By Jessica Tovar
Community, environment, and labor organizations are celebrating the Alameda County Board of Supervisors’ decision on October 4th to approve establishing a Community Choice energy program that would maximize community benefits and include community input in the governance of the program. The Community Choice program, slated to launch in fall of 2017, will provide a not-for-profit alternative to PG&E to provide electricity services for homes and businesses in Alameda County.
East Bay Community Energy, as the program is to be called, will offer customers a cleaner mix of electricity at a lower rate than PG&E. The program will prioritize direct community representation in the governance of the program, as well as the equitable development of local renewable energy resources, creating union and family-sustaining jobs and reducing demand for electricity. A feasibility study completed in July confirmed the program’s potential to provide cleaner electricity at a lower rate than PG&E and to spur the creation of thousands of local jobs.
The Board of Supervisors vote in favor of the program came two weeks after the release of a groundbreaking Unity Platform put forward by the East Bay Clean Power Alliance, a broad coalition of community and environmental justice organizations, and the Alameda Labor Council, which includes the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), the California Nurses Association (CNA), the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and many other unions.
The Unity Platform endorsed the formation of East Bay Community Energy and called for the program’s founding documents to include language committing the program to the development of local renewable energy resources and to worker’s rights. The Platform reflects the increasingly aligned interests of labor, environmental, and social justice advocates in a just transition to a clean energy economy.
To underscore its support for the Unity Platform, the Board voted to develop a business plan for achieving local renewable energy development, union and family-supporting jobs, and other community benefits. The Board allocated up to $500,000 to develop the business plan within eight months of setting up the program’s governing board.
Martha Kuhl, First Vice-President of the Labor Council, and CNA leader said, “This Unity Platform is the pathway forward for people and the planet. If we have a Community Choice energy program that honors workers while reducing our carbon footprint, that’s something everyone can get behind.”
Vivian Huang of Asian Pacific Environmental Network echoed Kuhl, stating, "Our communities can generate power through creating good union jobs and developing renewable energy in our neighborhoods. We all benefit from a Community Choice energy program that lifts up worker's rights, local economic development, and a healthy environment."
The East Bay Clean Power Alliance and its allies, including the Sierra Club, will continue to watchdog the program as it develops to ensure that it delivers on its stated community benefit goals.
Photo: Sierra Club SF Bay Chapter organizer Brittany King speaks at a press conference before the Board of Supervisors vote. Courtesy East Bay Clean Power Alliance.