2010.08.18 Press Release
Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council Endorses Beyond Coal Campaign
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 18, 2010
CONTACT
David Graham-Caso
(858) 945-2203
david.grahamcaso@sierraclub.org
Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council Endorses Beyond Coal Campaign
Neighborhood Council Members Approve Resolution Endorsing Sierra Club Campaign
(Los Angeles, CA)— The Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council Board approved a formal resolution Tuesday evening, endorsing the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. The resolution, which affirmed the Neighborhood Council’s support for Los Angeles’ transition away from dirty and dangerous coal-fired power, was supported and additionally instructs the Board to draft a letter to Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti, asking the Council leader to ensure the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) makes the necessary transition away from coal-fired power. The endorsement comes as the LADWP hosts a series of public meetings to hear input on a draft of its Integrated Resource Plan – a long term strategic blueprint for how the utility will procure its electricity over the next 20 years.
“This is great example of thinking globally, acting locally,” said Neighborhood Council member Tomás O’Grady. “It is up to members of communities like Griffith Park and Los Feliz to speak up and urge the leaders we elected in this City to lead the nation in efforts to fight climate change. Moving beyond coal helps a lot of people. It will create jobs, protect us from big bill increases in the future and it is one of the most important ways we can combat the damage coal pollution is doing to our planet.
“Removing coal from DWP’s portfolio should be a priority for all of Los Angeles’ leaders. It is a priority for the Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council” O’Grady continued.
Coal-fired power still supplies more energy to LA than any other source. Los Angeles’ two coal-fired power plants, located in Arizona and Utah, are among the worst stationary sources of pollution in the United States and are major contributors to the potentially catastrophic climate disruption that may already be intensifying the wildfires and droughts that directly affect families in Los Angeles.
“I am very pleased that the Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council voted to endorse the Beyond Coal campaign,” said Sierra Club Regional Representative Evan Gillespie. “This resolution demonstrates the growing momentum in the effort to rid Los Angeles of dirty and dangerous coal-fired power. We are excited to work side-by-side with these dedicated community representatives to clean up the way LA gets electricity.”
Continuing to chain Los Angeles to dirty and dangerous fuel sources like coal subjects LADWP customers to big price increases in the future. With the Obama Administration’s commitment to clean energy and reducing pollution, the United States Environmental Protection Agency is in the process of issuing federal regulations to crack down on dangerous pollutants emitted by coal-fired power plants. These new requirements, in combination with rising transportation and mining costs, underscore how Los Angeles’ overreliance on coal is threatening Angeleno’s pocketbooks.
“Moving beyond coal is the right thing to do,” said Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council Representative Leslie VanKeuren Campbell. “It will protect the people this Neighborhood Council represents from volatile rate-swings associated with fossil fuels. The Department of Water and Power must invest in energy efficiency programs that will keep our energy bills manageable rather than continuing to send our money to out of state coal corporations.”
By transitioning away from coal-fired power and investing in renewable energy and efficiency programs, LADWP can make Los Angeles the national leader in the fight against climate change while creating family-wage jobs and stimulating economic development in Los Angeles. The clean energy economy has the most promising potential in the California economy, with green jobs growing at ten times the rate of statewide average since 2005.
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About the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign
The Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign is a national effort that aims to move our economy toward a clean energy future by stopping new polluting coal-fired plants, phasing out existing plants, and keeping U.S. coal reserves in the ground and out of international markets. Thanks in part to the work of the Beyond Coal Campaign, plans for 129 new coal plants have been shelved since the beginning of the coal rush, keeping more than 530 million tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and encouraging America to follow the path to a new clean energy economy.
For more information about the Sierra Club’s Coal Free LA campaign, please visit www.sierraclub.org/coal/ca.
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