THE VIEW FROM HERE-In light of Mayor Garcetti’s four recent appointments to replace the previous DWP Board of Commissioners (appointed by former Mayor Villaraigosa), it might be helpful for environmental groups to provide to these newly selected members, insight and context on the significant programs that were approved over the last two to three years with the support of our city leaders and a broad coalition of community and environmental groups.
There have been, in fact, many significant initiatives that have already worked their way through the system to achieve legal and enforceable status to mitigate environmental challenges.
What immediately comes to mind as one such outcome promoted by a coalition of environmental partners is the resolution that will take our City off coal in two stages—depending on negotiated contracts: the Navajo Generating Station in Arizona by 2015 and the Utah-based Intermountain Power Plant (IPP) no later than 2025.
The question now is: what path do we pursue during the off-coal transition and its full implementation to keep coal in our energy-producing past?
We environmentalists, though happy to see us off coal, would also be more than chagrinned if our City turned to fracking (see my previous article) as an acceptable alternative. Keep in mind, research has determined that “clean” coal and “clean” fracking are only an illusion—purely fictitious.
City leaders will have an opportunity next month to renew their commitment to energy-efficiency programs that save customers money on their bills, create jobs, and reduce our reliance on coal. All of us need to encourage our new DWP Board of Commissioners to support more energy-efficient, less costly, and certainly less-polluting technologies to be incorporated into its decision-making policy decisions.
These programs would be cheaper and safer than building more power plants. Energy-efficiency, after all, is intended to serve all customers, including those who struggle the most. The projects would significantly lower the utility bills for businesses, residents, and schools.
Thus, I would like to see the following goals fulfilled:
● energy-efficiency for all (regardless of income and geographical location within the County)
● further development and implementation of the Home Energy Improvement Program (HEIP)
● low-energy use technologies for small businesses
● free upgrades to replace old and high-energy producing appliances, such as refrigerators, washers, dryers, and dish washers. This would also include toilet upgrades and replacement of fixtures, such as faucets and showerheads; low-use water systems (including lawn irrigation and/or replacement of plants with native, drought-resistant landscaping)
● expanding and promoting discounts for low-income residents
There has frequently been the argument that coal-use costs less for the consumer. In fact, in recent years it has been proven that its use has become ever more expensive. Furthermore, coal work has produced an unremitting, ever-worsening, irreparable health impact on both the miner (who extracts the coal from dangerous underground mines) and on his or her community. Because, of course, there is a concern about worker unemployment as the off-coal movement gains speed, such workers could be re-trained for energy-efficient, green (as opposed to black) jobs (consider the deleterious impact of strip-mining and cave-ins).
We are urging our Commissioners to set a goal of reducing energy-consumption by 15% by 2020, similar to what the Sacramento Utility District has been doing. We cannot maintain and expand effective endeavors without the funding to do so. Meanwhile, customers should not have to choose between paying for heat and air conditioning or purchasing food and other necessities.
As many of you know, I live in the San Fernando Valley where withering temperatures of 110° or more are reached in the summer. Winters also pose a problem with low temperatures accompanied by strong, icy-cold winds. This situation and that in other Los Angeles locales will only get worse with climate change.
Each year we witness the old, disabled, and/or the poor die from heat prostration in the hot months or from hypothermia when it is extremely cold. It is unacceptable that we give only lip service to these tragedies when we can do something significant so that such outcomes are not inevitable. Energy-efficient upgrades can address this problem by making home temperatures more conducive for healthy living.
We need to acquire more resources and increase our infrastructure capacity. We must enlighten the consumer through greater outreach [Green-the-Block (about which I have spoken before) is one such example of an outstanding outreach program]. The customer must be able to take advantage of the free energy audits and upgrades that are available now. As people benefit from these initiatives, we shall see a greater utilization of the offerings, ultimately creating lower bills and more effective energy use. I would love to see pulpits and newsletters and e-mail blasts take the lead in getting the message out as well.
Community-based organizations are reaching out to small businesses to introduce them to energy-efficient upgrade programs. Other non-profits have similar visions with frequently overlapping goals, but the overall message is the same—to produce greater energy-efficiency for more people at a lower cost while reducing and reversing the “dirty” practices that have produced the unconscionable pollution to which we all have been exposed.
China is an excellent example, unfortunately, of what can happen here. It is no mere understatement to assert that that nation has allowed its pollutants to get out of hand. American companies have outsourced to Chinese manufacturers and they have “outsourced” sickening pollutants to us. The air is so bad in many parts of China that a dark-gray pall continuously hangs over the cities. People literally regurgitate on the streets, coughing up thick, blackish phlegm. It is so odiferous that people have to avoid certain places altogether in preference to others that are not quite so bad. We cannot accept this outcome for America—for Los Angeles.
We look to our Mayor and Councilmembers in conjunction with our DWP Commissioners to recommend the changes that are urgently needed. Let us help them make the decision to build the internal capacity to get the work done.
The City and DWP, however, cannot do it all. They need to form public-private partnerships with community-based organizations (such as our many Neighborhood Councils which are, perhaps, more in touch with neighborhood needs than other branches of government). Historically, many people have become distrustful and skeptical of these kinds of efforts because of prior encounters that have gone awry, frequently from unscrupulous contractors. We must change their thinking and get them to trust that our hearts are not only in the right place but that valuable benefits will unquestionably accrue from participation in these enterprises.
Proposals sponsored by the City/DWP in conjunction with IBEW have created outstanding projects such as the Utility Pre-Craft Training (UPCT) Program. Through these ventures, the unemployed and underemployed are receiving expansive training, career counselling, and eventually placement in permanent, well-paying positions with benefits. Outreach includes people facing significant barriers to employment, such as single mothers, the long-term unemployed and veterans. We need to maintain and increase these types of efforts from which, in the short- and long-run, we can all benefit.
Thus, from A-Z, energy-efficient undertakings work. We, as paying consumers, must first support these innovations and then commit to edifying our electeds (and appointees) so that they will enthusiastically endorse them as well.
More jobs, better pay, fresh air, pure water, a healthier populace, clean energy, lower bills! Can we ask for better results than these?!
(Rosemary Jenkins is a Democratic activist and chair of the Northeast Valley Green Coalition. Jenkins has written Leticia in Her Wedding Dress and Other Poems, A Quick-and-Easy Reference to Correct Grammar and Composition and Vignettes for Understanding Literary and Related Concepts. She also writes for CityWatch.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 10
Pub: Feb 4, 2014
