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Clean Power Alliance vote:  Tuesday, October 16 @ 10am

Where: County Government Center, Hall of Administration, Board of Supervisors Hearing Room 800 S. Victoria Avenue

The Clean Power Alliance offers residents the choice of purchasing renewable energy at competitive costs to be distributed through the SCE grid. Communities that have opted into the Community Choice Energy program must choose a default option for the quantity of renewable energy they intend to purchase:  36%, 50% or 100%. Ojai has chosen the 100% default option, and Ventura County will decide on their default option at this Board meeting

For more details please read the following information sheet provided by OVGC Board Member, Michelle Ellison:

Clean Power Alliance: The Renewable Energy Default

Background on Clean Power Alliance

• Clean Power Alliance (CPA) is a newly formed community choice energy provider serving Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. It will serve approximately one million customers across 31 communities including unincorporated Los Angeles County, unincorporated Ventura County, and the cities of Agoura Hills, Alhambra, Arcadia, Beverly Hills, Calabasas, Camarillo, Claremont, Carson, Culver City, Downey, Hawaiian Gardens, Hawthorne, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Moorpark, Ojai, Oxnard, Paramount, Redondo Beach, Rolling Hills Estates, Santa Monica, Sierra Madre, Simi Valley, South Pasadena, Temple City, Thousand Oaks, Ventura, West Hollywood, and Whittier.
• CPA procures the electricity, while Southern California Edison (SCE) distributes the electricity and handles billing.
• Key benefits to CPA include customer choice, local control, cost savings, and more renewable energy content.
• Customers have three rate options – currently they are 36%, 50% and 100% renewable energy.
• Current projected cost savings (relative to SCE’s base rate) is 1-2% for the 36% rate tier, 0-1% for the 50% rate tier, and a cost premium of 7-9% for the 100% rate tier (but a cost savings of at least 5% relative to SCE’s comparable 100% renewable plan). Rates will be finalized in November 2018.
• Service began in 2018 for municipal and commercial customers in unincorporated Los Angeles County, Rolling Hills Estates, and South Pasadena. All other residential accounts are scheduled to start service in February 2019 and non-residential accounts in May 2019.

The Renewable Energy Default

• Each participating jurisdiction decides its own renewable energy default – 36%, 50% or 100%.
• The default is the plan customers are enrolled in if they make no selection. All customers have the ability to choose another plan.
• Member agencies must make their final default decisions by October 31, 2018. While many have indicated a selection already, there’s still time to reconsider.

Case for the 100% Renewable Energy Default

• The urgency of the climate crisis necessitates that we transition to clean renewable energy in earnest.
• Industry studies reveal there is overwhelming public support for renewable energy, and people are willing to pay more for it. In other words, the public wants cleaner energy and they want it now. Since we want more renewable energy, then our defaults should support that.
• Defaults are extremely important. Behavioral studies demonstrate that a vast majority of people stick with the default status. For example, when employees are automatically enrolled in retirement savings plans, there’s a much higher participation rate than if they have to individually opt in.
• By setting the default at 100%, we will get much more participation at that level than if we set it at a lower tier. Likely only a small percentage of customers will opt down, most will remain at 100%.
• Likewise, if we set the default at a lower tier like 36% or 50%, that’s mostly what we’ll get. Despite our best intentions, few of us would opt up, not because we don’t want to, often just because of inertia or the busyness of life.
• The default is simply a suggestion, nothing is being forced on anyone, customers have the freedom to choose another plan. Why wouldn’t we want to suggest 100% and encourage a dramatic reduction in polluting emissions?  
• The projected cost difference for the 100% option is 7-9% more than Edison’s base rate, but the renewable content is 66% more, a compelling return. It’s a small price to pay for the long-term benefits. While there’s a slight rate savings of 1-2% in the lower two tiers, there’s far less renewable in those, so we must consider the costs of externalities associated with more polluting emissions. Emissions are costly to our society and need to be factored into our decision-making.  
• For those communities with a 100% default, CARE and other low-income customers will have the plan benefit at no additional cost. This provision protects the most financially vulnerable customers.
• California currently targets 100% clean energy by 2045. Consider this – the 100% default gives us an opportunity to achieve that goal 25 years ahead of schedule! Simply by setting the default at 100%, as early as the middle of next year 2019 when service begins, our communities will be powered by close to 100% renewable, a huge improvement from the roughly 30% renewable mix that is standard today. I can’t think of a more tangible, immediate, or easy way to make this kind of substantial leap forward. It’ll take much more time, effort and expense for our communities to get there otherwise.
• While it might be possible to change the default in the future, it would be more difficult than setting it right from the get go.
• The default plans we select today impact the amount of renewable energy powering us into the future.
• Renewable energy is available and affordable, we just need to start choosing it.
• So far, the following member agencies have set their default at 100%: Santa Monica (for commercial accounts), Culver City, West Hollywood, the unincorporated Ventura County (for commercial accounts) and Ojai. Others are considering doing so as well.

For more information on Clean Power Alliance refer to https://www.cleanpoweralliance.org/.  

Greetings Folks,

Wow ! September went by fast !

Hoping you can set aside some time on Saturday, October 6th from 3-4:45 to meet together for the next Restoration and Resilience Council.  We will be meeting again at the Ojai Library meeting room behind Twice Told Tales.

Ben Werner, the author of the Sustainable Living Research Initiative (SLRI) will be joining us at the Council this month to give us an overview of his initiative, designed to provide a framework for permitting sustainable project designs and climate resilient materials that can demonstrate equivalent performance standards to the traditional designs currently being permitted.

The purpose of the SLRI is to support the creation of pilot housing and land use projects that demonstrate sustainability, in terms of environmental impacts, and in terms of community impacts. Although green building standards continue to improve worldwide, building, zoning, and environmental health codes have evolved incrementally over the past century.

The SLRI is intended as a safe, secure pathway to permit innovative, performance-based projects by providing clear guidelines and authority for local building officials to permit such projects.

As the City of Ojai moves toward updating its own General Plan in the near future, strategies to revise our City permitting processes to include innovative, sustainable and fire resilient designs should be at the top of the agenda…Ben Werner has an excellent template we may want to build on.

Hosted by the Ojai Valley Green Coalition, Citizens for Responsible Oil and Gas, and the Los Padres Chapter of the Sierra Club:

YOU ARE INVITED TO THE CITY OF OJAI  CANDIDATES FORUM – WITH AN EMPHASIS ON RESILIENCE AND SUSTAINABILITY IN THE CITY AND OJAI VALLEY 

Please join us to learn more about the environmental vision of our City Council and Mayoral candidates.  The theme of this Voter’s Forum will focus on the policy ideas that can advance Climate Resilient and Sustainable Future of the City and the Ojai Valley.

WHEN:  THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18 FROM 7-9 PM

WHERE:  THE CHAPARRAL AUDITORIUM, 414 E. OJAI AVE.

COMPANION DOCUMENT FOR FORUM:

Link here for draft Dark Sky zone overlay ordinance 

Link here for Board of Supervisor schedule and agendas (final version of ordinance will be available here on September 20.)

Link here for map of Ojai Valley unincorporated coverage area

Link here to check out the County interactive Dark Skies Story Map and website

TELL OUR BOARD OF SUPERVISORS YOU SUPPORT THE DARK SKY ORDINANCE

Ventura County Supervisors need to hear now from Ojai Valley residents who support the proposed Dark Sky Overlay Zone Ordinance. The Board of Supervisors is expected to vote on the ordinance at their September 25 meeting. Comments should be received by September 19 and it would be great to pack the board meeting with voters who support the ordinance. (Details below.)

Most of the unincorporated areas of the Ojai Valley, including Oak View, Casitas Springs, Mira Monte and Meiners Oaks, are on the threshold of joining the City of Ojai in having a Dark Sky ordinance that will significantly reduce harmful light pollution and expand our night sky view of its celestial gems .

Virtually all of the Ojai Valley residents who spoke at two Ojai Valley Municipal Advisory Council meetings and the July 16 County Planning Commission meeting strongly supported the proposed Dark Sky ordinance. The County planning commissioners recommended it with minor tweaks. The Ojai Valley County Planning Commissioner supported it and our County Supervisor Steve Bennett supports it. Moreover, there have been virtually no complaints about the City of Ojai Dark Sky ordinance since it was approved in April 2013.

Nevertheless organized opposition from business and industrial interests outside of our valley who would not be affected by the ordinance are using disinformation to fight it. For example, a county planning commission member (a commercial real estate broker outside the valley) voted against the ordinance, based on urban commercial development security arguments that were refuted by statements from Ojai law enforcement.

Thus, it is critically important that all Ventura County Board of Supervisors hear from the residents and businesses in the Ojai Valley who support protecting the Dark Sky. Send your e-mail by September 19 to the Clerk of the Board at clerkoftheboard@ventura.org  in order for it to be posted on the official agenda provided to the Supervisors and the public. Deliberations on this item start at 1:30 pm in the regular meeting room on the first floor of the county offices at 800 S. Victoria Ave. in Ventura. We also encourage you to speak at the public hearing.

To help with messages we are providing information and talking points below. Additional background information on the proposed ordinance and its benefits are available for review at the County Dark Sky webpage – vcrma.org/ojai-valley-dark-sky-ordinance. Links to previously submitted letters of support from your fellow Ojai Valley residents can be found on the webpage by scrolling down to the July 26 Planning Commission meeting notice and clicking on the link.

The proposed County Dark Sky ordinance is similar to the one already enforced in the City of Ojai. It requires lighting to be less intense, not spill over into neighboring properties, and be shielded and directed downward. Residences will have one year for their existing lighting to be upgraded to meet the new standards, but will immediately be required to turn off all exterior lighting after 10 p.m. (or whenever people are no longer present outside as in an event that goes past 10 p.m.). The exception being security or other essential lighting where motion sensors would be required.  The new standards would be required for existing lighting in commercial and industrial zones within three years of the ordinance taking effect, with the same 10 p.m. exterior light shut off requirements as residences. Existing agriculture uses were given additional exceptions.

 

DARK SKIES TALKING POINTS

• Overwhelming community support – Ojai MAC voted unanimously in favor and every resident who spoke or wrote the county supported the ordinance. The Ojai Dark Sky ordinance was approved five years ago without opposition and no complaints since. County Supervisor Steve Bennett, who lives and represents the Ojai Valley, requested this ordinance four years ago. Phil White, the planning commission member representing the Ojai Valley made the motion to recommend approval of the proposed ordinance. Four years is a long time for a community to wait for approval of a measure that has overwhelming local support and will bring the entire Ojai Valley under equal dark sky protection.
• Ojai ordinance is working great –It’s time for the entire Ojai Valley to enjoy the benefits of the Dark Sky with a measure that covers the areas outside the city limits where residents also support the concept. Local law enforcement wrote that the Ojai ordinance has not presented any security problems. Additionally, the City of Malibu, Kern County and rural areas of Los Angeles have approved similar dark sky ordinances and no serious complaints from their residents have been reported.
• Reduces harmful effects of light pollution on natural cycles that support animal and plant habitats and ecosystems vital to the Ojai Valley’s uniquely protected rural communities, nature preserves and the surrounding Los Padres National Forest.  For example, light pollution can cause trees to bud early, disrupting their natural growth sequence, lead to massive loss of insects critical to food development, and negatively effect to biological rhythm of birds.
• The draft ordinance has already been modified to meet the concerns of raised by organized agricultural interests.
• Having an unfettered view of the night enhances our quality of life and our local economy. People live and visit the Ojai valley because of its natural beauty, outdoor music and arts events, wilderness hiking and biking and, yes, its unique dark night sky. This makes our region special and needs to be protected and enhanced with approval of this ordinance.
• This is a local issue proposed and supported by local residents – Ojai Valley should be able to have stricter control of its night sky as long as those affected by it support it. This is a local measure that does not affect any other communities beyond the Ojai Valley.  If other communities want or don’t want to protect their night sky, that will be decided by residents and businesses of those communities. Our ordinance and our experience implementing it can be a model for others, if and when other communities in the county are interested.
• There is no evidence that outdoor lighting deters crime. In fact, a number of law enforcement studies have found that bad outdoor lighting can decrease safety by making victims and property easier to see, especially in rural areas where most other properties are not lighted.
• Outdoor lighting can cause safety hazards for drivers due to glare from commercial or residential unshielded bright lights.
• Research cited by the county planning department suggests artificial outdoor lights can negatively affect human health, increasing risk of obesity, depression, sleep disorders, diabetes, breast cancer and more.

 

 

JOIN US FOR THE NEXT OJAI VALLEY RESTORATION AND RESILIENCE COUNCIL AT THE OJAI LIBRARY MEETING ROOM ON SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8th  3PM TO 4:45PM

At the suggestion of our last Council, we have invited Kimberly Rivers, Executive Director of Citizens for Responsible Oil and Gas (CFROG) to join the Council and give us an overview on the Ventura County General Planning process and important timelines for public input.

Phase 4 of the Ventura County General Plan Update is presently in progress.  Language that will define the policies related to open space, agricultural land use, transportation, population growth and development we will be living with for the next twenty years.  Phase 4 is scheduled to be completed by the end of this fall.

Remember that whatever makes it into our creeks will make it down to our ocean, so join the Ojai Valley Green Coalition and the Green Schools Student Collective for the upcoming annual Ojai Creek and Stewart Canyon Creek Clean-Up on Saturday, September 15th from 9am to noon.  CHECK IN IS AT 8:45 at the Libbey Park lower tennis court parking lot off S. Montgomery St. in Ojai.

We will be removing, identifying and measuring the waste that has accumulated in our watershed over the last year, as a part of the California Coastal Clean-up actions taking place statewide on the same day.

To participate in the Ojai Creek Clean Up Day, all volunteers will need to submit two waivers. The links to the waivers are below, and it would be helpful if you have them available at check-in.

City of Ojai Volunteer Agreement

OVGC Event Liability Waiver

DON’T FORGET TO WEAR A STURDY PAIR OF WORK BOOTS AND BRING YOUR OWN WATER BOTTLE…WE WILL HAVE PLENTY OF WATER, AND GLOVES WILL BE AVAILABLE IF YOU DO NOT BRING YOUR OWN

For more information, please contact: noel@ojaivalleygreencoalition.org