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We are delighted you made it to this page as the Local Clean Energy needs the help of individuals and organizations that want to forward clean renewable energy generation in the Bay Area. We need volunteers to help work on various aspects of our Local Clean Energy campaign. GET INVOLVED IN PRIORITY CAMPAIGNS! Conference participants agreed to form Working Groups to network and coordinate efforts around key issue areas. They need your involvement! So contact any of these leads: Fight the PG&E Power Grab Protect Clean Energy Competition Pacific Gas & Electric’s newly qualified ballot initiative will lock in high rates by killing honest competition from outside energy providers. PG&E wants to cripple municipal utilities and community choice energy programs, which would give it a free hand to raise rates and delay the adoption of clean energy produced here in California. The PG&E Power Grab, in short, is an effort to jam through an undemocratic 2/3 vote barrier to local governments' efforts to provide renewable energy choices to their communities. PG&E's board authorized the company to spend $30M on the initiative. Were it not for PG&E's deep pockets and robust PR machine, such audacity would be laughable. But given the realities of corporate power and media obfuscation, a mass mobilization of voters will be required to beat back this fossilized monopoly protection scheme. Contacts: Woody Hastings <whastings@earthlink.net> and Larry Chang <lc_arch@yahoo.com> This working Group is in the process of building a strong Bay Area Coalition and simultaneously bootstrapping the Bay Area Coalition to a statewide presence. The GoogleGroup is the place where you can be involved in that effort, learn about upcoming events and actions, and where you can post your ideas and info about what's going on in your neck of the woods. It is also where you can find out about our weekly conference calls. The working groups has four subcommittees: Organizing/outreach, media, web/social networking, and legal. You can visit and join the GoogleGroup at http://groups.google.com/group/powergrab?hl=en As always with these kinds of group lists, you can manage your preferences and un-subscribe at any time. Or to join, send an email with your name and affiliation to Dave Room at dave@baylocalize.org. Promote Community Choice Energy
Challenge Dirty Power Plants Cut the Bay Area’s Dependence on Polluting Fossil Power Plants Nearly 50 percent of the electricity used in the Bay Area comes from natural gas-fired power plants. While natural gas is cleaner burning than coal, it still contributes to global warming. In addition, natural gas power plant pollutants are linked to respiratory illnesses such as asthma. Over half the generation from such plants in the Bay Area comes from Contra Costa County, where asthma rates are nearly twice the national average. Currently, PG&E is seeking to buy energy from two new large natural gas power plants to be built in Contra Costa (Oakley and Antioch), a new plant in Hayward, and several more in the Central Valley. The plant proposed for Oakley alone will emit about 2 million tons of greenhouse gases per year. While many Bay Area communities are doing their part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, should these power plants be built, they will undercut these efforts and crowd out the potential for developing renewable energy for the Bay Area power grid. Contact: Rory Cox <rcox@pacificenvironment.org>
Coordinate Climate Action Plans Many cities are in the process of formulating or implementing climate action plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, these plans vary widely from city to city, not only in terms of the reduction targets, but also in the policies and measures for achieving the reductions and in the level of community involvement. Many municipal climate action plans are vague about how the targets will be achieved, where the resources will come from, and who will be responsible for monitoring the implementation. In some cases, city climate action plans do not include a city’s largest contributor to greenhouse gasses (for example, traffic on a major highway or emissions from a major industry). We need to advocate for climate action plans that have science-based targets, promote sustainable development as a basis for reducing greenhouse gases, facilitate green-collar job development, engage the community in addressing the needs and values of diverse populations, and prescribe mechanisms for monitoring and ensuring implementation. Contact (interim): Andrew Hoerner <ahoerner@rprogress.org>
Advance Energy Efficiency Financing Programs and Feed-in Tariffs Clean Energy and Energy Financing Programs: As Bay Area cities and counties launch energy financing districts to encourage energy efficiency retrofits and solar systems, we will need to ensure that such programs appeal to diverse communities, include renters as well as homeowners, and provide pathways for those with employment barriers into the jobs created. The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) is developing a coordinated regional program for residential home retrofits. This program will include quality standards, contractor training, marketing and outreach, and possibly incentives. The actual bonds that will be floated to pay for the up-front loans will be handled by counties working collaboratively through a state-wide funding program. To impact the process, we will need to work with key agency, business, and community stakeholders to support strategies that coordinate workforce development, financing for low income communities, public engagement, energy efficiency services, and triggers for energy efficiency retrofits upon transfer of ownership. We could also support key legislation to help enable such programs. Feed-in Tariffs: A feed-in tariff is a policy designed to encourage the development of renewable energy. It typically includes three key provisions: 1) guaranteed grid access by electricity producers, 2) long-term contracts for the electricity generated, and 3) purchase prices that are based on the cost of renewable energy generation. Under a feed-in tariff, utilities must buy renewable electricity from all eligible producers. Feed-in tariffs have been credited for the widespread development of renewable energy in Germany. The CPUC is currently implementing a feed-in tariff policy that applies to projects up to 3 MW, but this needs to be expanded to provide the accelerated clean energy development we need. Contact (interim): Colin Miller <colinm@greenlining.org>
GET INVOLVED IN ACTIONS We also need our fellow advocates to make their voice heard, LOUD and CLEAR, on our actions. Our current actions are: Previous Actions: ATTENDING OUR MEETINGS Read more about the campaign in "Earth Day Voices Bay Area: Bay Localize" at WorldChanging.com. 11 March 2010 |