Community Choice

Electricity production is the single largest cause of global warming , air pollution and radioactive waste. By joining the statewide coalition to pass legislation to make "Community Choice" a viable option for municipalities to use in the fight against global warming, the County of Marin and the Town of Fairfax (which adopted the Community Choice resolution on February 1, 2000) are supporting a potential resource that could make real, quantifiable differences in the lives of their citizens and our environment. Sustainable Fairfax - an affiliate of Sustainable North Bay - proposed both these resolutions to the Marin County Board of Supervisors and Fairfax’s Town Council. Both organizations are backing the "Cities For Climate Protection" resolution at the county level.

In a unanimous vote, the Marin County Board of Supervisors passed the "Community Choice" resolution which its supporters call "the best hope yet for the global warming crisis." The Community Choice resolution asks for the statutory right, now illegal in California, of any California city or town to create a municipal purchasing cooperative whose members are the local residents and businesses, and whose founding member is the city or county government itself, with individuals and businesses free to opt out at any time. Supporters of Community Choice have included Ralph Nader, David Brower, CERT, and The Utility Reform Network (TURN).

Supervisor Hal Brown presented the "Community Choice" resolution by saying that this resolution "fits in very nicely with the County’s goals for sustainability particularly on the issue of global warming" and he encouraged the support from his colleague's. The towns and cities of California are the largest consumers of green power in the state. Many of them would like to also purchase green power on behalf of their citizens and businesses if only they had the right. San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and seven other municipalities in Los Angeles County as well as the Town of Fairfax joined the state coalition to support Community Choice legislation which passed both the California Assembly and the Senate 2002 session. These local governments view this legislation as very important because a town or city with this right can require a clean and renewable energy portfolio from its chosen electricity provider, thereby reducing its carbon dioxide emission levels.

The Community Choice bill now needs approval by Gov. Davis to become law, you can help by contacting Gov. Davis asking for him to pass this legislation and reminding your Marin elected officials to do the same. Gov Davis's phone number is 916-445-2841/fax 916-445-4633.

For more information, visit the American Local Power Project web site...

Check out the San Francisco Solar Project and other Local Power Projects in the Bay Area...

See our sample letter for local governments...