news-record.com

The California Energy Commission, fresh from its decision to restrict sales of plasma televisions, is considering a ban on Christmas lights.

"Power consumption skyrockets every year from Thanksgiving through January 1," Chairman Ebenezer Green said in a statement today. "We understand that decorating homes with electric light displays is a holiday tradition, but the practice is becoming environmentally unsustainable. The irony is that every illuminated Santa's sleigh accelerates North Pole melting."

Green noted that in many residential areas, neighbors compete to display the brightest, most dazzling Christmas decorations, some utilizing hundreds of thousands of bulbs.

"I suspect some can be seen from outer space," he noted. "The drain on our power grid is tremendous."

Power companies, on the other hand, oppose a ban on Christmas lights.

"These seasonal displays, literally and figuratively, are our Christmas," CalEnergy spokeswoman Meg A. Watts said, noting that December revenues account for most of the company's annual profit.

Another concern seems to be driving the energy commission's proposal, however.

"We've heard complaints about the religious aggression that over-the-top Christmas light displays present," commission member Cal A. Clu said. "Although people are decorating their private homes, anyone walking or driving down a residential street is practically blinded by the glare, like Paul on the road to Damascus. Citizens have a right not to have a conversion experience forced on them."

A ban would go into effect in 2010.