[Sustain] Evidence Of Fossil Energy Corp. Funding For 'Vote Solar'

Sun Oct 5 10:46:08 PDT 2008

Hi Bruce and all,

Here is an email that I sent out in April that reveals Vote Solar's 
funding relationship with fossil fuel energy corporations...

previously I wrote:

Vote Solar just proudly announced its successful fundraising event
'Equinox 2' in which, among its major donors, were PG&E, Edison, Chevron
and BP.

see http://www.votesolar.org/equinox2/thank_you/
and also the previous year's Equinox fundraiser at
http://www.votesolar.org/equinox/thank_you/

Vote Solar is the organization (founded by now SFPUC Commissioner David
Hochschild) which also put forward the poorly written solar Prop B in
2001 for 50 mw of solar on City facilities. Prop B passed, but failed to
implement because of its poor funding plan combined with the fact that
the SFPUC made no effort to find a way to make it work. No solar
facilities were ever built through Prop B, although Vote Solar's web
site blatantly and falsely claims otherwise. (See
http://www.votesolar.org/city-initiatives/successes.html )

David Hochschild is the architect of the Mayor's weak privatized solar
proposals. Vote Solar has been  one of the most vocal proponents of the 
Mayor's proposals. Though
Hochschild is no longer with Vote Solar, he spoke and hobnobbed at the
Equinox fundraiser. As did Phil Ting (who helped Hochschild create and
sponsor the Mayor's solar program), along with Mayor Newsom himself,
Assemblymember Mark Leno (who has frequently sponsored milquetoast
renewable energy legislation which has basically amounted to faux stuff
that allows PG&E to remain dominant in our Northwest power market) and,
Adam Werbach, the new greenwash champion for Walmart and Wall Street..

David Hochschild -is- however VP for External Relations for Solaria
Corp., a private solar technologies company which is one of those proud
new Equinox funders of Vote Solar.

I didn't even notice the note on Hochschild's corporate position when I
saw the press release for his appointment to the SFPUC last year, but
now that I've picked up on it I'm pretty shocked. A man with that kind
of energy corporation conflict of interest should not have even made it
onto the SFPUC commission in the first place, and should certainly at
the very least be recusing himself on all votes related to solar power
funding.

This all puts into even starker contrast the fact that, although
Hochschild has vociferously upbraided the SFPUC staff for not creating
solar and other renewables programs in San Francisco, he has never once
in those tirades mentioned the massively promising Community Choice
project, which would have already been out for bids long ago were it not
for both constant interference from the SFPUC staff, and a resolute and
total lack of support from the SFPUC commissioners themselves (including
former commissioner Adam Werbach).

It has become clear to me that Hochschild and is his ilk are nothing
more than the next generation of private corporate developers
manipulating their way into sweetheart deals for their own companies at
the expense of the public good, while steering city government away from
publicly owned energy projects, into cozy and corrupt 'public/private
partnerships'.

I would have thought that the visionary renewable energy industry could
have avoided this typical, tawdry trough feeding. I guess I was wrong.

peace

Eric Brooks

Bruce Wolfe wrote:
> Eric,
> Where can I find the evidence that they get funding from those corps?
> Bruce
>
>
> Eric Brooks wrote:
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> See below the verbatim alert from 'Vote Solar' (which gets funding 
>> from fossil fuel energy corporations like PG&E, Chevron, BP, and 
>> Edison); an alert that ridiculously says we should tell our 
>> congressmembers that they should approve the Wall Street bank 
>> bail-out and sell out the American people and economy to massive 
>> corrupt mega-banks and insurance companies, just because the 
>> sell-out/bail-out now contains an amendment that extends solar 
>> credits. Perhaps 'Vote Solar' would care to address the reality that 
>> hundreds of thousands of homeowners under mortgage stress and out of 
>> work because the bail-out bill doesn't help them, will not be able to 
>> buy solar panels at any price...
>>
>> Here's 'Vote Solar's' absurd alert:
>>
>> Vote Solar wrote:
>>
>> Friends,
>>
>> Congress is set to vote on the future of solar in America in the next 
>> 36 hours.
>>
>> The Senate has included the critical clean energy tax 
>> incentives--including an 8 year extension of the 30% investment tax 
>> credit, with removal of residential caps--in the bailout package (aka 
>> the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008). This adds a 
>> significant job development enhancement to the package--according to 
>> this study 
>> <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=%2Fa577dIbE2iNftMZLLtSVGbTQF2JKxCP> 
>> by Navigant, 1.2 million of them.  Now the bailout is not just 
>> greenbacks for Wallstreet, but also green jobs for Mainstreet, if you 
>> will. The bill will likely pass the Senate tonight, but prospects in 
>> the House are much more uncertain.
>>
>> If you want to see the tax credits go through, call your 
>> representative in the House to urge their support for the 
>> Senate-passed Stabilization Bill.
>>
>> */-Call Instructions-/*
>>
>> 1) Call the Capitol Hill Switchboard (202-224-3121) and ask for your 
>> House Member's office number.
>>
>> 2) When you call the office, state your name and location and ask to 
>> be transferred to the Chief of Staff.  If she/he isn't available, ask 
>> to leave a message for her/him.
>>
>> 3) Sample message: "My name is _____ and I am calling from (location) 
>> to urge Representative XX to vote "YES" on the Economic Stabilization 
>> bill coming over from the Senate.  The clean energy tax incentives 
>> extender package was added to the bill, and if signed into law, 1.2 
>> million employment opportunities, including 440,000 permanent jobs, 
>> and $232 billion in new investment would be generated in the U.S. by 
>> the solar energy sector alone through 2016. Thank you in advance for 
>> building the clean energy economy of tomorrow by voting YES on the 
>> Economic Stabilization Bill coming over from the Senate."
>>
>>
>> Onwards,
>>
>> Annie and the Vote Solar Team
>> The Vote Solar Initiative
>> 300 Brannan Street, Suite 609
>> San Francisco, CA 94107
>> www.votesolar.org
>>
>> to subscribe: 
>> http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/votesolar/signUp.jsp?key=987
>>
>> to unsubscribe: 
>> http://www.demaction.org/dia/organizations/votesolar/unsubscribe.jsp
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
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-- 
"I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves." -- Che Guevara

-- 
"I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves." -- Che Guevara

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