In early November, millions will go to the polls to cast votes in this year’s midterm elections. In addition to electing candidates, some voters have a unique opportunity to directly shape their local energy system.
Fed up with their electricity provider Alliant Energy, one of Iowa’s largest monopoly utilities, Decorah area residents decided to explore their options for pursuing cleaner, local energy and how the city could create a municipal electric utility for its 8,000 residents and business community. Advocates formed Decorah Power, a grassroots group of residents and community organizers making a clear case for municipal control, and the group has been garnering support for putting the public back in their public utility.
In 2016, more states than ever before have attempted to place items on their ballots to change the energy landscape. Sponsored by citizen groups, legislators, and (sometimes) energy industry giants, these initiatives range from encouraging energy choice to placing further limits on the propagation of nuclear energy.
By Mark Golden California’s Proposition 39 did not get much attention in the months leading up to Tuesday’s election, but voters handily approved the measure to increase taxes on some corporations, with $2.5 billion of the money going for projects to conserve electricity and natural gas consumed by schools … [continued]
Ohio’s attorney general has approved a ballot initiative that could create a $13 billion-dollar fund for clean energy projects including solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, and advanced battery technology across the state.
By a razor-thin margin, Boulder citizens gave the city a victory for energy self-reliance on Nov. 1, approving two ballot measures to let the city form a municipal utility. If the city moves ahead, it would capture nearly $100 million currently spent on electricity imports and instead create up to $350 million in local economic development by dramatically increasing local clean energy production.
“As a former Secretary of State, I see our dependence on foreign oil as one of the greatest threats to national security, and the Dirty Energy Proposition would undermine efforts to break that dependence.” says former Secretary of State under former President Ronald Reagan; George Shultz. [social_buttons] The Sacramento … [continued]
