The team continues to focus on Pass on Gas, the Sierra Club initiative promoting great reductions in fossil-fuel use, primarily gas. A current development is lobbying with the Minneapolis City Council to increase accountability of utility companies. In particular, the team continues to oppose and counter Xcel’s plan to build new gas plants.
A particularly bizarre development relates to Xcel’s definition of “carbon-free power.” They are coming up with some rather bizarre standards. For example, Xcel wants to declare wood-burning and trash-burning carbon free. They are clearly confused—we certainly wouldn’t want to accuse them of dishonesty! —and the team is submitting comments to ensure that what they call ”carbon-free” is, in fact, carbon-free.
The chapter is collecting comments for the Public Utilities Commission on this matter; keep your eyes open for a petition, or contact Patty O’Keefe for more information.
Don’t forget to get outdoors at cool community events and spread the word about Sierra Club’s mission and priorities. You can sign up here.
State progress on the rebate program under the Inflation Reduction Act is, well, slow. The official estimate is that the rebates will be available next Spring, but that may be too optimistic. There are many details to work out, such as income eligibility parameters and how to vet contractors. There is also uncertainty regarding what could happen on January 20: Donald Trump has already announced his intent to cancel all “green” initiatives that were implemented in the Act as well as other environmental protections.