Author: Peter Hart

Food & Water Watch is launching new petition campaigns in five cities and towns to help create community choice aggregation programs, marking a notable expansion of the group’s ongoing work to move the state off dirty energy.

The simultaneous petition drives in Woodbridge, North Brunswick, Cherry Hill, Teaneck and Long Branch are part of the group’s yearslong campaign to build local support for moving off fossil fuels and onto 100 percent clean renewable energy by 2030. The campaign is backed by a broad coalition of environmental, social justice and grassroots community groups across the state. 

“I believe in the power of grassroots activism and local solutions. We have the ability to transition Teaneck’s power from fossil fuels to renewable sources,” said State Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg. “It’s in our hands to decide if our community will be sustainable or not. I encourage my friends and neighbors to join me.”

The grassroots campaigns are based on state laws that give residents of more than half of New Jersey municipalities the power to directly petition local governments to consider a specific ordinance. Once presented with that ordinance, a governing body can either pass it as presented, or put the question to voters to decide. 

In each municipality, organizers and residents will work together to collect the signatures necessary to have local councils vote on the ordinance.  

“This is a wonderful opportunity for Teaneck voters to bring a 100% renewable energy CCA program to our community. While our Environmental Commission supported CCA, the Teaneck Township Council refused to adopt an ordinance, “said Paula Rogovin, Teaneck resident of 38 years. “So we’re asking youth and people of all ages to reach out to get Teaneck voters to sign a petition to put a referendum on the ballot in November. Everyone in Teaneck can participate in the effort to grow renewable energy in our region and to help stop climate change.” 

A state law enacted in 2003 (the Government Energy Aggregation Act) has led to the creation of community choice energy programs, which give residents the power to buy electricity in bulk, an arrangement that saves money on residents’ energy bills. A growing number of communities across the country are using them to increase their use of clean, renewable energy.

Food & Water Watch has worked with residents to win similar 100% clean energy programs in Edison, New Brunswick, Collingswood, Asbury Park, Piscataway, East Brunswick, South Brunswick and Red Bank, and has a goal of enacting the policy in 10 addition towns and cities this year to put more than one million New Jersey residents on a path to achieve 100 percent clean renewable energy by 2030.

“As climate change threatens our vulnerable coastal communities, Red Bank’s future and the future of the Jersey Shore is under siege,” said Red Bank Councilwoman Kate Triggiano. “It is our responsibility as elected officials to protect the environment, and Red Bank’s 100 percent renewable community aggregation program is one way we can be leaders in the fight for a healthy and resilient future.”

“Even while deeply feeling the existential threat of climate change, it’s sometimes hard for citizens to envision a role in reversing it,” said Katie Ingersoll of Collingswood Progressive Democrats. “The campaign for CCA in Collingswood, NJ prompted necessary conversations about direct local action to protect our climate and allowed residents to come together to take a step forward. Now that our leaders have committed to a local CCA program we are excited to see it implemented and work with neighboring towns to grow this opportunity in our region.”

Food & Water Watch, a national advocacy group with an office in New Brunswick, started its CCA advocacy program with a successful petition drive in 2018 that created the first-of-its-kind 100 percent renewable energy program in New Brunswick. Their efforts expanded to Piscataway the following year, where voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum to create the program.

“This is a truly grassroots, neighbor-to-neighbor campaign that brings real climate action to the local level,” said Food & Water Watch New Jersey State Director Matt Smith. “While we take these actions to build clean energy and clean up climate pollution, we’re also building a stronger democracy by organizing with community members and building popular support for bold solutions to the climate crisis.” 

Albany, NY — Today, the Power Generation Advisory Panel delivered its official recommendation to the state’s Climate Action Council regarding fossil fuel infrastructure. The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act set standards to ensure zero statewide emissions for the electric generation sector by 2040. To meet those standards, the Panel recommended a moratorium on new and repowered fossil fuel plants, and urged comprehensive regulations to close current fossil fuel-powered plants.

The decision is a victory for the communities who have been mobilizing against dirty fossil fuel plants statewide. Should Governor Cuomo heed the advice of his own advisory panel, the Danskammer plant in the Hudson Valley, the Astoria NRG plant in Queens and the Gowanus plant in Brooklyn would all be shut down.

In response, Food & Water Watch Northeast Region Director Alex Beauchamp issued the following statement:

“The writing is on the wall for fossil fuel infrastructure in New York. New Yorkers have been adamant for years that fossil fuels cannot be a part of the rapid climate action we must pursue in order to avert the worst of climate disaster. New York’s official expert panel on power generation has taken a bold and necessary step today — now Governor Cuomo must heed their advice and put a moratorium on fossil fuel infrastructure in New York, starting with Danskammer, Astoria and Gowanus.”

Tallahassee, FL — Today, activists on the frontlines of environmental injustice joined with environmental advocates to condemn the suite of energy preemption bills that headed to Governor DeSantis’ desk for signature earlier this week.

If signed into law, Florida’s suite of energy preemption bills, SB 1128/HB 919, SB 856/ HB 839 and SB 896/ HB 539, will prevent renewable energy development and block community choice. Not only do the bills eliminate the power of local governments to act on their constituents’ demands to move off fossil fuels, but they also prevent local community oversight in these decisions.

With one day left in the Florida legislative session, advocates highlighted the legislature’s focus on bills that stripped local communities of their power and choice. From the bad anti-protest legislation signed into law last week that has already mired Governor DeSantis in legal controversy to to the suite of energy preemption bills that represent the most aggressive move in the country to curtail the transition away from fossil fuels, the Florida legislature has prioritized bills this session that attack and eliminate community political involvement.

“Florida has become ground zero for a new brand of conservatism that strips away local power, control and choice, in favor of catering to industry interests,” said Food & Water Watch Southern Region Director Michelle Allen. “When regular people organize, they build power large enough to solve the biggest problems of our day — Florida Republicans know the strength of our power, and are choosing to dismantle it. Governor DeSantis must veto the energy preemption bills sitting on his desk, before he secures the fate of Florida’s climate and most vulnerable communities.”

“This legislative session was incredibly harmful for our civil rights,” said For Our Future Florida Regional Director Bernice Lauredan. “Protest is an American tradition that dates back to the founding of our country. It is unfortunate that instead of focusing on the largest public health crisis in a century, Republicans are taking rights away from Floridians.”

From Gainesville to Tampa, Miami to the panhandle, activists from frontline communities and environmental organizations gathered to highlight the role that communities and local governments play in mitigating climate disaster. The groups highlighted how the suite of legislation exposes frontline communities to exploitation from utility projects by out-of-town corporate actors, and is based in the same injustice as the anti-protest bill.

“We are advocating for well-sited industrial power plants and home rule — we want a transition to renewables. We have to do it, however, with the community at the forefront of these decisions,” said Michelle Rutledge from the Saint Peter/Saint Paul Community Council in Archer, who alongside neighbors led successful local organizing efforts against a utility-scale solar project in Archer last year. “We encourage an inclusive and just transition to cleaner energy. We need an inclusive, equitable and just implementation.”

Advocates point to Initiative for Energy Justice’s Scorecard as a resource to help communities and elected officials identify if decisions around policies and potential energy projects were made with adequate community input.

“The outcome of passing these types of preemptions is that local input will be silenced,” said Gerie Crawford from the Saint Peter/Saint Paul Community Council in Archer. “The voices of local government(s), property owners, rural and historic communities would be excluded from the conversation, thus having no input in the decisions affecting our neighborhoods and promoting environmental injustices at every level.”

For a recording of the event, please reach out to [email protected].