March 2009 - Sustainability - list.sfgreens.org

[Sustain] Fwd: Tell the EPA to Stop Mountaintop Removal
by Eric Brooks 27 Mar '09

27 Mar '09

Rainforest Action Network wrote: It's amazing what 2,340 lobbyists and more than $90 million can do in Washington, D.C. That's how many people and how much money the dirty energy industry is spending to influence our leaders. Today, I'm asking you to tell Lisa Jackson, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to stand up to industry pressure and support a permanent moratorium on mountaintop removal coal mining. Earlier this week the Environmental Protection Agency announced that they'd be delaying and reviewing two permits for mountaintop removal mining operations and calling into question more that 100 pending permits that threaten mountains, waterways and communities across Appalachia. That's a big deal for a region that has been devastated by mountaintop removal coal mining. But one day after the big announcement, the EPA released a clarification saying that although the permits were under review, they expected that "the bulk of these pending permit applications will not raise environmental concerns." Why? Because Big Coal has some deep pockets. In less than 24 hours, the industry quickly mobilized a massive army of lobbyists and reactionary politicians to lobby against a mountaintop removal moratorium. But we've got something Big Coal doesn't: our voices. Go to http://ga3.org/campaign/epa?rk=LpdK58dajUIVE to tell Lisa Jackson to stand up to the coal lobby and protect Appalachia's mountains and communities. We're not going to be able to outspend the coal industry in Washington. But the movement against coal is stronger than ever and the EPA could choose to end mountaintop removal once and for all right now. Lisa Jackson is going to hear from the coal companies. The only question is whether our voices will be loud and plentiful enough to convince her, and the rest of our leaders, that it is time to do the right thing. Please contact Lisa Jackson and ask her to put a permanent moratorium on all mountaintop removal permits now. Go to http://ga3.org/campaign/epa?rk=LpdK58dajUIVE Thanks for all you do. For the mountains, Scott Parkin Senior Organizer, Coal Finance Rainforest Action Network

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[Sustain] Update On Campaign To Save SF Clean Energy - Action Needed
by Eric Brooks 11 Mar '09

11 Mar '09

Hi all, Last Friday's LAFCo meeting on the Clean Power SF project had rough moments, but we gained some key ground and managed to get a continuance for two or three weeks so that we can better make our case for saving this vital project. The big victory Friday was that we stopped Navigant corporation from being hired as the lead contractor for the project roll out. Navigant does almost all of its business with fossil fuel energy corporations and private utilities, and has been responsible for wrecking similar clean energy projects all over the state of California by steering them away from local clean and renewable energy development, to instead favor fossil fuel power plants and large, expensive desert based solar facilities that PG&E and So Cal Edison can easily own and control. Two of the five voting LAFCo commissioners (Campos and Mar) appear to now be solidly on our side, but chair Ross Mirkarimi, who is the key vote we need to get all of this moving, is still not taking action. He is instead tenaciously continuing a failed strategy of trying to compromise with the SF Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), a strategy which has remained completely fruitless for five full years to get this project built. We need chair Mirkarimi to do the important and politically very difficult work of actually challenging the SFPUC and putting this rogue agency in its place, so that Clean Power SF can begin immediately. We must insist of chair Mirkarimi that he step up and take action. If you haven't done so yet, please look at the attached sign-on letter insisting that the LAFCo take action, and please reply as soon as you can to confirm that your member group can sign on. Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Global Exchange, League of Young Voters, Ella Baker Center and the Harvey Milk Democratic Club are among the now 25 signatories. To confirm your group, please reply with an email and contact information saying that you agree to sign. For more information about Clean Power SF see http://our-city.org/campaigns/CleanPowerSF_e.html thanks Eric Brooks 415-756-8844

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[Sustain] Clean Energy Sign On Letter (Now Attached)
by Eric Brooks 06 Mar '09

06 Mar '09

Hi all, Just sending the group sign on that I indicated below was included. Now it is properly attached. previously I wrote: Reminder, Hearing to save Clean Power SF! Hi all, At the clean energy hearing tomorrow, your first opportunity to give public comment will be item 4, which is the SFPUC's report to the LAFCo on its progress on CCA (Clean Power SF), and item 5 will also give an excellent opportunity for you to comment on San Francisco's need to go renewable now! The full hearing agenda is at http://www.sfgov.org/site/bdsupvrs_page.asp?id=100054 For various very important reasons, will be asking tomorrow for the two actual contract items on the agenda to be postponed and that instead the full set of tasks necessary for a proper RFP for Clean Power SF be voted on at the -next- meeting. Regardless, our main goal is to insist that all tasks for a comprehensive RFP for Clean Power SF must move a head under a lead contractor through the LAFCO by next month! The hearing info is online at: http://www.sfgov.org/site/bdsupvrs_page.asp?id=100054 Attached is the group sign-on letter that was circulated and has been delivered to the LAFCo. Here is the hearing alert with talking points: SHOW UP AND SPEAK AT THE HEARING: FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2PM, SF CITY HALL, ROOM 250 Attend the hearing and speak at public comment to insist that Clean Power SF move forward now! DIRECTIONS: To get to the hearing, go to the San Francisco Civic Center transit station at 8th and Market Streets and cross United Nations Plaza to City Hall (on Polk Street between Grove and McAllister). PUBLIC COMMENT TALKING POINTS: - The SFPUC has been delaying Clean Power SF for five years! Enough is enough! - Access to Obama administration clean energy stimulus funds could be lost if we don't act now! - There are new reports every day that the global climate crisis is becoming far worse, far more rapidly than scientists previously believed. We cannot wait one more day to begin this project! - Clean Power SF will become the largest municipal clean energy project on Earth, setting a strong example for the rest of the world to get serious about the climate crisis! - 48 other California communities are waiting for San Francisco to take the lead on clean energy, and as California goes, so goes the world. Starting this project now is critical to leading the entire planet to take rapid action to end the climate crisis! - During the current drastic economic crisis and budget cuts, Clean Power SF will create a green economy boom in San Francisco providing hundreds of desperately need jobs to this community! For more information about Clean Power SF see http://our-city.org/campaigns/CleanPowerSF_e.html Thanks as always for your help and support. Eric Brooks

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[Sustain] Reminder Hearing To Save SF Clean Energy!
by Eric Brooks 05 Mar '09

05 Mar '09

Reminder, Hearing to save Clean Power SF! Hi all, At the clean energy hearing tomorrow, your first opportunity to give public comment will be item 4, which is the SFPUC's report to the LAFCo on its progress on CCA (Clean Power SF), and item 5 will also give an excellent opportunity for you to comment on San Francisco's need to go renewable now! The full hearing agenda is at http://www.sfgov.org/site/bdsupvrs_page.asp?id=100054 For various very important reasons, will be asking tomorrow for the two actual contract items on the agenda to be postponed and that instead the full set of tasks necessary for a proper RFP for Clean Power SF be voted on at the -next- meeting. Regardless, our main goal is to insist that all tasks for a comprehensive RFP for Clean Power SF must move a head under a lead contractor through the LAFCO by next month! The hearing info is online at: http://www.sfgov.org/site/bdsupvrs_page.asp?id=100054 Attached is the group sign-on letter that was circulated and has been delivered to the LAFCo. Here is the hearing alert with talking points: SHOW UP AND SPEAK AT THE HEARING: FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2PM, SF CITY HALL, ROOM 250 Attend the hearing and speak at public comment to insist that Clean Power SF move forward now! DIRECTIONS: To get to the hearing, go to the San Francisco Civic Center transit station at 8th and Market Streets and cross United Nations Plaza to City Hall (on Polk Street between Grove and McAllister). PUBLIC COMMENT TALKING POINTS: - The SFPUC has been delaying Clean Power SF for five years! Enough is enough! - Access to Obama administration clean energy stimulus funds could be lost if we don't act now! - There are new reports every day that the global climate crisis is becoming far worse, far more rapidly than scientists previously believed. We cannot wait one more day to begin this project! - Clean Power SF will become the largest municipal clean energy project on Earth, setting a strong example for the rest of the world to get serious about the climate crisis! - 48 other California communities are waiting for San Francisco to take the lead on clean energy, and as California goes, so goes the world. Starting this project now is critical to leading the entire planet to take rapid action to end the climate crisis! - During the current drastic economic crisis and budget cuts, Clean Power SF will create a green economy boom in San Francisco providing hundreds of desperately need jobs to this community! For more information about Clean Power SF see http://our-city.org/campaigns/CleanPowerSF_e.html Thanks as always for your help and support. Eric Brooks

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[Sustain] Call City Hall To Save SF Clean Energy Project!
by Eric Brooks 04 Mar '09

04 Mar '09

PHONE CALL-IN DAY ALERT (Please forward this message to every San Franciscan you know who cares about ending the global climate crisis.) Save San Francisco's Clean Energy Project! Call Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi now! This Friday, March 6th, the San Francisco Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) will vote on activating the Clean Power SF renewable energy project, which was passed in 2007 to give the City 50% clean electricity within the next decade. But alarmingly, the LAFCo is poised to let the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) delay and weaken the project, thereby killing large scale clean energy in San Francisco. We must demand that the LAFCo vote a strong Clean Power SF project forward immediately. WHAT YOU CAN DO: Call LAFCo chairperson Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi today at 415-554-7630 with the following message: "Please stop accepting the SFPUC's delays, and immediately hire, through the LAFCo, the best qualified lead contractor to rapidly complete a Request For Proposals for Clean Power SF." (If you get a recording, or you are calling after business hours, just leave your comment as a voice mail message.) THEN: SHOW UP AND SPEAK AT THE HEARING: FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2PM, SF CITY HALL, ROOM 250 Attend the hearing and speak at public comment to insist that Clean Power SF move forward now! DIRECTIONS: To get to the hearing, go to the San Francisco Civic Center transit station at 8th and Market Streets and cross United Nations Plaza to City Hall (on Polk Street between Grove and McAllister). PUBLIC COMMENT TALKING POINTS: - The SFPUC has been delaying Clean Power SF for five years! Enough is enough! - Access to Obama administration clean energy stimulus funds could be lost if we don't act now! - There are new reports every day that the global climate crisis is becoming far worse, far more rapidly than scientists previously believed. We cannot wait one more day to begin this project! - Clean Power SF will become the largest municipal clean energy project on Earth, setting a strong example for the rest of the world to get serious about the climate crisis! - 48 other California communities are waiting for San Francisco to take the lead on clean energy, and as California goes, so goes the world. Starting this project now is critical to leading the entire planet to take rapid action to end the climate crisis! - During the current drastic economic crisis and budget cuts, Clean Power SF will create a green economy boom in San Francisco providing hundreds of desperately need jobs to this community! For more information about Clean Power SF see http://our-city.org/campaigns/CleanPowerSF_e.html Thanks! Eric Brooks Co-Chair - SF Green Party Sustainability Working Group

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[Sustain] Extremely Damaging: SF Examiner: PG&E As Renewable Champion
by Eric Brooks 02 Mar '09

02 Mar '09

Hi all, If you had any doubt about whether to gather your time and energy and call Ross Mirkarimi's office and then get to the City Hall LAFCo hearing at 2pm March 6 for its critical vote on Clean Power SF, just take a look at the Sunday front page SF Examiner story on PG&E CEO Peter Darbee at http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/PGEs-Peter-Darbee-is-brimming-with-energy-4… I would strongly recommend going to http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/digitaleditions.aspx?tab=0&pid=… and clicking on the icon for the Sunday edition in the lower right of the page so that you can see the article the way actual readers of the Examiner saw it on paper, in order to grasp the article's strong visual impact. This article is extremely well done and extremely damaging to us. And there will be more assaults like it. We absolutely -must- get the LAFCo to launch Clean Power SF properly with a lead RFP contractor this Friday. Every day we wait, gives PG&E yet another day to launch torpedoes like this at the clean energy movement. Every day we have to waste organizing to get our 'allies' on the LAFCo to take action, is a day that we cannot gear up a strong public education campaign to reveal PG&E's lies and show how awesome Clean Power SF will be. We must act now. Here are the call-in and hearing details: ALERT! Save San Francisco's Clean Energy Project! Attend Emergency Hearing Friday, March 6, 2pm SF City Hall, Room 250 Next Friday, March 6th, the San Francisco Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) will vote on activating the Clean Power SF renewable energy project, which was passed in 2007 to give the City 50% clean electricity within the next decade. But alarmingly, the LAFCo is poised to let the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) delay and weaken the project, thereby killing large scale clean energy in San Francisco. We must demand that the LAFCo vote a strong Clean Power SF project forward immediately. WHAT YOU CAN DO: Attend the hearing, and speak at public comment, to insist that Clean Power SF move forward now! DIRECTIONS: To get to the hearing, go to the San Francisco Civic Center transit station at 8th and Market Streets and cross United Nations Plaza to City Hall (on Polk Street between Grove and McAllister). IF YOU CAN'T ATTEND THE HEARING: Call LAFCo chairperson Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi today at 415-554-7630 with the following message: "Please stop accepting the SFPUC's delays, and immediately hire, through the LAFCo, the best qualified lead contractor to rapidly complete a Request For Proposals for Clean Power SF." PUBLIC COMMENT TALKING POINTS: - The SFPUC has been delaying Clean Power SF for five years! Enough is enough! - Access to Obama administration clean energy stimulus funds could be lost if we don't act now! - There are new reports every day that the global climate crisis is becoming far worse, far more rapidly than scientists previously believed. We cannot wait one more day to begin this project! - Clean Power SF will become the largest municipal clean energy project on Earth, setting a strong example for the rest of the world to get serious about the climate crisis! - 48 other California communities are waiting for San Francisco to take the lead on clean energy, and as California goes, so goes the world. Starting this project now is critical to leading the entire planet to take rapid action to end the climate crisis! - During the current drastic economic crisis and budget cuts, Clean Power SF will create a green economy boom in San Francisco providing hundreds of desperately need jobs to this community! For more information about Clean Power SF see http://our-city.org/campaigns/CleanPowerSF_e.html Thanks as always for your help and support. Eric Brooks Campaign Coordinator Our City -- This alert sent by: Our City 1028-A Howard St. San Francisco, CA 94103 415-756-8844 For more information about Our City campaigns go to http://www.our-city.org info(a)our-city.org

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