We did it!!
On an 82°F Tuesday afternoon (16°F warmer than the average of 66°F for September 30th in Rochester), with several Sierra Club volunteers and allies in the room, the Rochester Public Utilities Board voted to “[reaffirm] its commitment to the goal of achieving 100% renewable electricity by 2030.”
This is a big win for our community and we thank Rochester Public Utilities (RPU) for standing by its commitment. And we thank the hundreds of Rochester Sierra Club members, volunteers, allies, and climate champions who took the RPU survey, shared it with others, and contacted their city council members and the RPU board.
Late this summer, RPU quickly rolled out a survey to customers gauging whether they should abandon the current 2030 100% renewable electricity goal in favor of the state 2040 carbon free law. Rochester made its position clear: 70.6% of survey respondents support Rochester’s 100% net renewable by 2030 goal. Building on years of community advocacy (read more about the history here), Rochester residents and Sierra Club leaders are continuing to tell our decision makers and the RPU board that they want action on climate.
In framing this issue, RPU asked customers to choose between keeping the 2030 goal, or instead committing to the less-aggressive state 2040 goal. In doing so, they asked customers, who are already feeling the squeeze of rising costs, to choose between climate action and saving money in the short term — without any mention of the fiscal and social costs of additional greenhouse gas emissions.
We know that continued burning of fossil fuels only further exacerbates climate change; worsening air quality, flooding, severe storms, and extreme heat, all of which impact Rochester's vulnerable residents the most. Low-income folks and renters who don’t have access to air conditioning, communities of color, seniors living on fixed income, and more all bear the brunt of climate change.
Yet there was no mention of these effects of greenhouse gas emissions, public health costs, or the future costs that will be incurred by our community to clean up our worsening climate. It’s no wonder that 83.2% of 18-34 year olds who took the survey were supportive of RPU’s 2030 goal. They know they are the ones who will be paying the price.
"Of course no one is eager to pay higher utility rates," says Lisa Speckhard-Pasque, a Sierra Club ally at Tuesday’s RPU meeting. "But it's irresponsible to talk about energy choices outside of the wider context of climate change. We're already suffering from and paying for climate change as a society, and it only gets worse with time.”
It’s also clear that there is a double standard when it comes to evaluating clean and dirty energy: There was no public survey asking customers how they feel about building new methane gas plants in town or how the additional $50 million that was just approved for that project will affect rates. Energy costs money – and more and more often renewables are the cheapest way to go.
Let’s be clear. We are thrilled and commend RPU, its staff, and the board for staying steadfast and working hard to ensure that the 2030 100% renewable goal remains attainable, especially through Trump’s attacks on our energy system.
We also need to ensure this commitment is implemented in the strongest, fairest way.
As it currently stands, Rochester will be able to meet its 2030 goal until 2034 by producing wind energy ahead of schedule and then not taking credit for that energy until 2030. But to get to truly long-term, sustained 100% renewable energy, Rochester will need an additional 100MW of wind.
During the recent RPU Board meeting, it was clear the utility is open to the possibility of delaying attaining that additional wind energy until 2033 or 2034. Delaying that clean energy means we just keep burning fossil fuels, equivalent to 166,000+ tons of extra CO2 in 2030 alone. That’s equal to the annual emissions from over 35,000 gas-powered cars or the electricity use of over 31,500 homes. Rochester residents expect greenhouse gas reductions by 2030, not just moving and shuffling around credit while we continue to pollute our air.
Our community is a community of health. Fossil fuel prices are volatile and prone to spikes, while renewable costs keep falling. More importantly, the devastating health and environmental costs of pollution are never factored into our bills. Prolonging our reliance on dirty energy that harms public health goes against what Rochester stands for. We need to:
- Prioritize Real Carbon Reductions: The RPU plan must explicitly prioritize cutting greenhouse gas emissions. This means clean energy solutions before 2030, not after. Battery storage and demand response programs need to take precedence over new methane gas plants, which harm our health and lock in volatile costs.
- Support Our Neighbors: Addressing climate change and supporting energy-burdened households are not conflicting goals—they are both essential. We urge RPU to expand programs like bill assistance and energy efficiency upgrades to ensure the clean energy transition benefits everyone, especially our most vulnerable community members.
- Ensure Transparency and Accountability: We need clear, accessible, and real-time reporting on our progress. This includes a public dashboard with granular data on the energy mix, renewable energy deliveries, and greenhouse gas emissions, so the community can track our path to 2030.
Thank you to the RPU board, our members, allies, and community members for standing up for a clean, healthy, and sustainable future for Rochester. Rochester Sierrans will continue to petition, lobby, write, and show up to make sure that we continue forward to a fossil free future.