We all want more clean power, and in a few months, San Franciscans will be automatically enrolled in a new power system called “CleanPowerSF.” But simply calling energy “clean” or “green” is not enough.
We’ve seen it before — a fancy marketing campaign that promises “clean energy” but winds up delivering dirty power that’s imported from other states and produced by anti-worker companies like Shell Oil.
All electricity providers – including private utilities like PG&E, existing public utilities and the new local government power purchasing agencies known as CCAs – should support sustainable energy and family-friendly jobs. It’s our job to hold CleanPowerSF accountable, which is why we’re backing Proposition H.
Prop H — the Defining Clean, Green, and Renewable Energy Act — is the best chance for sustainable green power and sustainable green jobs in the City’s new power system.
Prop. H makes it City policy for San Francisco to limit the use of Renewable Energy Credits (or RECs) so that its new energy program can’t sell customers brown power marketed as green. RECs do not reduce greenhouse gas emissions and do not create real green energy or green energy jobs. Learn more about RECs.
Prop. H also prioritizes energy produced in the Bay Area and California, which supports the local green economy and promotes green energy jobs.
Prop. H will help us hold politicians accountable.
In 2012, when PG&E wanted to use dirty brown power covered up by RECs for its green option program, a broad coalition led by IBEW and the Utility Reform Network (TURN) fought to stop them — and won.
Two years ago, San Francisco’s plan for its City-run power program was to contract with Shell Oil in Texas, a company with one of the worst records on the environment and labor, and to use RECs to cover 85% of the power load. IBEW stood up for what’s right — and the program came to a halt.
San Francisco politicians recently changed a law to allow the new City-run power program to sidestep competitive bidding and local hire rules. We cannot allow CleanPowerSF to skirt the rules and kill quality jobs in our community.
We need policies that protect workers and support the local economy. That’s why we need Prop H.
Learn more at http://www.truthinenergysf.com/.
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