Clean energy isn't waiting
by Andrew Christie, Chapter Director
If you haven't been on the Santa Lucia chapter's Facebook page (Santa Lucia Sierra Club) recently, things have been getting lively.
It began when we posted a story in support of a local anti-fracking initiative that’s coming to the SLO County ballot in November.
One commenter suggested that “If you truly cared about keeping oil in the ground, you'd be fighting to keep Diablo Canyon open instead of fighting to close it. Your Sierra Club predecessors would be ashamed of you.”
We responded to that gent by helpfully pointing to 40 years of Sierra Club anti-nuclear policies. We also could have pointed to our Beyond Dirty Fuels initiative, which speaks for itself.
As to his old arguments for the competitive superiority of nuclear power over renewable energy, his fight is now with the Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which has this to say on the subject:
“PG&E in consultation with the Parties has concluded that the most effective and efficient path forward for achieving California’s SB 350 policy goal for deep reductions of GHG emissions is to retire Diablo Canyon at the close of its current operating license period and replace it with a portfolio of GHG free resources. The Parties agree that the orderly replacement of Diablo Canyon with GHG free resources will be the reliable, flexible, and cost-effective solution for PG&E’s customers.”
- Joint Proposal to Retire Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, June 21, 2016
Another commenter accused us of “Fighting to keep locals from working good jobs in their own community” by backing the anti-fracking initiative. The only reply this required was #ReadyFor100.
Then the two of them tag-teamed in support of the Trumpian vision for our energy future when we posted the AP story of Trump’s plan to prop up failing coal and nuclear plants that can't compete with renewable energy.
In reply, another commenter noted that a Trump administration policy of “forcing states to buy obsolete products” doesn’t sound like “a function of free-market capitalism” but does sound a lot like Soviet state market controls.
Big bad ideas and old regimes die hard, and when then they do, their longtime partisans grab their squirrel guns and head for the hills to engage in rear-guard cyber-sniping. Nothing could make the endgame more obvious than the reliance on recycled p.r., outdated facts, or no facts at all in support of their unswerving devotion to the status quo.
But nothing Trump does can save the nuclear or coal industries from their fate or keep Diablo open. And green shoots are already sprouting in our neck of the wood as Diablo prepares to take its leave.
SLO and Morro Bay have authorized a Request for Proposals for technical services for a Community Choice energy program that would be administered under a Joint Powers Agreement. The SLO Climate Coalition has been created to carry out a major goal of the City of San Luis Obispo, modeled on the groundbreaking Local Development Business Plan of Alameda County’s East Bay Community Energy program.
And on Wednesday, Monterey Bay Community Power (MBCP) formed its first Community Advisory Council. Per Benjamin Eichert, Director of Greenpower at the Romero Institute, an interfaith law and policy center, “Horacio Amezquita from the San Jerardo Farmworkers Cooperative, Andy Hartman from IBEW local 234 and Seth Capron from the Aromas Progressive Action League, all integral members of our coalition to ensure MBCP maximizes its mandates to serve the people and the environment,” were selected “to represent our voices over three-year terms on the Community Advisory Council.”
“Now more than ever, we believe it's absolutely crucial for all of us striving to enact forward-thinking policy on climate change to work together. People and organizations with similar missions cannot afford to think of one another as competitors. Instead, we must join hands, inspire each other, co-promote our mutual social and environmental justice goals, and share the successes as one.”
The future is now.