My Shot
Nearly two years ago this community rejected a fossil fuel-based energy future that was being forced down our throats by Truckee Donner Public Utility District (TDPUD) management. After a protracted battle, we convinced the board that there were other options. Since then, the budget for conservation has been nearly tripled and a renewable portfolio standard of 21 percent by 2010 has been adopted. A citizens conservation committee was created. They produced an outstanding report. It’s on the TDPUD website (tdpud.org). Read it.
While I applaud the RPS, we can do much better and do it sooner. I must remind the ratepayer/owners that our power content still contains 90 percent dirty coal nearly two years later. Fossil fuel burning creates pollution. Pollution is waste. ‘Waste not – want not’ was a slogan my grandparents (who weathered the great depression) instilled in me. We would be wise to apply that axiom in contemporary times.
With a cursory overview of the recent ‘shift ‘ toward a greener image, one would think all is now well at the TDPUD. While acknowledging that progress has been made, we must not be lulled into complacency. Our current flat rate water billing system is unconscionable in a world where fresh water is the next oil. There is absolutely no incentive to conserve this precious natural resource. In fact, the opposite is true. Like it or not, water metering with rates tied to volumetric usage is now law. The water department of TDPUD just happens to be the largest customer of its power division. Multiple thirsty golf courses in our community require huge amounts of both water and therefore, power. We must demand a water rate structure that rewards conservation and penalizes gluttony. We think we have an unlimited water supply, but many local (now dry) well owners know better.
Our changing circumstances require change at the ballot box. If elected to the TDPUD board I pledge to focus my decision-making around the following concepts:
• We need more civil discourse and less unprofessional bickering.
• TDPUD operations must be more transparent.
• We think we want lower rates, but what we really want are lower bills.
• We need more Negawatts (watts avoided due to conservation and efficiency gains) and less kilowatts.
• We need local renewable distributed generation of power. This keeps money and jobs here.
• We must STOP IGNORING the externalities of fossil fuel based business as usual and START MAKING DECISIONS with sustainability as the primary objective. The seventh generation out will thank us for acting immediately.
Two huge and largely untapped natural resources exist right here in Truckee. One is exceptional and abundant solar energy potential. The other is an unusual number of highly skilled thinkers/innovators as evidenced by the conservation committee’s stellar report. If elected, I will push for the adoption of their recommendations in their entirety – including, most importantly, that they be allowed to continue their work. They are a perfect example of what it means to put the Public back in TDPUD.
I humbly ask for your vote and the chance to serve you, the ratepayers/owners of the TDPUD, as a board member.
~ G. Neal Mock, a Truckee resident, lies awake at night thinking about these things.
