May 31, 2018: On Thursday, the biggest-ever utility transportation electrification programs were approved unanimously by the California Public Utilities Commission. The Commission authorized four utility programs with a collective budget of $738 million to “accelerate widespread transportation electrification,” as required by a landmark clean energy law adopted in 2015. More info can be found in this Greentech Media story, quoting our press release.
Over the past few weeks, Sierra Club and a large coalition of allies (including NRDC, UCS, EDF, PIA, CCUE, Greenlining Institute, CCAEJ, EYCEJ and others) worked to pressure the Commission to increase the overall program total from $589M to $738M, a change that will primarily direct added funds to communities in Southern California Edison's territory that stand to benefit most from electrification.
With allies, our own team turned out speakers to the PUC's May 10 voting meeting in Fontana to share powerful personal stories. Testimony came from community members from the Inland Empire and San Bernardino communities, where they spoke passionately about how the poor local air quality negatively affects their health and everyday quality of life.