Fracking Moratorium Bill Next Step: Senate Appropriations
Get Ready To Vote
Monopoly Utilities Trying to Stymie Renewables
Parks Forward Draft Report Released
Fracking Moratorium Bill Next Step: Senate Appropriations
The fracking moratorium bill, Senate Bill 1132 (Mitchell and Leno) scaled another hurdle on April 30 when it passed the Senate Environmental Quality Committee.
Voting to get the bill out of committee were the committee’s chair, Senator Jerry Hill, and committee member senators Fran Pavley, Hannah-Beth Jackson, Loni Hancock, and the bill’s joint author, Mark Leno.
Now it moves to the Senate Appropriations Committee, which is expected to hear the bill in Sacramento on May 19 and make a decision on its fate by May 23.
The committee is chaired by Senator Kevin de Leon. As in most committees, the chair plays a key role in the outcome of a committee vote on a bill.
Let Senator de Leon know you would like him to support SB 1132, the fracking moratorium bill, by sending him an email today.
June 3 is the primary election for legislators and statewide officials. One of the most competitive races is for the position of Controller. Sierra Club volunteer political committees have nearly concluded their endorsement process. For State Controller, we have endorsed Betty Yee. To see other endorsements, go to our website’s election page.
Monopoly Utilities Trying to Stymie Renewables
The large electric utility companies, led by Pacific Gas & Electric, are making another stab at cutting consumers’ ability to get access to renewable energy.
The companies are doing this by backing legislation, Assembly Bill 2145 (Bradford), that would create new hurdles for public entities, such as cities and counties, to offer affordable “community choice aggregation” (CCA). Community choice aggregation, authorized in California in 2002, allows communities to purchase power on behalf of their residents.
When practically applied, CCAs expand consumers’ electricity choices and offer more opportunities to tap into locally generated renewable energy, including small- and medium-scale solar. They also set up new competition for and challenge the monopoly power of the big investor-owned utilities (e.g. PG&E).
Under current law, residents living within a community that participates in community choice aggregation are automatically enrolled in the CCA, but have the opportunity to opt out. Under the provisions of AB 2145, residents would have to actively opt in before a CCA could be formed. Opt in provisions increase the difficulty and expense of developing a CCA.
Sierra Club California volunteers and staff have joined with cities, counties, renewable energy companies, and others to defeat AB 2145. The bill is currently working its way through the Assembly. Call or email your assembly member today and urge a “NO” vote on AB 2145. You can identify who your assembly member is by clicking here.
For more information about CCAs, check out the website of Marin Clean Energy, the first CCA in the state, established in 2010.
Parks Forward Draft Report Released
The Parks Forward Commission’s draft strategy for making the state park system work has been released and the Commission is seeking comments from the public.
Sierra Club California’s Parks Committee and staff are evaluating the draft and will prepare written comments to follow up on the Club’s earlier comments on the draft’s outline.
The Parks Forward Commission was established in response to 2012 legislation designed to help improve parks management and address funding needs following the threat of park closures and a growing maintenance backlog.
The commission’s main activity is to develop a strategic plan for the park system that will help ensure that the state’s parks fulfill the public’s needs in the future, are effectively managed, and adequately funded.
The first draft of the plan is short on detail about how to develop stable funding for the parks system. It also focuses a great deal on developing a complex new private non-profit entity to carry out certain park system functions, opening concerns about how to ensure that the public trust and public benefits of the park system are preserved.
Additionally, the draft strategy is light on guidance for protecting, preserving and effectively managing the wild lands, and the ecosystem services provided by those wild lands, within the park system’s million-acre-plus holdings.
That said, it is a first draft and there are opportunities for public input to help strengthen the final product before it is released in the fall.
You can learn more about the draft report and how it was developed, and how and when to comment, at http://www.parksforward.com.
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