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Utility out to stymie renewable energy in California

A California Ballot Initiative Could Spell Trouble for Renewable Energy Why Proposition 16 Is Important to Renewable Energy Defenders, SolveClimate,  by Amy Westervelt – Mar 28th, 2010Millions of dollars in campaign cash could drastically affect the course of California’s renewable energy economy in the years ahead.

That is the concern of the dozens of citizen rights groups and renewable energy advocates urging Californians to vote “no” on Proposition 16 in the state’s June elections. The proposition would require a two-thirds’ majority from voters for a county or city to municipalize its power.

Although PG&E is selling the proposition as a measure that would give voters more power, the people already have the right to vote on whether their city or county should get in the power business, but such decisions are made by a simple majority. Requiring a two-thirds majority would make it extremely difficult for any city or county to create a public utility rather than buy power from a private utility.

The utility has already spent millions to get the measure on the ballot, hiring a signature-gathering firm to get over a million signatures, more than enough to get a proposition on the state’s ballot. According to Dave Room, coordinator of Oakland’s Local Clean Energy Alliance and co-founder of nonprofit Bay Localize, the utility paid about 70 cents per signature.

It’s not the first time PG&E has thrown down serious cash to protect its grip on the power market in Northern California……………

n the lead-up to the vote, several cities have passed resolutions against Prop 16, including Berkeley, Palo Alto, Glendale and a number of irrigation districts. “Unfortunately, local government can’t legally spend time or money on this, so it’s hard for them to compete with the $35 million PG&E is spending,” Room says.

To bolster the opposition, several local nonprofits are staging rallies and campaigns to inform the public, but whether it will be enough to compete remains to be seen.

A California Ballot Initiative Could Spell Trouble for Renewable Energy | SolveClimate.com

March 29, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | renewable energy, renewables