It is not well understood either that Marin County residents are still dependent on PG&E for transmission, distribution, billing and line maintenance, or that Marin Energy Authority (MEA), the “purchasing arm” of MCE, procures every kilowatt of its “green energy” from non-local suppliers. Thus, MEA is is hardly a model example of “community choice” or even “clean energy policy.” The energy mix MEA is purchasing from Shell (and more recently, G2 Energy) may be RPS-eligible, and it may even qualify for Renewable Energy Credits (RECs), under state and federal law, but it offers very little (real) green energy. Other communities considering forming CCAs should watch very carefully to make certain that their officials do not subvert the concept of CCA, as our officials did here in Marin.

Sadly, at least so far, Marin Clean Energy is proving to be far better at greenwashing than actually generating green energy.

As the editor of an energy newspaper that views energy from both a progressive and human rights perspective, I can assure other journalists and the public that there is a very important story tucked between the lines of MCE’s greenwashing campaign. MCE should serve as a warning, not a model, for other communities hoping to create CCAs that offer (genuine) clean, locally generated energy. In Marin, the local press (Pacific Sun and Marin Independent Journal) never provided any critical analysis of MCE’s plan, instead serving as its mouthpiece, rather than doing real journalism. Had the local press been willing to dig a little deeper, they might have served the critical function of protecting the community from being “greenwashed.” My hope, at this point, is that someone in our business (with a bigger staff than SolarTimes) is concerned enough about serving the public interest (what we used to call “Public Service Journalism”) to dig in and do the kind of investigative work that our little paper simply hasn’t the resources to do. Fortunately, the movement for (real) “energy democracy” is growing, and SolarTimes is building alliances with communities that have had similar experiences to Marin’s. I have a regular column in the local West Marin newspaper (West Marin Citizen), so a handful of people here in West Marin may also be starting to catch on.

I recently interviewed the Al Weinrub, author of the groundbreaking new publication, “Community Power — Decentralized Renewable Energy in California” on my program, “Political Analysis,” which airs weekly on the Progressive Radio Network (www.progressiveradionetwork.com). To learn more about this issue and the meaning of (real) “energy democracy, people can listen at http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/political-analysis/.

Sandy LeonVest
Editor/Publisher
SolarTimes (www.solartimes.org)