Vote Solar Comes Out In Favor Of Tom Steyer’s Arizona Proposition

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Vote Solar announced today that it and the Arizona small business community have come out behind Proposition 127, a ballot initiative that would enshrine a 50% renewable portfolio standard (RPS) by 2030.

Arizona’s current RPS is 15%.

Prop 127, backed by progressive billionaire Tom Steyer, has been mired in controversy as the state’s three largest utilities – Arizona Public Service (APS), Tucson Electric Power (TEP) and the Salt River Project (SRP) – have all funded political action committees to oppose the proposition. APS even brought a lawsuit challenging the signatures on the ballot petitions, a suit that was settled when a judge decided enough of the signatures were valid to keep the initiative in front of voters in November.

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In offering its support, Art Terrazas, Interior West director at the Vote Solar Action Fund said:

Arizona is one of the sunniest states in the nation, and the people of Arizona overwhelmingly support putting more of that plentiful sunshine to work supporting good jobs and healthier families. Proposition 127 gives Arizonans the opportunity to vote for that brighter energy future at the ballot this fall. “We are proud to be speaking up for Proposition 127 and a stronger solar powered Arizona with these local business leaders and community stakeholders across the state.

Arizona is the third pillar in Steyer’s three-state strategy. Under the leadership of state-level groups funded by him, Steyer already has an initiative on the ballot in Nevada, and his efforts in Michigan led to a negotiated settlement in which the state’s three largest utilities have pledged to eliminate coal from their portfolios by 2045 and increase their investments in renewable energy.

Rooftop solar installers, as you might imagine, support Prop 127 and are thrilled to have Vote Solar on their side.

“Thanks to innovation and the individual choices of thousands of consumers who have demanded new energy choices, solar energy has become one of the most affordable energy resources across the United States,” said Louis Woofenden with Tucson-based Net Zero Solar. “That’s especially true here in sunny Arizona. It just makes sense that Arizona should be using more of our plentiful and affordable renewable energy resources to power our homes, businesses and communities with a ‘yes’ vote on Proposition 127.”

APS-Backed Lawsuit Challenges 75% Of The Signatures For Arizona RPS Initiative

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Wow….The fight over the Arizona renewable portfolio standard (RPS) just got ugly. Arizonans for Affordable Energy, a political action committee backed by Arizona Public Service (APS) – the state’s largest utility – has alleged in a lawsuit that 75% of the signatures gathered to put a ballot initiative to raise the Arizona RPS are fraudulent.

The action comes as a competing proposal to raise the Arizona RPS, put forth by the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) (which oversees APS), moves its way through the process.

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To review: The Arizona RPS ballot initiative is backed by progressive billionaire Tom Steyer, who is putting forth this effort in Nevada and was putting it together in Michigan before his group negotiated an agreement with the state’s utilities. It is pushing for a 50% RPS by 2030.

The ACC Arizona RPS proposal, which has the backing of the utility, would make the RPS 80% by 2050. The only difference between the two proposals is that the ACC proposal considers nuclear power as a clean energy source (it’s not), while the Steyer-backed proposal excludes nukes. Guess who owns a pair of nuclear generation facilities (you get three guesses, and the first two don’t count)?

Rachel Leingang of The Arizona Republic and Adrian Marsh at the Phoenix Business Journal both report that the lawsuit, filed last Thursday, alleges widespread fraud in the 480,464, including double-signings, illegal signature gatherers and people who are not registered to vote (being registered to vote is a requirement to sign the petition validly). As Leingang notes, fewer than 106,441 signatures are valid if what the APS-backed group says is true, which would leave them well short of the required number of signatures to get on the ballot.

Matthew Benson, a spokesman for the APS-backed group, offered the totally breathless, over-the-top statement to Marsh:

“Our painstaking review of every petition submitted by the initiative campaign has uncovered widespread forgery and deception and an utter disregard for Arizona law and elections procedures. This is truly fraud on a grand scale.”

I’d urge Benson to perhaps seek treatment for hysterics, because it sure seems like he’s suffering from a severe case. For measures like Steyer’s, it’s not unusual to see challenges made to the amount of signatures collected. What is unusual is that so high a number (75%? Really?) are challenged and for so many different reasons. My guess is the lawsuit is more harassment than anything else, and I’d be shocked if enough signatures are invalidated (some will be – that’s inevitable) to pull the initiative off the ballot in November. Steyer is no amateur.

More:

Arizonans for Affordable Electricity sues to block renewable energy initiative vote

APS-backed group sues over clean energy ballot measure, claims 300K invalid signatures

Nevada Ballot Initiative To Increase RPS Appears To Be Headed To Voters, Reports Say

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

A report from the Reno Gazette Journal brings the heartening news that the Tom Steyer backed Nevada ballot initiative to bring Nevada’s RPS to 50% by 2030 likely has enough signatures to go to voters.

As of Monday, organizers told the paper they had nearly double the number of signatures necessary to put the initiative on the ballot. Typically, ballot initiatives need to have at least double the actual number of signatures to account for ineligible signatures being thrown out by the certification body.

The measure, backed by liberal billionaire Tom Steyer, would amend the Nevada Constitution to require electric suppliers provide at least 50 percent of their total electricity from renewable sources, like wind, solar and geothermal by the year 2030. Currently, only around 20% of Nevada’s electricity is produced by renewable sources.

As the spokesman for Nevadans For A Clean Energy Future said in a press release, referencing the 20% number:

For one of the sunniest states in the nation, that is not good enough. Currently, Nevada spends $700 million annually to import fossil fuels from out of state to power the grid.

The initiative is the latest attempt by the Silver State to get itself back into contention as one of the top solar states in the nation. Since unceremoniously ending net metering in 2015 – a policy blunder that the legislature has since reversed – Nevada has struggled to regain its place as a solar state.

Gaining enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot is a big victory for Tom Steyer, who was actively supporting similar legislation in Michigan until a deal surrounding a controversial billion-dollar natural gas plant was signed. Both DTE Energy and Consumers Energy have pledged to be coal-free by 2040 and have at least 50% of their electricity generation come from renewable resources within the same timeframe.

Recent polling suggests that if Steyer’s measure gets on the ballot, Nevadans will pass it.

Panel Says We Will Win The Climate Change Battle (Their Mouths To Universe’s Ears)

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

What Happened: The Center for America Progress (CAP) held its IDEAS conference yesterday, and the most interesting discussion with Amy Harder with Washington Governor Jay Inslee, progressive activist Tom Steyer and Senior Vice President of Climate, Environmental Justice & Community Revitalization, Hip Hop Caucus Mustafa Ali.

Washington State has one of the most progressive solar policy structures in the United States, and Inslee says he believes that progress will continue in the form of the first carbon tax, which is on the ballot as an initiative in his state.

Steyer said – again – that he believes the only way climate change will be defeated is as part of broader coalition that wins elections and makes a strong pitch for community solar.

Ali made the critical point that the United States must fight climate change in a way that doesn’t just push it to underservered, low-income communities.

SolarWakeup’s View: At yesterday’s Center for American Progress (CAP) Ideas Conference, Axios reporter Amy Harder sat down with Washington Governor Jay Inslee, progressive activist Tom Steyer and Senior Vice President of Climate, Environmental Justice & Community Revitalization, Hip Hop Caucus Mustafa Ali, to discuss climate change. What ensued was a fascinating discussion that lasted about 10 minutes and I’m sure will be its own video at some point, like CAP did last year (right now it’s smack in the middle of an eight-hour video of the entire conference).

Several interesting things did come out of the discussion, including:

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Inslee is either running for president in 2020 or at least broadening his national profile so he can be part of the next Democratic administration. Oh, and he touted Washington’s work on climate change, including a carbon “fee” that will be on the ballot in November, which he believes will pass overwhelmingly.

Steyer, who in case you haven’t been paying attention is backing two critical pro-solar initiatives in Michigan and Nevada, said he believes climate change can’t be a stand-alone issue and that it has to be part of a larger progressive agenda to bring a coalition of people to the polls in November.

Ali focused on the importance of making sure underserved and low-income communities aren’t left behind in the climate change battle, saying the overall benefits – cleaner air and water, for example – should also be tied to jobs in those communities (which allowed Inslee to pipe up and tout his own state’s solar plan which, he says, invests money specifically to address the problems Ali highlighted).

The whole discussion is interesting and worth your time. I did a nice thing for you and shared the link that starts at the beginning of the panel. So go watch it now (and listen especially to Ali – his points are important additions to the discussion and are critical to its success).

More:

CAP IDEAS Conference discussion of climate change: