Testimony
of
Mark Rodeffer
Chair, Sierra Club DC Chapter
before the
DC Council Committee on Transportation and Environment
Hearing on
Fiscal Year 2020 Budget for the DC Department of Energy & Environment
Thank you Councilmember Cheh for holding this important hearing on the budget of the DC Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE). My name is Mark Rodeffer. I’m the chair of the Sierra Club DC Chapter. The Sierra Club is the nation’s oldest and largest environmental advocacy group. We have 3,000-dues-paying members in DC. Our top priority is fighting climate change.
Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act Implementation
Thank you also, Councilmember Cheh, for writing the Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act of 2018. As written, it is the strongest clean energy law in the nation. The Sierra Club wants to see the Act fully funded so that when implemented, it truly will be the strongest clean energy law in America, and one for other jurisdictions to follow.
First and foremost: we ask the DC Council not to raid the special purpose funds that provide the money to implement DC’s groundbreaking climate law.
Mayor Bowser’s budget proposal devotes the Sustainable Energy Trust Fund (SETF) and the Renewable Energy Development Fund (REDF) to their intended purposes of implementing the law and reducing DC’s climate pollution.
The DC Council has an unfortunate history of raiding these climate funds for unrelated purposes, including tax cuts for multimillionaires. The Sierra Club asks that the DC Council not take one penny away from the special purpose funds. Any member of the DC Council who supports raiding our climate funds is failing future generations and proving themselves to be poor stewards of both DC’s finances and the planet.
The Sierra Club requests full funding for all programs in the Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act, specifically:
• Expanding DC Sustainable Energy Utility efficiency programs, including the 30 percent carve-out for assistance to low-income residents for weatherization, fuel-switching, bill assistance, and other measures to reduce utility bills by expanding energy efficiency.
• Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS), which will reduce energy bills and cut DC’s carbon pollution by more than 10 percent.
• The Department of Transportation (DDOT) transportation electrification program to move DC government vehicles – such as Circulator buses – away from fossil fuels.
• Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) re-calculation of the vehicle excise tax to financially incentivize fuel-efficient vehicles and de-incentives gas guzzlers.
The Sierra Club is pleased the Mayor’s proposed budget adequately funds these programs.
Councilmember Cheh, the Sierra Club and our thousands of members in DC understand that you’re with us in the fight against climate change. But we’re concerned about some of your colleagues on the DC Council. Please fight any effort to take any money away from this monumental law that you wrote. We must fund clean energy in DC. The climate demands it.
Shutting Off the Dirty Gas Pipeline
Thanks to your leadership, Councilmember Cheh, DC is moving away from electricity from dirty fuels like coal and gas. But we still use dirty methane gas to heat our buildings, heat our water, and cook our food.
The Sierra Club requests that DOEE, the Public Service Commission, and the DC Council hold Washington Gas and its parent company, AltaGas, to the commitments they agreed to as part of their merger. The Public Service Commission approved the merger under 85 conditions.
Condition 79 states:
By January 1, 2020, AltaGas will file with the Commission a long-term business plan on how it can evolve its business model to support and serve the District's 2050 climate goals (e.g., providing innovative and new services and products instead of relying only on selling natural gas). After the business plan is filed, AltaGas will hold bi-annual public meetings to report on and discuss its progress on the business plan. [Due Date: January 1, 2020]
In DOEE’s March 22 comments regarding the gas company's request before the commission to rate-base pipeline replacements and keep DC on gas for decades to come, the Department commented:
DOEE anticipates that in the near future, a better way to remove the threat of hazardous leaks, one that is consistent with the District’s climate change policy, may be to obviate the use of natural gas for heating buildings altogether, and instead invest in alternative heating solutions that do not require the use of fossil fuels.
Washington Gas and its parent company AltaGas owe the residents of the District of Columbia answers on how they will meet Condition 79 of the merger. What’s their plan to cut off the pipeline of dirty gas? It’s a little odd for a gas extraction company and a gas distribution company to come up with a plan to stop using gas. But that’s exactly what AltaGas and Washington Gas agreed to in their merger. If DC has any hope of meeting our climate commitments, we must stop using all fossil fuels, including dirty methane gas. The Sierra Club requests DOEE, the Public Service Commission, and the DC Council press Washington Gas and AltaGas for a serious plan to end the addiction to dirty gas.
Revenue to Fund Environmental Priorities
There are many measures in the Mayor's budget to applaud – not just Clean Energy DC implementation – but also the Benning Road Streetcar extension, the K Street Transitway, expanded enforcement of illegal automobile parking in bike lanes, and $55 million additional funding for affordable housing, which allows more people to live in a city with diverse transit options instead of more car-dependent suburbs.
With a $47 million budget shortfall resulting from the federal government shutdown and increasing needs for affordable housing, the Sierra Club applauds Mayor Bowser for identifying sufficient revenue to fund key priorities. The Sierra Club fully supports the Mayor’s budget proposal to increase the tax on commercial properties sold for more than $2 million. As well, the Sierra Club agrees with the Mayor’s budget proposal to reverse the Council’s misguided tax cut for commercial properties assessed at over $10 million. We ask that the DC Council not go forward with tax cuts for wealthy owners of buildings worth millions of dollars.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Sierra Club thanks you, Councilmember Cheh, and the full DC Council, for passing visionary clean energy legislation. We thank Mayor Bowser for funding that law and other key priorities. And we ask that that funding be maintained by the DC Council.