HomeMy WebLinkAbout6/16/2020 Item 11, Reich (2)
From:Jonathan Reich <
To:E-mail Council Website
Cc:Johnson, Derek
Subject:Re: SLO City Council 6/16/20 Agenda: I Support the Clean Energy Choice Program for
New Buildings
Honorable Council Members & Mayor:
I suppose I should have read the revised version of the Clean Energy Choice Program for New Buildings but I
didn't know it had been revised.
I assumed you were simply re-voting on the same one you voted on last September 3rd passing it 4 to 1, except
this time with Council Member Pease recused.
I read in the SLO Tribune today that the program has been watered down significantly.
Why would you water it down?
The original version would have been a 3 to 1 vote in favor of it even if Pease had not voted.
I am disappointed that you've demonstrated this lack of resolve when resolve is more important than ever.
I hope you offer a complete and clear explanation at the meeting.
Professor Jonathan Reich,
Architecture Department, California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo
http://architecture.calpoly.edu/faculty/reich
http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3965&context=pao_pr
http://mustangnews.net/students-build-bench-outside-kennedy-library/
https://mustangnews.net/younity-bench-built-outside-multicultural-center-to-promote-discussions-on-diversity/
On Sun, Jun 14, 2020 at 1:40 PM Jonathan Reich < wrote:
To: City Council of San Luis Obispo
Date: 13 June 2020
Honorable Council Members & Mayor:
I support the Clean Energy Choice Program for New Buildings and strongly encourage you ALL to vote yes to
put this program into place.
I attended and spoke in favor of this program at the September 3, 2019 City Council meeting (and stayed for
the entire meeting).
I was very disappointed that Council Member Erica Stewart (who I enthusiastically voted for) seemingly
repeated false assertions against the Clean Energy Choice Program about job security for natural gas industry
workers and housing affordability impacts that certain people made in the meeting - even after those assertions
had been thoroughly and factually refuted both in the city staff report and by reliable experts during the
meeting.
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https://www.slocity.org/government/department-directory/city-clerk/on-demand-meeting-videos
Council Member Stewart suggested that the proposed Clean Energy Choice Program would affect current gas
company workers “the most.” In fact the proposed program will affect current gas company workers very little
if at all because it governs only future construction, and the bulk of existing buildings that have natural gas
already and will need repair and maintenance for decades to come will easily keep the gas industry workforce
employed until retirement. Such gas utility maintenance is essential and as one who has been in construction
related work for almost 50 years, I can assert that natural gas systems leak constantly every step of the way
from extraction to when you turn on your stove or furnace. The leaked methane is 80 times more potent a
greenhouse gas than CO2 for decades. Natural gas requires a centralized system with centralized storage that
can leak catastrophically https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliso_Canyon_gas_leak
and a mess of underground gas piping that also leaks and can explode catastrophically.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Bruno_pipeline_explosion .
Yes electrical lines need maintenance as well and their lack of maintenance can cause catastrophic wildfires
the damage from which has been more costly in every way in the present than natural gas failures. But every
home will always need electricity and electrical line maintenance has to improve. But it's the natural gas that is
not necessary and its extra expense makes it unaffordable both to the homes’ occupants and to the world.
Electrical power generation capacity will have to increase and it will. Roof-top solar is now mandated by law
in California and all-electric will rely more and more on such distributed generating systems and they are
becoming more and more affordable every year and will last decades beyond their life cycle carbon footprint.
https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy13osti/56487.pdf
Furthermore plans are underway, supported by both political parties and the Navy, for wind energy
development off the coast of central California that will help California attain its renewable energy goals.
https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/article240103098.html
Council Member Stewart asserted that the proposed program will lead to conditions in which only the
wealthy will have the choice to have natural gas. Her assertion makes no sense. The existing stock of housing
that have natural gas in them will be around for the foreseeable future. Such existing housing may become
more expensive or less expensive. Yes, developers who cater to the wealthy who demand natural gas will pay
more to have it – as it should be. Meanwhile, in general, new housing construction will not necessitate the
extra expense of natural gas systems and their solar arrays will make their energy ultimately less expensive.
Council Member Stewart ended her comments by saying the proposed program does not “help everyone in
the here and now.” It’s my opinion that natural gas utility workers are being exploited by the corporations that
employ them and their union leaders to turn out and speak against the proposed program when in fact the
industry cares less for their workers' job security than for their industry and corporate shareholder profits.
Misinformation and lies are being promulgated by fossil fuels corporations about SLO's Clean Energy Choice
Program just as they were about the need for the Phillip 66 oil train terminal and 2018's Measure G.
https://www.kqed.org/science/1945910/socalgas-admits-funding-front-group-in-fight-for-its-future
The president of Utility Workers Union of America Local 132, which represents thousands of employees of
Southern California Gas Co., and is also a prominent crusader against local efforts to phase out gas also chairs
the board of directors of “Californians for Balanced Energy Solutions,” a pro-gas advocacy group that has
received funding from SoCalGas and worked closely with the utility to generate opposition to all-electric
building policies, threatened the SLO City Council with the prospect of bussing in “hundreds and hundreds of
pissed-off people” to SLO to demonstrate “potentially adding to this pandemic.”
https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2020-05-06/socalgas-union-leader-protest-threat-no-social-
distancing
I see this threat as similar to the assholes with guns who showed up in Lansing and caused the state legislature
of Michigan to cancel their session out of concerns for public safety. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-
canada-52496514
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I am a taxpayer who has lived in this town now for 20 years. Myself and a majority of city voters voted in the
current city council to pursue policies we support. Does Council Member Stewart want to align herself with
outsiders who threaten our town?
Employment in solar surpassed ALL fossil fuels employment in the USA in 2017.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2017/01/25/u-s-solar-energy-employs-more-people-than-oil-coal-
and-gas-combined-infographic/#315d2d442800
For young people, greater future opportunity is in renewable energy and in fact the only way they will even
have a future. I hope Council Member Stewart will consider more carefully the prospects for young people
whose very future economic opportunity and even survival is at stake in decisions she makes now.
My statements are made out of my research and experience.
I am currently:
- a professor of Architecture at Cal Poly,
- an architect (though not currently practicing),
- a former member of the Board of Directors of Mercy Housing Northwest Inc., for ten years 1994 - 2004.
Mercy Housing Inc. has built almost 50,000 units of affordable housing across the United States primarily for
families earning less than 50% of median income for any given area.
- a former California State Architect certified Construction Inspector for public schools, for ten years 1987 -
1997
- a skilled builder of many homes, theatres, and other buildings since 1972.
- married 24 years to Architect and Professor Sandy Stannard who led the teams of students in 2005 and 2015
that designed and built international award-winning, all solar, all electric homes for the US Department of
Energy sponsored Solar Decathlon competition.
Professor Jonathan Reich,
Architecture Department, California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo
http://architecture.calpoly.edu/faculty/reich
http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3965&context=pao_pr
http://mustangnews.net/students-build-bench-outside-kennedy-library/
https://mustangnews.net/younity-bench-built-outside-multicultural-center-to-promote-discussions-on-diversity/
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