Here are notes for the September Sustainability Working Group meeting and an invitation to attend the next meeting Thursday, October 25, 7:30 PM at the Green Party office.

I hope you can come,

Don

SFGP Sustainability Working Group 9/26/07
 
Present:  Eric Brooks, Don Eichelberger
 
Agenda:

I. Proposal to oppose nuke ban repeal; II. Community Choice; III. Moratorium on Lennar; IV. Combustion Turbine update
 
I.                   No Nukes Proposal-  Don- State Senator Chuck DeVore has been trying to introduce  legislation to repeal California?s ban on new nuclear power reactors pending a resolution of the waste issue.  Legislation was stopped in the Natural Resources Committee, chaired by Loni Hancock.  Now, DeVore has submitted language for a repeal initiative to the State Attorney General.  Fortunately, Jerry Brown?s title and summary did not leave intact DeVore?s effort to frame it as an effort to reduce greenhouse emissions.  But the initiative already has the endorsement of the state Republican Party. 
 
Discussion:
 
Don is asking for SF Local support for a resolution he is attempting to get on the state Green Party plenary Consent Calendar opposing this effort, as follows:
 
GPCA platform continues to oppose nuclear power to produce electric energy. GPCA opposes the Chuck DeVore initiative, which would overturn California's state ban on new nuclear facilities and end our protection from this costly, dangerous and unnecessary technology.

We are especially concerned that proponents of nuclear power are trying to characterize nuclear as "green energy" that can address Global Warming.   Greens know the difference:

SAFETY-Green Energy does not endanger the public by threats of cataclysmic accidents.
ENVIRONMENT- It does not leave behind long-lived, dangerous wastes that can, themselves, be used as weapons.
RENEWABLE- It uses renewable and cyclically available energy, such as wind, solar, tidal and small hydro. No mines, no drills.
SECURITY- It is decentralized and not as susceptible to regional outages from accident or attack.

There was no objection to forwarding this proposal to the SFGP County Council for inclusion on the next General Membership agenda.
 
II.                Community Choice- Eric-.  Background: In June, CCA passed the Board of Supervisors. Mayor Newsome signed it, although noted problems around costs in his signing statement.  CCA Coalition had to accept SFPUC administration, although LAFCO will have some oversight.
 
  1. Update on current status: In mid-August, SFPUC was to have called for feedback on a request for information.  The RFI missed the mid-August deadline, but SFPUC put it up on their web site in mid-September. http://sfwater.org/detail.cfm/MC_ID/12/MSC_ID/138/MTO_ID/237/C_ID/3621#top
 LAFCO was not invited to review the RFI, but did not formally oppose the bypass.
 
Paul Fenn and Rick Galbraith saw problems with it and Rick has made efforts to have his concerns addressed.  Tom Ammiano is no longer on the LAFCO board.  Chris Daly may replace him at least for the next meeting tomorrow, which will discuss ways to work with SFPUC and vote on a monitoring program.  $2.1 million will be requested to fund it, down from $3 million originally agreed to between Susan Leal and Tom Ammiano.
 
LAFCO will put out an RFP (request for proposals) for a contractor to monitor the program, and Local Power?s Paul Fenn is expected to file.  A representative from LAFCO will work with the contractor.  Tom Ammiano?s former staffer, Angela Calvillo. will be nominated to oversee the committee.
 
B. Other Information
   
III.             Moratorium on Lennar- Eric-  Lennar Corp., in charge of shipyard clean up in Bayview Hunters Point had been forced to fix air monitors, which were barely operational  for several months last year.  They are running now and have recorded many violations. Local residents, as well as Green Party, Our City and others issued an alert calling on people to notify the BoS that they support a moratorium on Lennar activities until the work is proved safe
 
Since Sophie Maxwell was unwilling to introduce the resolution, Chris Daly was asked to do so.  Public comment at the BoS meeting strongly supported the resolution to stop Lennar, although some in the community, including a couple of influential reverends came out in favor of Lennar.  At hearings on the issue, SF Dept. of Health signed off on the Lennar Project, stating that since EPA allows certain levels of asbestos, it was OK. The BoS vote was 6-5 opposed to the resolution, with Peskin and McGoldrick voting against it.
 
Eric Mar had the idea that the School Board should take action on such a resolution to protect school children in the neighborhood.  School Board got a lot of support for the resolution, and it was adopted unanimously.  However, it is not a binding resolution, but merely asks the city to take action.
 
We need to lobby supervisors and see if we can discuss possibilities with Ross.
 
IV.             Combustion Turbines/SF Energy- Eric- BoS approved the Transbay Cable, so it could be bringing 400 MW of grid power from Pittsburg to the city by 2010. Concerns of bringing in that much power and negative impacts it might have on CCA conservation and renewables.  Might be mitigated if we can leverage renewable power through the lines, such as CCA wind power in the vicinity.
 
Bayview Hunters Point residents have pointed out that since that much power will be coming in to the city through that cable, there does not appear to be any reason to site the CT?s there.  The ISO, in charge of grid resources, thinks we should have both, in anticipation of future growth projections.  ISO is saying they want the CT?s sited, or they will not remove the requirement for Mirant to run, so it cannot be closed.
 
Community activists were mobilized to speak out at SFPUC Board meetings, and are being paid attention to.  On 7/10, it was agendized, and many from BVHP community attended to speak out against the CT?s.  But at the beginning of the meeting, the item was pulled from the agenda.  People were not told that they could still comment on the item.
 
Community members went to the SFPUC staff and asked why the item was pulled, and were told it was because no one had responded to the RFP and bid on the project, so it did not appear the project could move forward.  At this point, most of the community members left the meeting.
 
Then, 45 minutes later, during a discussion of water, Deputy General Manager Tony Irons brought up the CT?s and said there were responses to the RFP, but companies suggested different ways, including purchasing them from the city and running them elsewhere.  Mr. Irons spoke with the City Attorney, and was told it is OK to consider new proposals, but not as bids.
 
By the July 24 meeting, they had a potential contractor- J. Power, USA wants to purchase the CT?s, install and run them privately for 10-12 years, then ?gift? them to the city.  A letter was sent to SFPUC Commissioners by Peskin, Maxwell. and Mayor Newsom recommending approval of the contract.
 
Maxwell also got a similar resolution before the SF Board of Supervisors.  But Espanola Jackson was able to get it sent to committee and not acted upon. 
 
SFPUC voted to continue negotiations with J. Power.  Werbach and Sklar were both unhappy with the decision and community activists are continuing some pressure. 
 
PG&E created a non-profit front group to oppose the CT?s, which SFBG found suspect. 
 
Bright Line Defense is a non-profit filing suit against the CT?s through the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, who were recently found to have jurisdiction over CO2 emissions as a pollutant.   A. Phillip Randolph Foundation is a co-plaintiff.  They have taken $50,000 in contributions from PG&E, but they claim none of that money is going in to the court case.
 
SFPUC agreed at their last meeting that they need to slow down and consider the process carefully and review the contract before it is finalized.
 
Eric will draft  a resolution to take to the next General Membership meeting to oppose building the new CT?s due to the Transbay Cable and concerns about undercutting efficiency and renewables efforts.  The ISO says the city needs generation within the city to assure grid stability and the Transbay Cable is not considered suitable for this.


 
 
 


Don Eichelberger
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The Hegelian/Marxist goal is emancipation.  Marx said it best in 1843:

"Human emancipation wll only be complete when the real, individual man (sic) is absorbed into himself the abstract citizen; when as an individual man, in his every day life, in his work and in his relationships, he has become a species-being (politically accountabe to the whole); and when he recognizes and realizes his own power as social powers, so that he no  longer separates this social power from himself as political power."