See you Saturday!
Calling all CDC supporters.
Let's show up in force on Saturday at the RETI meeting!!
See details below.
Opponents of LADWP Green Path North to Mobilize at Public Meeting January 10
Desert Citizens to Give Voice to Concerns About the California RETI Process
On Saturday, January 10, opponents of the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (LADWP) Green Path North energy transmission project will be out in force to give voice to their concerns about California's Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative (RETI).
RETI is a statewide planning process whose mission is to identify the transmission projects needed to accommodate California's renewable energy goals, and the public meeting will be held in Palm Desert.
The California Desert Coalition (CDC) is providing bus transportation to the RETI meeting in Palm Desert so that citizens in communities that would be affected by Green Path North can have their voices heard. The buses will leave from the Park & Ride in Yucca Valley promptly at 8:30 a.m. on January 10. Bus riders should bring their own lunch; the meeting will break for lunch. Further details are on the CDC website at CaDesertCo.org.
As a show of unity, CDC suggests that its supporters wear red, which has become a signature color for CDC since the July LADWP public meeting in Yucca Valley where hundreds of red-appareled participants voiced their opposition to LADWP's plans for transmission lines and a new energy corridor through the high desert.
The California Desert Coalition was turned down for membership and participation in the RETI process in December of 2007. "As a diverse citizen action group, with members representing a region of the Mojave Desert we were very frustrated by this result," says CDC Chair April Sall. Because desert residents have therefore had no voice in the RETI process, participation at Saturday's meeting is deemed extremely important in stopping the Green Path North transmission lines and new energy corridor.
Sall is particularly concerned because the RETI Phase 1B Report issued in October assumes that the new Green Path North energy corridor is a "done deal." RETI is therefore misrepresenting the state and public processes for such projects, whose required review processes have not even begun. Sall is looking forward to making the same big splash on Saturday that was made back in July at the Yucca Valley High School.
The RETI steering committee, who will conduct Saturday's meeting, is predominantly made up of members from industry, most with a special-interest-driven agenda of maximizing energy development. There are no members representing ratepayers or taxpayers, and only two voting members from the environmental community, neither of which have specific expertise in the California Desert.
According to CDC Vice Chair Ruth Rieman, the RETI process is further flawed as "Its basic premise assumes that we need large-scale renewable projects in remote areas and new transmission to go with them." This premise ignores the potential for energy efficiency, California's mandated first priority, to eliminate dependence on fossil fuel, reduce greenhouse gases, and free up capacity on existing transmission lines. It also ignores the ongoing revolution in photovoltaic solar technology, which makes it possible to cost-competitively produce significant quantities of power right where the power is needed, i.e., within Los Angeles's boundaries and without scraping the desert.
What: RETI Public Meeting
When: Saturday,
January 10, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Where: Palm Desert City Council chambers in the Palm Desert Civic Center, 73-510 Fred Waring Drive, Palm Desert.
Bus Transportation: Bus leaves promptly at 8:30 a.m. from Yucca Valley Park & Ride (northeast corner of Hwy. 62 & Kickapoo Tr.)
MORE INFO ON THIS TOPIC: At California Desert Coalition and on the Energy page of the MBCA Website. Previous posts on this blog: Energy, Green Path North.
