Need Public Comment at LA City Hall TOMORROW for a Clean Energy Future

First things first, thank you everyone who contacted their state senators about SB 568, the statewide ban on polystyrene food containers.  It squeaked through the senate yesterday by one vote. You all really made the difference in this one.  On to the State Assembly!  Stay tuned for details.

Please thank our new State Senator, Ted Lieu, who voted in favor of the ban, and our own Los Angeles Council member, Bill Rosendahl, who vigorously supported it.

But our work to clean up our environment is not done.  Never done. There have been over 1,415 tornadoes in the United States already this year -- a record -- causing over 518 deaths, with estimated damages of over $16 billion.  We have had hundred-year floods over the past two years in Tennessee and Utah and Iowa and Wisconsin and Rhode Island and Texas and Singapore and Rio de Janeiro and Romania and Uganda and Nigeria and Central Europe and Pakistan and Oaxaca, Mexico, and that’s not even close to all of them.

The Mississippi River floods have trashed parts of Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.  In the same tw0-year time period, we have had hundred-year fires in Flagstaff, Arizona, and Boulder, Colorado, and Salt Lake City, and right here in Los Angeles.  "Hundred-year" means it's only supposed to happen once in a hundred years.

No matter how loudly the naysayers protest -- and they have a mighty and well-funded bullhorn -- the Earth's climate has already changed in a massive way and we're paying the price in lives, in dollars and in damage.  You've seen the suffering on TV.

We can do something to help, right now, immediately. 

TOMORROW, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is taking public comment for their long range energy plan covering the next 20 years.

It is vitally important that LADWP customers show up to comment and tell DWP, with one loud, clear voice, there is no such thing as clean coal: we want a clean energy future.

From the LA Sierra Club's invitation:

You already know that Los Angeles gets over a third of our power from two dirty and dangerous coal plants in Utah and Arizona. As LADWP customers, when we pay our bills we are shipping our money out-of-state to prop up coal plants that are driving climate change and polluting communities. Enough is enough!

The good news is that the LA Department of Water and Power is building a long range energy plan for the next 20 years that could commit LA to moving beyond coal. Rather than funding dirty out-of-state coal plants, we should be investing those dollars in clean energy and green jobs right here in our own communities, where we need that funding most.

On Saturday June 4th, the LADWP is holding a hearing at City Hall to discuss this plan. It is absolutely CRITICAL they hear from people like you!! We will be holding a rally before the hearing and then march as a group into the meeting where members of the public can provide comments. We need you, and your family and friends, standing with us to call for coal-free LA by 2020!

YOU MUST RSVP HERE: http://www.ladwpnews.com/go/survey/1475/6979/

WHEN:
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Rally is 8:30am-9am, City Council meeting is 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
**We will bring coffee for you-just bring a reusable mug please!!**

WHERE:
Los Angeles City Hall
200 N. Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
*We will be meeting on the steps of the South Lawn (off of W. 1st between N. Spring and N. Main)

HOW TO GET THERE: You can take the Metro red line to Civic Center, or parking will be provided. Please call your member of City Council to inquire about parking (for contact info visit http://lacity.org/YourGovernment/CityCouncil/index.htm)

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From LADWP:  

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE MEETING AT CITY HALL:

The Los Angeles City Council Energy and Environment Committee is holding its first-ever joint meeting with the Board of Water and Power Commissioners to hear a presentation on the 2011 LADWP Water and Power financial plan and revenue requirement by LADWP General Manager Ronald Nichols. 

The meeting is open to the public and will include a question-and-answer session and public comment.

After the presentation, LADWP will launch a dedicated revenue requirement website at www.ladwp.com/laforward with information on how the public can participate in the rates process, learn about the LADWP's cost pressures and provide feedback as the Department develops water and power revenue requirements for policymakers to consider later this summer.   

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Hope to see you there!