Yesterday, California Community Power cacommunitypower.org, a Joint Powers Agency comprised of ten California community choice aggregators covering 2.9M customers & 140 municipalities took a major step to adopting the policies that need to be at the heart of the #GreenNewDeal.
Several months ago NorCal @IBEW locals & Building Trades Councils joined with @CA_BlueGreen, @SierraClub, & @climatecampaign to demand that this new energy agency spanning from Humboldt to Yolo to Santa Barbara adopt strong labor & environmental policies for energy procurement.
While CA labor laws set strong wage and workforce standards for publicly funded construction, they don't cover procurement contracts to buy the energy produced by privately constructed projects making nightmare scenarios like these a real possibility, thecentersquare.com/national/on-th…
Lack of strong labor and environmental standards allows bad operators to come in and offer 'great deals' built on the backs of underpaid workers and environmental damage. Pressure to meet energy demand leads to setting aside labor and environmental standards to get power cheaper.
We became concerned that in the absence of clear direction by CCP, such a scenario could unfold here as well and leave the governing bodies of the CCAs with the same choice faced by private operators. The Boards of @PenCleanEnergy and @CleanPowerSF agreed.
With support from across the CCP service area for strong labor and environmental standards the Board established a committee to develop policies. Yesterday CCP adopted interim policies for its Long Duration Storage currently out to bid.
Our goals are clear:
-strong labor standards for all projects
-maximizing local workforce investment
-minimizing environmental & environmental justice impacts for siting, &
-a public advisory committee spanning the entire service area.
Yesterday was a big step in that direction
We applaud CCP staff and Directors on their diligence in working with our team and we look forward to
continuing to work with CCP staff to ensure that the standards developed and adopted for the Long Duration Storage are adopted for all projects moving forward.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Modular boosters tout theoretical costs savings that more often than not don't actually appear once the project comes face to face with the real world.
Part of the sales pitch is ease and speed, both of which are incredibly appealing. But those quickly evaporate once inevitable manufacturing errors come into the mix.