Sierra Club, Washington DC Chapter
Written Testimony
on
Department of Energy and the Environment and DC Green Bank
FY2021 Budgets
Submitted Thursday, May 28, 2020
to the
DC Council Committee on Transportation and the Environment
Thank you for the opportunity to submit written testimony on behalf of the Sierra Club DC Chapter with regard to the FY21 budgets for the Department of Energy and the DC Green Bank. The Sierra Club is the nation’s oldest and largest environmental advocacy group. We have 3,000 dues-paying members in the District of Columbia. Our top priority is combating climate change in a framework that weighs social equity concerns, and we also prioritize issues of resource conservation and water quality.
We recognize that the DC Council faces difficult decisions in these challenging times. Responding to the urgent public health needs and economic problems caused by the pandemic must be a first consideration. We applaud the Mayor for choosing to use the District’s rainy day funds rather than eliminating programs or furloughing government employees.
As we face the crisis of the pandemic, we are also in the midst of the environmental crisis of climate change. Like COVID-19, climate change is affecting communities of color and low-income communities more harshly. For example, intense heat waves are especially dangerous to seniors who cannot afford air conditioning. We urge Council to maintain environmental programs in this budget. Many of these programs provide multiple benefits, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions, creating local jobs, increasing access to affordable clean energy, and reducing pollutants that are harmful to human health. Programs that contribute to environmental justice should be a strong component of the District’s environmental commitments.
Solar for All
The Sierra Club strongly supports the Solar for All program, and we again thank Chairperson Cheh for sponsoring the legislation creating this groundbreaking program (B21-0650 - Renewable Portfolio Standard Expansion Amendment Act of 2016). The mandate of Solar for All is to provide 100,000 District low and moderate income households with the benefits of locally-generated clean energy by 2032. Solar for All reduces greenhouse gas emissions while reducing families’ electricity bills by 50 percent or more and providing local jobs in the solar industry.
Solar for All is funded by $10 million from the Renewable Energy Development Fund (REDF). If not for the current budget challenges, we would advocate for increasing funding for this program. Now that many of the initial implementation challenges have been worked out, and solar developers are using Community Renewable Energy Facilities to benefit more families more quickly, the program could be expanded. At a recent briefing with DOEE Director Tommy Wells, DC Sustainable Energy Utility (DCSEU) Managing Director Ted Trabue said DCSEU received $20 million in proposals this year for Solar for All.
Building Energy Performance Standard
The Clean Energy DC law requires DOEE to establish minimum Building Energy Performance Standards (BEPS) for different building types to reduce energy use and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This program is critical to meeting the District’s climate commitments, since three-quarters of our greenhouse gas emissions are from buildings. DOEE estimates this program will save 939,000 metric tons of carbon pollution annually, or 10.7% of DC’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Actual reductions will depend on how well the program is implemented. BEPS builds on the Energy Benchmarking program, which has been collecting energy and water performance data on properties over 50,000 square feet since 2013. We urge this Committee and the full Council to maintain funding for BEPS and the data and benchmarking program to ensure that implementation of this program will move forward expeditiously. The DOEE budget shows a 6% cut for the data and benchmarking program, the largest cut in the Energy Division.
Resiliency
The Sierra Club supports initiatives by the DC government to increase resilience to climate change and other stresses and shocks. We support continued implementation by DOEE of Climate Ready DC, the District's plan to prepare for climate change impacts. The Sierra Club supported legislation to establish the Office of Resilience within the City Administrator's Office and was pleased to see it enacted recently (Law 23-84). DOEE has strong, innovative projects already underway to reduce the District’s carbon footprint. The Sierra Club recommends close coordination between the new Resilience Office and DOEE. Anticipation of climate-driven challenges is key to developing the urban resilience projects that will be needed to cope with climate-driven shocks and stresses and to ensure effective inter-agency coordination.
Lead Pipe Replacement
The lead pipe replacement program on private property indicates a decrease of $1 million, a reduction of 37 percent. DOEE Director Tommy Wells has said there’s no waiting list for lead pipe replacement and that proposed funding levels are sufficient. This is a new program that is ramping up, so a reduced budget may be adequate to meet initially-identified needs. Lead pipe replacement is a critical public health need for everyone in DC, especially lower-income residents. The program is sure to identify additional needs for lead pipe replacement with DOEE outreach to the target population. With fewer resources for the program and reduced outreach, fewer pipes in need of replacement will be identified. Funds for this program should be made available to meet any identified present and future needs, especially the needs of the District’s more vulnerable populations.
Clean Rivers Impervious Area Charge Relief (CRIAC)
The CRIAC Relief Fund is targeted for a decrease of 90 percent ($4.6 million). DOEE Director Tommy Wells has explained that $3.5 million in funds authorized for 2020 will roll over to FY21 because residents have sought only about $100,000 in relief, and another $3 million is required for non-profits. This extreme cut is only acceptable if the remaining budget meets the requirements for relief identified by qualifying DC ratepayers. If the budget is inadequate to support the level of relief DC residents and nonprofits have requested, particularly given the financial hardship that COVID will place on many ratepayers – the District may need to later shift funds to support this essential program for DC residents and non-profit service organizations.
DC Bag Fee
We wholeheartedly support maintaining the five-cent fee on disposable plastic and paper bags provided by stores selling food or alcohol. The petroplastics industry is trying to take advantage of the pandemic to claim that reusable bags are unsafe. However, according to the Centers for Disease Control: “The primary and most important mode of transmission for COVID-19 is through close contact from person-to-person.” Customers who bag their own purchases should be allowed to bring their own reusable bags. DC’s bag fee is keeping plastic pollution out of our rivers and tributaries while generating $1 to $3 million annually for DC’s conservation initiatives - especially along the Anacostia River and its tributaries.
Enforcement Inititatives
While public health and safety is at the forefront of our concerns, the Sierra Club urges DOEE to reinstate regular enforcement of the bag fee and compostable carryout container requirements at DC food establishments as soon as is practicable. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), food and food packaging materials make up almost half of all municipal solid waste. With the take-out food market flourishing during the pandemic, so too is the use of take-out packaging. The District has taken a leadership role in ensuring that all take-out packaging is compostable. It is important that DOEE remain active in ensuring that our eating establishments are in compliance with these rules.
Natural Resources
The 2021 Natural Resources budget is reduced by $4.9 million, 13 percent. Half the reduction ($2.3 million) is from the Watershed Protection program budget line (2080), which amounts to a 15 percent decrease in the funding used to restore streams and wetlands, to control nonpoint source pollution, and to conduct outreach and education. These are key elements of the Anacostia River remediation initiative that should not be weakened. The Water Quality budget line is reduced by $873,000, a 10 percent decrease. This program is essential for the health of the District’s waters and aquatic resources, enforcing water quality standards, and setting targets for pollution reduction.
The District must exercise extreme caution in executing cuts of this magnitude so that entire programs are not eliminated or rendered dysfunctional, which could result in the loss of services that have taken years to establish. An example is the funding for “City Wildlife.” District funds have been allocated annually to the City Wildlife/Wildlife Rehabilitation Services organization. City Wildlife operates on a shoe-string budget of less than $500,000, yet provides essential wildlife rescue and rehabilitation services in the District. Each year, hundreds of wild animals in DC are unintentionally harmed by people and the urban environment, and City Wildlife provides a safe haven and rehabilitation. The District’s annual grant is essential for the organization’s survival, but unfortunately has been left out of the present budget draft. The Sierra Club asks that the Council restore and fully fund City Wildlife’s $200,000 annual grant to maintain this important natural resource function.
DC Green Bank
The Sierra Club supports the Mayor’s budget proposal for $22 million to begin to capitalize the Green Finance Authority, also known as the DC Green Bank. The DC Green Bank will use public purpose funding to attract private investment to expand the use of clean energy, create green jobs, reduce energy costs, and meet the District’s climate commitments. The Sierra Club supported the legislation that established the Green Bank and, later, the dedicated funding from fees to the Sustainable Energy Trust Fund (SETF) mandated in the CleanEnergy DC Omnibus Amendment Act. The FY21 budget draft proposes to allocate $15 million from the SETF, as required by the CleanEnergy DC law, and $7 million from the Renewable Energy Development Fund. We support this move to stabilize funding for the DC Green Bank by making it a regular line item in the District’s budget. The Sierra Club commends the Green Bank’s board on hiring clean energy attorney Eli Hopson as the first CEO of the Green Bank.
Transitioning DC Off Methane Pollution
There is another aspect of energy policy critical for the District to meet its climate goals that is not directly addressed in the Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act or in the FY21 budget draft: accelerating the District’s transition from methane gas to clean and renewable energy sources for heating and cooking. DC’s buildings account for 74 percent of emissions, and, according to official figures, methane accounts for 20 percent of the District’s GHG emissions. But recent studies indicate that the real figure is much higher, when gas leakage is taken into account – at the source (drill rigs and gas released by fracking), transportation (through transmission pipelines crumbling urban distribution pipes) and use in the District’s buildings. In addition to its serious climate impact, methane and the nitrogen dioxide released when methane is burned are harmful to the health of DC residents, especially children.
DC’s gas utility, Washington Gas, has proposed major ratepayer-funded spending on gas delivery infrastructure that would lock the District into burning methane well beyond 2050, when DC has pledged to achieve carbon neutrality. Instead of spending more money on fossil fuels, DC needs to invest in monitoring and controlling methane emissions, and planning for accelerated transition to clean fuels.
The Sierra Club asks that DOEE’s budget include staff time to lead the formation of a working group to look specifically at the impact of methane emissions on DC’s climate commitments and public health in DC and to begin the process of planning for the transition to clean electricity, air- and ground-source heat pumps and other sources of clean energy.
Thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony on the DOEE budget. We look forward to collaborating with DOEE and the Council on issues of climate, conservation
and energy in the coming year.