Endorsement for Initiative 937
WHEREAS making our homes and businesses more energy efficient and increasing our use of new renewable sources will bolster our regional and national energy security; and
WHEREAS the Northwest’s clean energy potential easily outstrips our future needs, as confirmed by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Fifth Power Plan, which identifies more than 2,000 average megawatts of cost-competitive renewabale resources and 2,500 average megawatts of very low-cost energy efficiency available to the region’s utilities; and
WHEREAS we need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and overdependence on hydropower to protect consumers from price volatility and chronic supply crises; and
WHEREAS the prospect of increased energy needs due to state population growth and economic development has led many Washington utilities to pursue coal and other fossil fuels, including proposed coal plants in Washington and across the Northwest; and
WHEREAS burning fossil fuels to generate electricity produces 69% of all sulfur dioxide, 33% of mercury, 22% of nitrogen oxides, and 8% of particulate matter emissions, as well as 40% of the carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming; and
WHEREAS energy efficiency is less expensive for utilities and their customers than purchasing new energy resources while saving money for consumers and making businesses more competitive; and
WHEREAS under Initiative 937 landowners would be able to receive annual lease payments upwards of $5,000 for each wind turbine on their property, and continue to raise crops or graze livestock on the land, creating new economic development opportunities for rural communities and helping to save family farms; and
WHEREAS making the most of the Northwest’s plentiful resources will position Washington as a national clean-energy technology leader and provide thousands of skilled, high-quality, family-wage jobs, rural economic development and stable electricity prices for consumers; and
WHEREAS 20 other states and the District of Columbia have already enacted clean energy standards;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Whatcom County Democrats (WCDCC) join with Washingtonians for Energy Security in endorsing Initiative 937 to the people that will ensure electric utilities purchase 15% of their power from clean, appropriately sited renewable resources by 2020 and realize all available cost-saving energy efficiency.
(Date Passed 04/08/2006 by Whatcom County Democrats)
