{"id":1608425,"date":"2024-04-13T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-13T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grist.org\/?p=634831"},"modified":"2024-04-13T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-04-13T13:00:00","slug":"the-downballot-races-that-could-transform-energy-policy-in-arizona-and-nebraska","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2024\/04\/13\/the-downballot-races-that-could-transform-energy-policy-in-arizona-and-nebraska\/","title":{"rendered":"The\u00a0downballot races that could transform energy policy in Arizona and Nebraska"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This story was originally published by Capital & Main<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and watershed protection, several downballot elections this year in a handful of states could have a major effect in the transition away from fossil fuel.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The media tend to ignore such contests, which attract far fewer voters than big federal and state elections. But board members of public utilities in Arizona and Nebraska are up for election in coming months, and the results of those contests could potentially transform energy policy for millions of Americans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The elections come amid\u00a0growing concern<\/a>\u00a0about the role of money in such races and in the wake of headline-grabbing\u00a0corruption scandals<\/a>\u00a0at utilities across the country. Utility fraud and corruption \u2014 in Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, and South Carolina \u2014 has cost electricity customers at least $6.6 billion, according to\u00a0an analysis by news nonprofit Floodlight<\/a>, which noted that \u201csome power companies embrace \u2014 or seek to block \u2014 the transition away from fossil fuels toward wind, solar, hydrogen, and nuclear, which produce fewer greenhouse gasses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On April 2, six clean-energy candidates won seats on two boards of the\u00a0Salt River Project<\/a>, a not-for-profit utility that provides water and power to more than 2 million people living in central Arizona. It\u2019s one of the largest public power companies in the country.\u00a0Critics say<\/a>\u00a0that it\u2019s also one of the biggest contributors in the Western U.S. to greenhouse gas emissions since it relies on coal, oil, and natural gas to generate more than two-thirds of its energy. Arizona is the\u00a0sunniest state in the country<\/a>, yet the Salt River Project gets only\u00a03.4 percent of its energy from solar<\/a>, lagging behind the state overall,\u00a0which gets 10 percent from solar.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though they didn\u2019t win a majority of the board, the new clean energy members could have a greater role shaping the energy future of Phoenix, the fifth-largest city in the U.S. with a population of more than 1.6 million. The election attracted controversy due to rules limiting voter eligibility to property owners and not all rate payers in the district \u2014 it also got the attention of famed environmental activists like Bill McKibben, leader of the climate campaign group\u00a0350.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the incumbent board members have served for decades because of an election system set up in the early 1900s \u2014 when the Valley of the Sun was settled by farmers and ranchers \u2014 that allows only property owners to vote<\/a> and apportions votes by acreage. The more land you own, the more votes you get. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, most of the utility\u2019s customers don\u2019t have a say in choosing the leadership of a body that sets their energy rates and decides what energy sources they use to generate electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The clean energy advocates promise<\/a>\u00a0to accelerate solar deployments, adjust rates to incentivize the use of rooftop solar, and strengthen watershed protection in a region that is increasingly suffering from drought and extreme heat. In 2023, Phoenix saw\u00a0a record 54 days<\/a>\u00a0when the temperature hit 110 degrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe call ourselves the Valley of the Sun for a reason,\u201d said Randy Miller, a winning Salt River Project board member who supports the slate of clean energy candidates and was motivated to run several years ago when he was told that his energy rates would nearly triple since he installed rooftop solar on his home. \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it, the nearby ASP [Arizona Public Service] district has more than triple the amount of rooftop solar. Higher rates are a complete disincentive to getting solar power. We need new leadership on the board.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The candidates were especially motivated in light of a state commission\u2019s recent decision<\/a> to scrap its renewable energy standard, the only state to take such action, according to solar industry advocates<\/a>. That body, the Arizona Corporation Commission, also has an election coming up in August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Longtime board member Stephen H. Williams, who defeated one of the clean-energy candidates, did not return calls from Capital & Main for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current board members running for reelection had pushed back against the new candidates, sending out flyers touting \u201c40 combined years of providing affordable and reliable power and water\u201d and citing sustainability as one of their concerns. They criticized what they called an attempted \u201ctakeover\u201d<\/a> by \u201cideological extremists,\u201d claiming that Salt River Project \u201chas managed to reduce carbon intensity by 35 percent since 2005, despite the dramatic growth happening in our service area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The insurgents in the Salt River Project race had hoped to emulate Nebraska, where clean-energy advocates won three seats<\/a> in 2016 on the heavily rural Nebraska Public Power District. That helped tip the balance of power and led the board to vote 9-2 in 2021 to aim for net-zero emissions in the utility\u2019s generation by 2050. As a result, with the state\u2019s other two major power utilities already making similar pledges<\/a> in recent years, Nebraska became the first GOP-dominated state<\/a> to commit to net-zero electricity emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The end result was a long-sought goal of climate activists and environmental groups, such as the Nebraska Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club, which poured money into the 2018 and 2020 races<\/a>. Before that, such races were sleepy affairs with incumbents running unopposed. The unprecedented level of campaign contributions sparked debate in this year\u2019s election cycle, with some state lawmakers recently pushing<\/a> to make the elections partisan so that voters have a better idea of each candidate\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNebraskans support clean energy\u201d but the utilities didn\u2019t reflect those values \u2014 and so it became a matter of organizing and educating voters, said Chelsea Johnson, deputy director of Nebraska Conservation Voters, describing recent election results. \u201cYou can have a really big impact running for these local offices.\u201d<\/p>\n