malfunctioning technology, and people with those concerns reach out to her.
One day this month, for example, a Facebook message came from a Portland resident who said her clothes dryer stopped working after a smart meter was installed. The woman wants CMP to replace the dryer or remove the meter.
A woman in New York told her that a smart meter there caused ringing in her ears until it was removed.
Boxer-Cook heard from a Scarborough resident who said her mother, who has a pacemaker, suffered deteriorating health and ended up in a hospital emergency room after the meters were installed in her neighborhood. The woman’s story is filed in written testimony with the PUC.
“I’ve seen this happen across the country,” Boxer-Cook said. “Someone emerges with a concern, and we find each other.”
Although smart meters have become an emotional issue, Boxer-Cook has been savvy to limit the scope of her complaint, said Richard Davies, Maine’s public advocate.
“She’s smart,” Davies said. “She has been willing to make some compromises.”
Davies, who has spoken to Boxer-Cook several times, said it would be very difficult to prove health effects from smart meters. An option that allows people with concerns to have an alternative stands a better chance of success, he said.
Davies said the PUC’s citizen complaint process, which allows as few as 10 residents to start a formal case, is an effective way to bring a major issue before utility regulators without going through the Legislature.
“The tool of the 10-person complaint doesn’t get used much,” he said.
Even a CMP spokesman offered a respectful opinion of what Boxer-Cook has achieved. “I’ll give her credit for being energetic and committed,” said John Carroll.
CMP has a $96 million federal grant to help fund the switch-out of 620,000 older meters. The smart meters are designed to save money by speeding the response time in power outages and, eventually, enabling customers to manage their power use. Installation continues while the PUC decides how to proceed.
Boxer-Cook’s lobbying in Scarborough led her hometown, and later, neighboring Cape Elizabeth, to pass resolutions asking CMP to delay installation of smart meters. Those events attracted widespread media attention, which got Boxer-Cook’s name out in public.
Boxer-Cook hasn’t been shy about soliciting media coverage. She e-mailed news editors recently to let them know about a resident who was having her old meter reinstalled because her smart meter apparently caused her security system to malfunction.
Boxer-Cook receives daily calls and e-mails about smart meters. The most recent was from the director of a national organization involved with mold in schools. The writer wanted input from Boxer-Cook on a warning she was putting on the group’s website about smart meters in California schools.
“I have just added a section about lead-lined drywall and where to access this,” the writer told Boxer-Cook. “I plan to install it in my home, on the walls behind the meters.”
Staff Writer Tux Turkel can be contacted at 791-6462 or at:
tturkel@pressherald.com
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