Support a Clean Energy Plan for Austin Energy

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I’m reaching out to urge you to support a fully clean energy plan now and reject any fossil fuel investments in the Austin Energy Resource, Generation and Climate Protection Plan to 2035. There’s no need to push the update to next year, especially after months of work have already gone into it.

Austin Energy’s Resource Plan must align with the climate goals set in the Austin Climate Equity Plan. The City of Austin just accepted $1 million from the EPA to craft a regional priority climate action plan. These plans are more than just photo-ops, they are commitments to the Austin community – commitments to treat the place we live in with love, to stop polluting, and to make decisions that put health and community first.

The Electric Utility Commission Resource Planning Working Group has crafted a fully clean energy plan to replace Austin Energy’s existing fossil fuel power plants and avoid any additional fossil fuel investments. I’m asking you to support adoption and implementation of that plan.
 
The Working Group plan would ramp up deployment of local solar with new programs, increase energy efficiency in buildings, expand demand response programs to use energy more wisely, and get Austin Energy in on the battery boom already taking place in Texas. The strong emphasis on local resources means that the transition to clean energy will come with local jobs and other local economic benefits. The plan will also improve community resilience in a way that a gas-burning power plant won’t. Energy efficient buildings with solar and batteries can serve as resilience hubs (formal or informal) during disasters.

Austin Energy’s “hydrogen capable” combined cycle power plant proposal is more of the same thing that has caused the climate crisis – increasing pollution now in exchange for the hope of future reductions. Now is the future of the past and it is well past time to ditch fossil fuels for good. This is especially true because Austin is already violating EPA health-based air pollution standards for ground-level ozone and particulate matter and can’t afford to add another major source of pollution. We need to reduce local air pollution to protect people from respiratory diseases and avoid costly restrictions that will be imposed if the EPA designates Austin as a non-attainment area.
 
Please do the right thing for Austin and adopt a clean energy plan for Austin Energy.

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Support a Clean Energy Plan for Austin Energy

Support a Clean Energy Plan for Austin Energy

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