On May 2, the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to choose MCE (My Community Energy) as the Community Choice Energy program for unincorporated Contra Costa. We congratulate MCE and Contra Costa County for this big step forward into the twenty-first century green energy economy. MCE released a letter one day before the vote that documents its commitments to the county. It can be found here: MCE Letter to Contra Costa Co BOS 5-1-17 .
Although we lobbied for alignment with the newly formed East Bay Community Energy program, we look forward to supporting MCE however we can. We like to think that we might have played some small role in making sure that local clean green energy generation and union job creation were at the very center of the decision-making process.
This 3/13/17 letter was initiated by the Sunflower Alliance Working Group on Community Choice Energy in Contra Costa and was sent to Contra Costa County and city officials. It was signed by the following public officials and community organizations:
Dear Contra Costa City and County Leaders,
A Community Choice Energy program has the potential to reduce greenhouse gases and provide savings to its customers—but it can also do much more for Contra Costa County.
Community Choice Energy (CCE) presents an amazing opportunity for economic growth and the creation of good jobs through local build-out of clean solar and wind energy projects. City and county leaders should look carefully at which of the three options under consideration is most likely to maximize energy development within our county.
The Draft Technical Study for a Community Choice Aggregation Program in Contra Costa County finds that CCE policies emphasizing greenhouse gas reduction and local green energy development also produce the greatest annual job gain (p. 49). And it suggests that a stand-alone Contra Costa CCE “would have the greatest interest in developing in-county renewables and thus could potentially have the greatest positive economic impact”
(p. 65).
A CCE that prioritizes local development of green energy can create hundreds of family-sustaining jobs a year. It can adopt policies requiring prevailing-wage jobs, employer neutrality in union drives, and pathways to the new jobs for disadvantaged and displaced workers—a Just Transition to a clean energy economy.
Contra Costa has tremendous potential to become a producer and exporter of green energy, generating significant revenue for the county. Only one-tenth of Contra Costa’s total contaminated “brownfield” space, identified by the federal Environmental Protection Agency as suitable for clean energy projects, could generate three times the electricity needed for all the county’s homes. With other counties’ CCEs looking to buy clean energy, Contra Costa clean energy projects could realize considerable income.
An aggressive program to build clean energy projects could support development of the former Concord Naval Weapons Depot as well as the Northern Waterfront Economic Development Initiative. Forty percent of the brownfield acreage identified by the EPA is in the NWEDI area. Clean energy projects could provide jobs and contribute to economic growth without generating pollution.
A CCE can foster local clean energy development without undertaking all—or even most—of the projects itself. A CCE that makes local energy development a real priority can help individuals and investors, local businesses and cooperatives, and cities and other public agencies to generate clean energy. Projects can range from residential rooftop solar to shared community solar, to larger-scale clean energy production on brownfields, the roofs of large buildings, public properties, and more.
A CCE can make clean energy development a good investment by augmenting and promoting existing programs such as Net Metering (reducing the electricity bill if the customer feeds power back into the grid) and Feed-in Tariffs (buying electricity at a premium from producers of less than 1 MW of electricity). It can foster the development of shared community solar, in which solar panels for many homes are located on one site, separate from the residences, for about one-third the cost of putting solar on each roof. For developments of any size, Power Purchase Agreements can give investors proof of a guaranteed income stream—something they can take to the bank, making it easier to obtain credit.
A CCE can provide outreach, education, and technical assistance in developing clean energy projects. It can also help in accessing the many federal and state programs that provide funding for investors and help low-income individuals finance solar panels.
In addition to the jobs created and economic development benefits, local clean energy development could provide Contra Costa County with a stable source of electricity. By generating its own electricity, the county would protect itself from future price increases on the market.
While we put clean energy development at the center, let’s also insist upon a CCE strategy that provides maximum accountability to the county. Our representatives must have the opportunity for close oversight of CCE operations, and our residents must have the opportunity for representation—not only by board members, but also through a representative community advisory committee.
County supervisors and city council decision-makers must choose a CCE program fully dedicated to community oversight, local energy generation, and much-needed job creation. Let’s not settle for what’s merely expedient. The right CCE can provide Contra Costa with a unique opportunity for robust and sustainable economic development, one that we shouldn’t squander.
Sincerely yours,
Amy Allen and Lisa Altieri, Co-Chairs
for 350 Bay Area 100% Clean Energy Campaign
Luis Amezcua, Chair
for Energy and Climate Committee
SF Bay Chapter Sierra Club
Deborah Burger, RN, Co-President
for the California Nurses Association
Richard Boyd
for CCISCO
Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organization
Vanessa Cordova, Director
Kensington Police Protection and Community Services District
Ken Coughran and Ann Puntch, Co-Chairs
for Voices of Rodeo
Lynda Deschambault
for Contra Costa County Climate Leaders
Peter Dragovich
for Contra Costa Progressives
Peter Ericson
for Contra Costa Clean Energy Alliance
AnaMarie Avila Farias
former Councilmember, City of Martinez
Ann Flynn, President
for League of Women Voters of Diablo Valley
Sylvia Hacaj, Director
Kensington Police Protection and Community Services District
Vivian Yi Huang, Campaign and Organizing Director
for Asian Pacific Environmental Network
(a member of the East Bay Clean Power Alliance)
Denny Larson, Executive Director
Community Science Institute
donna luckey
Pleasant Hill Co-Housing
Debbie McKillop
Councilmember, City of Martinez
Eileen Nottoli, Director
Kensington Police Protection and Community Services District
Jeff Parr, President
Solar Technologies
Janet Pygeorge, Director
for Rodeo Citizens Association
Scott Rafferty
Attorney
Nancy Rieser, Director
for Crockett-Rodeo United to Defend the Environment
Marti Roach
for Citizens’ Climate Lobby of Contra Costa County
Tyler Snortum-Phelps
Sustainable Contra Costa
Andrés Soto
for Communities for a Better Environment
Harry L. Thurston
East Contra Costa Community Proponents for CCE
Rohit Upadhya, Staff Engineer
Central Contra Costa Sanitary District
Cheryl Vaughn
for Solar Richmond
Jan Warren
for ICAN, Interfaith Climate Action Network of Contra Costa
Péllo Walker, President
Daily Digital Imaging
Shoshana Wechsler
for Sunflower Alliance
Carol Weed
for Contra Costa Chapter of Organizing for Action