Hunga Tonga

           Hunga Tonga

 Eruption touching space, 1-16-2022

Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai is an underwater volcano in the South Pacific.  It was 450 feet underwater when it started to erupt December 8, 2021.  It built a cinder cone that reared up over the waves.  January 15, 2022, it blew its top 450 feet under water. 

It scattered the cinders as it threw 150 million tons of seawater up through the troposphere; the stratosphere, and punched the mesosphere, touching space and leaving a visible hump that is on the NASA website.  Search NASA, Hunga Tonga.

That water in the stratosphere has been slowly falling into the air where weather is made, which was first noticed on our West Coast in September of 2022, causing flooding and mudslides in California, according to the Los Angeles Times.  December 31, 2022 is when Wikipedia says it started flooding California.  It continued through spring 2023.

Wikipedia blames it all on climate change, though it mentions some unnamed scientists saying it could have other causes.  It doesn’t mention the underwater volcano that sent 150,000,000 tons of seawater into the stratosphere, a nameless one-day wonder on the evening news, a bit of video showing the blast expanding as it neared the satellite directly above it.  It will be affecting our weather for a several more years.

 9-3-2025 2-minute Speech to the City Council

Published at GardenGrantsPass.blogspot.com and shared on Facebook and Nextdoor

Like Ratepayers for Fair Water and Sewer Pricing on Facebook

 Rycke Brown, Natural Gardener           541-955-9040                rycke@gardener.com

A Proposed Charter Amendment: Utility Bills; Principles of Rate Setting; and Contingency Funds.

 

Our "falling apart" water treatment plant, about two blocks from the place we will be building a new one this year because of lack of maintenance early in the rationing-rate system.

Section 1. UTILITY BILLS: Only water and sewer charges shall be on City of Grants Pass utility bills.  Failure to pay City Utility Bills shall be the only reason to shut off water except for infrastructure maintenance, ordinances to the contrary notwithstanding.

      

Section 2.  PRINCIPLES OF RATESETTING:

 

A.    Monthly base rates for water shall pay all overhead, expenses that do not rise and fall with the volume of cleaned water produced.  Base Rates shall be based proportionally on water service size, per connection.  Base rates shall rise by actual inflation of the previous year’s overhead costs over the year before.

 

B.     A single unit rate for water shall pay for all unit costs, which rise and fall with the volume of cleaned water produced.  Water unit rates shall be total unit cost the previous year, divided by the number of total units produced the previous year.

 

C.     Base rates shall cover all sewage treatment costs, with rates to be based proportionally on sewer service size, per connection.  Sewer base rates shall rise by actual inflation of sewer costs in the previous year over the year before.

 

D.    Bulk water haulers shall pay the ¾ inch base rate per month, plus the city’s unit rate times 1.336 per 1000 gallons, to make all unit rates equal per gallon.

 

Section 3.  CONTINGENCY FUNDS

A.    Overhead and unit cost expenses shall include separate contingency funds to cover actual inflation of expenses during the year for each utility.

 

B.     There shall be a separate contingency fund for maintenance of infrastructure for each utility.

 

-end-

 

 

 

 

Talk or write to your Mayor and City Councilors

About putting this proposed Charter Amendment on a special election ballot ASAP.

 

Mayor Clint Scherf                                                      541-450-6000              cscherf@grantspassoregon.gov

 

Councilor Rob Pell                    Ward 1 NW                451-476-7578              rpell@grantspassoregon.gov

 

Councilor Indra Nicholas           Ward 1 NW                541-450-6000             inicholas@grantspassoregon.gov           

Councilor Rick Riker                  Ward 2 NE                 541-479-7333              rriker@grantspassoregon.gov

 

Councilor Victoria Marshall      Ward 2 NE                 541-450-6000              vmarshall@grantspassoregon.gov

 

Councilor Eric Schoegl               Ward 3 SE                  541-450-6000              eschoegl@grantspassoregon.gov

 

Councilor Seth Benham            Ward 3 SE                  541-450-6000              sbenham@grantspassoregon.gov

 

Councilor Joel King                    Ward 4 SW                541-761-7538              jking@grantspassoregon.gov

 

Councilor Kathleen Krohn         Ward 4 SW                541-450-6000              kkrohn@grantspassoregon.gov

 

Mayor and Council@grantspassoregon.gov

 

If we must make this another initiative petition, it will be another 2-3 years before this passes and takes effect.

Saturdays, I will usually be East of Growers Market, between the Post office and the railroad tracks in the RATEPAYERS REVOLT booth.  When special events are being held, I will be at the event.

 Rycke Brown, Natural Gardener              541-955-9040                 rycke@gardener.com