Environment California Opposes PG&E’s Proposition 16

Environment California

Environment California, a statewide citizen-funded environmental organization, officially opposes Proposition 16, the PG&E-funded ballot measure that would limit the ability of communities to choose or set up community-run electric power services. Community decision making, the group contends, is better for the environment.

 PG&E, feeling pressure from an increasing level of support for locally-run utilities, has placed a measure on the June ballot that would require a two-thirds vote by any community wishing to set up a local utility. This is a high burden that would effectively squash a budding desire by many California communities to localize their electricity provider.  

 “This initiative is a pretty blatant power grab by PG&E,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro clean energy advocate with Environment California. “The bottom-line is PG&E is threatened by local power, whether a solar panel on one’s roof or a utility owned and operated by a community. People who care about clear air and clean water should vote no on Prop 16 in June.”

 Environment California sited three reasons for opposing Proposition 16, to be decided by California voters on June 8.

 The first reason is that democratic decision making is vital to environmental protection. When a community decides to set up a locally-owned utility, that community is giving themselves more control in important decisions such as where their electricity comes from. And, when a community has more control over such important decisions, it is more likely that the values of that community will be reflected in the decisions of the utility. For example, Sacramento Municipal Utility District does a relatively better job promoting green energy than investor owned utilities in the rest of California.   

 “Community-run utilities are more likely to invest in green energy such as solar, wind and energy efficiency,” said Del Chiaro. “With community-run utilities, residents have a greater opportunity to push for policies that better reflect their value of clean air and clean water than they do with a large for-profit entity.”

 The second reason is that locally run utilities are more accountable to the public. When a local utility fails to reflect the values of the community in their actions, the public’s voice has influence in the utility’s board room. For example, in 2004, Environment California helped run a campaign in Los Angeles focused on the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the nation’s largest publically-owned utility. At the time, Los Angeles generated less than 4% of their electricity from renewable resources like solar and wind, and generated more than 60% from coal fired power plants. Thousands of Angelinos joined the campaign, the department responded, and today LADWP is on track to have 14% renewable electricity and a goal of going much higher by 2020.

 The third and final reason is that competition can help drive a race to the top where utilities are competing for who’s the greenest. This competition can help make utilities more responsive to the public, and in turn, given California’s strong green ethic, more likely to be environmentally responsible.

 “Bottom-line, we believe that Prop 16 would be a negative influence on environmental decision making such as investing in greater amounts of renewable energy and energy efficiency,” said Del Chiaro.

 Environment California’s Bernadette Del Chiaro pointed out that despite the group’s support, public power isn’t a panacea for the environment.

 “Many of California’s community-owned utilities need to do a lot more to be clean energy leaders,” reminded Del Chiaro. “But public power in California has historically been, and remains today, a place where the public’s desire for environmental leadership has the greatest potential to be heard.”