SPECIAL REQUEST:

WRITE AN IMPORTANT LETTER TO THE PUC ABOUT COAL-BASED ENERGY IN CA

PacificCorp serves just 45,000 customers in California (mostly to our neighbors in Del Norte and Siskiyou counties), but we’re just one of ten states in which they sell electricity. They own the largest fleet of coal plants in the US, and 71% of their power comes from coal. Despite the rest of the world’s concern about climate change, they have shown no intention to reduce their coal use over the next few decades because it’s very profitable for them.

The Sierra Club’s formal status as “intervenor,” which they won last year in a legal proceeding before the Oregon and California PUCs, enables them to question the assumptions that PacificCorp presents to the PUC’s to justify those profitable rates, and their reliance on coal. (PUCs set rates in each state, as well as the rate of return utilities get for their investments in coal and other power plants.) The Club has experts who will call into question those assumptions, but the Club wants to recruit northern California residents who will contact the CPUC to tell them, in their own words, what they think of Pacific Power not only selling coal-fired electricity to people in this state, operating that huge fleet of coal plants, but charging top-dollar for it! That way the commissioners can see not only that PacificCorp numbers don’t add up, but that members of the public are watching.

The Sierra Club attorneys explain that different states’ PUCs pay attention to rate cases in other states, so they are hopeful that if California or Oregon accept their argument, other states will also tighten up on PacificCorp. When their coal plants are less profitable, they’ll have less motivation to stay wedded to them.

Here’s the link to get you to the PUC’s “Proceedings” page: https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/proceedings/

It’s fairly easy to access the public comments page. First you click on the heading “Docket Card.” It will open up a “Proceeding Search” box where you can enter the proceeding number in the search box. This is proceeding number A2008002. It comes up with a single line of text and a hyperlink on the left. Click it. At the top of the page that comes up, click “Add Public Comment.” Then make your comment. You can choose not to have it be public if you wish.

The Sierra Club folks recommend emphasizing that PUC should be scrutinizing the coal contracts PacifiCorp has, what their coal plants’ average cost/MWh is rather than the marginal cost of each additional MWh, and that customers shouldn’t have to pay for more coal than needed.

For a more thorough look, here are slides from the Sierra Club organizer, Jacob Klein: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WTC3B4blwiGYbvvnc-AANYwPKr-kFAhg/view

This issue will be heard on May 25th and 27th. It’s best to get comments in for the fuel docket beforehand, but comments will still be accepted after the 27th. And remember, you don’t have to be a technical expert, it’s your personal story that matters.

WRITE VOTING LETTERS

Write letters and sign petitions on your own or join the 350 Humboldt “chat and write” letter-writing group Sunday evenings at 7pm. Here is the zoom link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85643874306?pwd=Tm1yeXJBVVhWMGt5ZjZXVTVYbGFoZz09

POSTCARD WRITING TO VOTERS ORGANIZED BY HUMBOLDT ACTIVIST FREDERICA AALTA

Here Frederica describes what they are doing:

I am administering a postcarding network in Humboldt County (presently over 300 writers) and we supply postcards and stamps to writers, which are available for cost at several convenient pickup locations. At present, we have just finished postcarding Wisconsin, so are at a lull, but new campaigns will be starting soon for several states. Have anyone interested in joining us contact me. We mostly postcard for ROV (Reclaim Our Vote), which is non-partisan, but have also postcarded for Activate America (which used to be called Flip the West), which is partisan.

She can be reached at: [email protected]

VOTING – VOTE FORWARD

https://votefwd.org/campaigns

Sending letters to voters thanking them for voting in last election and encouraging them to vote again in upcoming elections.

VOTING – POSTCARDS TO SWING STATES

There are just three weeks left until the June 8 Democratic primaries in New Jersey and Virginia. When more Democrats vote in the primary, more of them vote in November, as well. We can’t let Republicans take control in these states!

Please SIGN UP to write postcards to make sure Democrats come out and vote. We’ll send you the postcards, addresses and instructions for free. You provide $0.36 stamps and mail the cards.  A number of campaigns are available on the website.

With the help of volunteers like you, we wrote 21 million postcards in 2020, and we saw incredible results! Voters who receive handwritten postcards are significantly more likely to vote. You can help us keep New Jersey and Virginia blue!

Visit our website to learn more about Postcards to Swing States and get answers to our frequently asked questions.

SIERRA CLUB VOTER REGISTRATION

Only 63% of Arizona voters are registered. Send a blank registration form and a letter to unregistered voters:

Print copies of this blank voter registration form and include a blank form with each letter you send. Please do not write on the voter registration forms.

These letters should be put in the mail as soon as you have completed them.

Please follow the instructions here to complete and send your letters: sc.org/LetterWritingInstructions.

When you are ready for your next batch of letters, please request more at sc.org/RequestLetters.

WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR CLIMATE NEWS?

The LA Times has an email letter called Boiling Point written by reporter Sammy Roth. You can sign up for it on this page: https://membership.latimes.com/newsletters/?

And 6000 strong 350 Silicon Valley has a great newsletter you can sign up for here: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/subscribe-31?

Another good California climate group is The Climate Center.  Their newsletter always has new information: https://theclimatecenter.org/news/?

And we hope you get Bill McKibben’s weekly newsletter. Sign up at his site: http://billmckibben.com/

Reminder

If you haven’t yet, send in your comment to the Planning Commission asking for a full EIR for the gigantic new fish factory on the Samoa Peninsula. Check out information and possible messages at this EPIC website: CLICK HERE!

OTHER LETTERS/PETITIONS

SIERRA CLUB

When world leaders of the G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US) meet in the United Kingdom next month, they will be tasked with coming up with a unified response to a global pandemic and its economic consequences, while also grappling with the urgent need for climate action.

If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we’re all interconnected. Massive challenges like global health, economic recovery, and climate change all require global cooperation. This moment presents a unique opportunity for world leaders to unite around a new global consensus that connects our health and economic recovery with the urgent need to address climate change.

Tell President Biden: It’s time to Build Back Better on a global scale. Seek commitments on a global coal phaseout.

ENVIRONMENT AMERICA

Earlier this month, a dead Cuvier’s beaked whale washed ashore. The cause of death? Eating massive amounts of plastic products that had ended up in the ocean.

It’s just the latest in a string of examples of how our plastic waste is devastating wildlife. It’s increasingly clear we need to do better — but Whole Foods, which advertises itself as environmentally responsible, recently received an F grade from As You Sow for its plastic packaging.

Whole Foods has an important board meeting next week, where it’ll be considering a shareholder resolution to address plastic packaging. Take a minute now to tell Whole Foods that it’s time it gets single-use plastic packaging off its shelves.

SIERRA CLUB

Senator Merkley and Rep. Huffman just introduced the Keep It in the Ground Act, a bill that would ban all new leasing for oil, gas, coal, and tar sands on public lands.Send a message to Congress urging them to support this legislation!

CLIMATE CENTER

SB 582, authored by Senator Henry Stern, would establish California’s first-ever statutory net-negative greenhouse gas emissions goal, with a target date of 2035. It would bring California’s climate policy goals into closer alignment with what scientists are saying we must do to avert climate catastrophe.

To urge your State Senator to support passage of SB 582, click the button below.