SF Power Summer Update

[From Steven Moss, Executive Director, San Francisco Community Power]

We'd like to update our members, and ask for your help, on a few key issues:

City Proposal to Site Three Combustion Turbines in Dogpatch Continues to Move Forward
The CT siting process continues to progress, with the San Francisco Public Utility Commission (SFPUC) likely to take final project approval to the Board of Supervisors early this Fall. To date SF Power has been mildly supportive of the project, as part of an overall energy plan in which the Hunters Point (HP) Power Plant will be closed this Spring, and the Potrero Power Plant will be shuttered by 2008. However, in a close decision SF Power's Board recently voted to not endorse a Potrero Power Plant Citizen's Task Force resolution to formally support CT siting. The Board expressed concerns over the lack of certainty that the Potrero Power Plant will actually close; past unkept promises by the City and PG&E to shutter HP; and a seemingly anemic offsets and benefits package being offered by SFPUC.

The fate of the CT project will be determined over the next several months. Please let us know what role you'd like SF Power to play in this process, and attend whatever meetings you can related to it.

San Francisco Department of Environment (SFE) Denies SF Power an Environmental Justice Grant
In late-July SFE rejected SF Power's application for a $65,000 grant to help small businesses and churches in Bayview-Hunters Point and Potrero reduce their electricity use. Grant funds would have been used to leverage other community projects, including the Good Neighbor initiative, which seeks to increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables. In rejecting the proposal SFE cited concerns about "SF Community Power Coop's ability to sustain its organization and deliver services" without continuing assistance from M.Cubed, the consulting firm that has helped develop and maintain SF Power, in large part on a pro bono basis, since it's founding.

SFE's decision appears to imply that SF Power is no longer eligible for EJ grant funds, despite the fact that by SFE's own admission SF Power is one its most successful EJ grantees. SFE's decision is particularly troubling given past allegations that it has seriously mismanaged the EJ program (see for example "Growing Pains for City's Environmental Justice Program."

SF Power encourages it's members to contact SFE Director Jared Blumenthal (415.355.3700 phone; jared.blumenfeld@sfgov.org) and request that he re-evaulate his decision to deny SF Power funds, and include a SFE Commissioner as part of the re-review process.

SF Power's Install Program Ends This Fall
If you haven't received your FREE programmable thermostat or indoor/outdoor motion sensor, please contact our offices today, 626.8723. This program will end this Fall.

SF Power is a non-profit organization that provides low or no-cost energy management services, as well as sustainable energy advocacy, to families and small businesses in Southeast San Francisco. It currently offers free CFLs, indoor/outdoor motion sensors, and programmable thermostats to Potrero residents and businesses, as well as "kill-o-watt" meters, high-quality clothes lines, and power strips to members at a $20 sign-up fee.