Testimony
of
Marchant Wentworth
on behalf of
Sierra Club DC Chapter
before the
DC Council Committee on Facilities and Procurement
regarding
Renewable Energy Future Amendment Act of 2019
Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee:
Thank you, Chairman White, for holding this hearing today on the Renewable Energy Future Amendment Act of 2019 (B23-0497).
My name is Marchant Wentworth and I live in Ward 5. I am testifying today on behalf 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.
The Sierra Club strongly supports the Renewable Energy Future Amendment Act of 2019 and urges the full Council to pass it. And we have several suggestions to strengthen the legislation.
The District of Columbia has committed to cutting our greenhouse gas emissions 50 percent by 2032 and to carbon neutrality by 2050. The commitments will not be easy to meet, but we must meet them if DC is to survive the existential threat climate change poses to the planet and to DC.
According to the DC Department of Energy and Environment’s Greenhouse Gas Inventories, buildings are the largest source of climate pollution in DC, accounting for 75 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. For DC to meet our climate commitments, we must make our buildings far more energy efficient, and we must end our reliance on dirty fuels and move toward clean energy sources.
The Renewable Energy Future Amendment Act could form an important step in ensuring that the District government leads by example by using the roof space of its own buildings to install solar panels. As a first step in this process, DC needs an inventory of usable sites, which this bill requires.
The Sierra Club has several suggestions to improve the legislation:
- As currently written, the bill does not appear to have a deadline for the Department of General Services (DGS) to complete the inventory. The Sierra Club suggests that a reasonably short deadline be included in the legislative text.The bill does not actually require the District to move forward with the installation of renewable energy facilities at suitable building locations. The next logical step after identifying locations for renewable energy sources is to install them, and the Sierra Club suggests that such a requirement be added to the bill. If the Council does not add such a requirement, we recommend that after the DC Council receives the report on the viability of renewable energy on DC government buildings, this Committee follow up with legislation that ensures the renewable energy generation is actually installed on DC government property.
- The Sierra Club recommends that the bill also include provisions for energy efficiency upgrades, to support and complement the DGS strategic energy management plan and DGS’s compliance wth the Building Energy Performance Standard, both of which are required by the Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act.
- In the Fiscal Year 2021 budget, the Sierra Club urges the DC Council to include funding for DGS to undertake the analysis required by the bill.
The Sierra Club would like to note that the department’s sustainability division is severely understaffed, with only seven employees and two consultants, and desperately needs a permanent leader. More resources are needed.
At the same time, DGS has not been maintaining buildings so that their energy use maximizes efficiency. We request that in the Fiscal Year 2021 budget process, this committee provide DGS with the necessary resources to ensure that the District’s buildings are upgraded and managed to the highest levels of energy efficiency and provide stringent oversight of DGS’s sustainability operations.
Thank you, Chairman White, for the opportunity to testify about how the DC government can expand its leadership in the fight against climate change.