RE PG&E and Community Choice, and the four gas-fired power plants that Kali wants to plant in BVHP, and at the SFO Airport: These are a few points about what we're up against, and a very concrete proposal for an alternative; wind and solar power generated in the native Four Corners, by the Black Mesa Water Coalition: So, first, what we've gotta have a concrete alternative to: 1) PG&E CEO Peter Darbee announced, on December 16th, in the San Luis Obispo Tribune, that the U.S. future is nuclear, http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/story/221538.html On January 17th, Darbee was in Washington promoting nuclear, at the National Press Club, and picking up awards from the NRDC at the same time, http://www.pgecorp.com/news/press_releases/ Release_Archive2007/070117_1press_release.shtml (You have to read way down in this one to find, among Darbee's recommendations in D.C.: "Evaluate the future role of nuclear power in the U.S. energy supply.") 2) Last week I got a finger-wagging lecture from somebody in PG&E billing, for having installed enough solar panels on my roof to generate more electricity than I can squander in a year by myself. And and and!!!!: my "solar credits" are going to vanish into thin air if I don't find a way to squander them within a year. Why can't I, likewise, write off my natural gas heat and hot water bill simply by not paying it??? (I'm trying to stop using natural gas, but it's a slightly more difficult problem to solve than electricity, which is why these natural gas plants drive me absolutely nuts. (Yeah, yeah, I know. Annie? That happened a long time ago. But those power plants are makin' it worse.) They're gonna plant four natural gas power plants and haul Japan- based J-power over here, just to generate electricity? Not to heat water or heat homes, just to generate electricity? Too many ready alternatives for that. And, Japan is about to buy a pile of cheap carbon credits in Eastern Europe, since it's 8% over its Kyoto commitment, despite its 55 nuclear power plants. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/ 2007/11/26/asia/AS-GEN-Japan-Greenhouse-Gases.php I've realized that most people who install residential solar panels take great care to install no more than they calculate it will take to cover their electricity bill, basing their calculations of on past kilowatt use, because they are so loathe to wind up subsidizing PG&E. I'm loathe to subsidize PG&E too, extremely loathe, but I thought the solar credits would just keep rolling over till I needed them to keep a respirator going, or that maybe I could will them to the Green Party to pay the electricity bill on Howard St. till they ran out. But, residential solar credits are not forever, unlike PG&E bills, which wind up on your credit report if you don't pay them, and, unlike pollution trading credits--I'm actually guessing about this, but something tells me they're forever. The first example of pollution trading credits I saw was last year, when SoCal Edison pocketed the sulphur pollution trading credits for closing the Mojave Generation Station, then turned around and tried to sell the Mojave Generation Station to Peabody Coal. Pollution trading credits suck, but they're totally meaningless unless the dirty power infrastructure is demolished, because as long as it's in place, somebody's gonna get dirty power ideas. (Think GE actually got out of the nuke weapons biz after the film Deadly Deception nailed them for it and won an Oscar in the 1990s? (http:// www.newday.com/films/DeadlyDeception.html) Think again; they didn't destroy the infrastructure, and besides, nuke power is part of the infrastructure anyway. So, solar credits vanish at midnight, one year after installation, even if you're paying for solar panels with interest, as I will be, in a year. And, last November, the Chron quoted Peter Darbee saying that PG&E aims to become the greenest utility in the country, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/18/ BU80TD6ER.DTL. So, PG&E aggressively discourages solar power production in San Francisco, which makes their argument that there's a need for more dirty power, like the gas-fired plants in BVHP and at the airport really weak. And, I'm REALLY PISSED, and in debt, so I, at the very very least want my solar credits rolling forward, and I want to be able to will them to the Green Party, in the event of my death. I'll have this written up as soon as the Supes work it out, unless four more years of Gavin Newsom, and a few dozen personal aggravations have me packin' my bags before then. Now, to the concrete renewable power alternative, and this is a very concrete proposal, for solar and wind power, with infrastructure already in place to deliver, from the Black Mesa Water Coalition, which needs potential power buyers to invest in their solar and wind farms. Nothing could be much more environmentally just than this proposal, for the Four Corners, for BVHP, and for all of us: 3) The Black Mesa Water Coalition had a press conference on Friday, in Santa Fe, to put their renewable power proposal forward. The proposal is on the Desert Rock Blog, http://www.desert-rock- blog.com/. Actually, their proposal was the first thing there the last time I looked but now that the press conference is over, the AP report is coming up first, at least today. Their own proposal, as they outlined it, is there as well. 4) Lori Goodman, of the Black Mesa Water Coalition will be out here this week, from Wednesday to Saturday. I think I've got her a couple of radio spots, on KPFA and KPOO. The Black Mesa Water Coalition's defeat of mighty Peabody Coal last year, with virtually nothing in the way of financial resources is, to my mind, one of the most underreported stories of 2007, in this country. 5) They are still trying to defeat Sithe Global Industries 60-acre coal-fired plant proposal at Desert Rock, and trying to build support for their renewable power proposal, which would support the native people of the Four Corners, not the tribal governments that sold them, the poorest of their own, down the coal slurry line, but the Hopi and Diné Navajo of the Four Corners, the poorest of both tribes, now united in the Black Mesa Water Coalition, a coalition of many grassroots organizations. 6) They have the infrastructure in place to deliver power, on the Southwest Grid. SoCal Edison and Peabody Coal had to leave it behind. They have the delivery infrastructure, but not the solar and wind power plants they wanta build. And nobody's giving them any money to build it. They came out here, to the CPUC, and appealed for the sulphur trading credits due for closure of the Mojave Generation Station at Big Mountain/Black Mesa, figuring that someone was going to get the stupid sulphur trading credits, so it might as well be them, and not having the courage to ask for reparations---pollution taxes, levied against SoCal Edison at the very last---which is what they really deserve for the 40-year nightmare of the Black Mesa Coal Mine and the Mojave Generation Station. So, why shouldn't San Francisco, in accordance with Community Choice Renewable Energy legislation, invest in their wind and solar farms, especially since they already have the infrastructure in place, for delivering power to the Southwest Grid? I know it's a long way for power to travel and there's some lost in the way, but I also think that power in the Southwest Grid is sort of an abstraction, an abstraction that can be calculated this way or that way. Like there's X amount of power in the Southwest Grid and we pay for Y amount; Marie Harrison knows way more about exactly how this works, and I know it's more complicated than that, but, how far is this nuclear power traveling from San Luis Obispo anyway, and how much fossil fuel is it gonna take to get mine and mill uranium, fly it to an enrichment plant running on coal, enrich it, fly it to San Luis Obispo, pay for Wackenhut's nuclear security guards, etc.? So I'm really not gonna worry about a little electricity that might be lost transporting solar and wind power from the Four Corners to us, on the Southwest Grid. SoCal Edison transported it from the coal- fired Mojave Generation Station to Los Angeles for years, without leaving one kilowatt behind on the rez, ever. Not even one. What about the fossil fuel cost of mining, transporting, and quite likely, liquifying and then "regasifying" all this natural gas for four new natural gas power plants right here in the CCSF, including three in BVHP? http://www.sfbayview.com/20071107576/News/This_week/ No_more_gas-fired_power_plants_.html (Update re one point at this URL: Chuck DeVore has withdrawn his state referendum to abolish our ban on new nuclear power plant construction, but the California Energy Commission has hatched a plot to build more nuclear, with all the usual suspects.) Also, re natural gas, did everybody sign the GET UP Petition, http:// www.getup.org.au/campaign/SaveOurHeritage&id=19? If not, please do, and get a look at that filthy diesel-powered natural gas liquefaction plant spewing fumes all over the sacred rock art, and into the air, water, and everything else, including the lungs of the aboriginal Australian people, on the Burrup Peninsula. If I can get the right date, I'll print a picture of that LNG plant on the Burrup and go lay it on the screen at the Supes or wherever the next hearing about this is, to see if we can get it on public TV here. This is an urban area with next to no space for any new power generation except solar on the rooftops, and we don't need four more natural gas-fired power plants here trashing BVHP after trashing native communities, and the California Coast, to get the fuel here, http://www.sfbayview.com/20071107576/News/This_week/No_more_gas- fired_power_plants_.html Why not consider the possibility that San Francisco could buy solar and wind power generated in the Native Four Corners? Why not consider that San Francisco might invest in it, especially since the delivery infrastructure is already in place? Could San Francisco conceivably invest in solar and wind power in the Four Corners? Anyone else see anything in this idea? Sorry if this is kinda long- winded, but I'm too worn out to pare it down. Peace---Annie anniegarrison@mac.com (415) 285-7259 (415) 786-3896 "El Baradei has as much interest in stopping proliferation as George Bush has in stopping the drug trade." -Craig Reishus, Nuclear Free FutureAwards, http://www.nuclear-free.com/english/frames7.htm On Jan 17, 2008, at 9:17 PM, Eric Brooks wrote:

Transpo:

- Mark Sanchez will likely be running on free Muni platform. - Free Muni - Expanding transit to address climate change and peak oil - Updating Transit Platform

Sustainability:

- Community Choice (Need More Involvement - Hearing Soon) & The Mayor's Poisonous Solar Initiative - Combustion Turbines (Action/Hearings Soon) - Peak Oil Taskforce Update - Candlestick Development & Initiatives

susan vaughan wrote:

...

What would be on the agenda? I'd really like to avoid going down to SoMa if I can.

Sue

*/Eric Brooks <brookse32@aim.com>/* wrote:

Shall we go with a joint meeting this month, starting at 6:30pm with Transportation?

I can be available either evening.

peace

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