![]() The city’s population is the 14th largest in the country, and Ohio is the sixth highest carbon-emitting state, she noted. “Issue 1 can lower carbon emissions in Columbus 1.2 million megatons or 19% of our total,” said Cathy Cowan Becker, who heads up Columbus-area volunteers for the Sierra Club’s Ready for 100 program. Then last year the Ohio General Assembly mostly gutted those standards as part of the nuclear and coal bailout law at the center of a federal criminal case. One 2014 law tripled property line setbacks for wind farm turbines, while another froze and then weakened targets the state’s renewable energy and energy efficiency standards. Over the last several years, lawmakers at the state level enacted various roadblocks to the expansion of renewable energy in Ohio. “This type of bold action at the local level is more urgent than ever,” said Heather Taylor-Miesle, president of the Ohio Environmental Council Action Fund. Supporters tout the proposal as a way to significantly advance climate action in Ohio despite regression and stalemates on clean energy policies at the state capitol. “From economic and environmental perspectives, Issue 1 works.” Supporters weigh in “Leveraging aggregation to achieve clean energy goals not only cleans up the air we breathe and the water we drink, but also supports a growing industry in Ohio,” Wurst said. Residents will be able to opt out any time, and the ballot initiative won’t raise taxes, according to Issue 1 spokesperson Amanda Wurst, with the Remington Road Group, which is a communications consultant working with Trebel. The final agreement would go through a public City Council approval process as well, Beck said. Virtual public hearings were held on July 7 and Sept. The city then solicited competitive bids from energy suppliers in June.ĪEP Energy was selected as the preferred supplier among four responses. After a public bidding process, Columbus selected Trebel Energy as an aggregation consultant in May. All-green power options also are offered by some other communities’ plans, although customers may have to affirmatively choose them.Īdvisory group meetings to plan for the Columbus initiative began last year, and Mayor Andrew Ginther announced the ballot initiative during his State of the City speech in February. The standard offer for Cleveland and Cincinnati’s aggregation plans also is a 100% renewable plan, although those cities are smaller. “And it’s really a powerful way for a community to band together and make these transitions off of fossil fuels.”Ĭolumbus’s plan stands out from others in Ohio both because of the size of its population (922,223) and because city leaders also made an upfront decision to procure all renewable energy for covered residents who stay in the plan. ![]() In his view, aggregation can help people get electricity more affordably, while also enabling community-wide clean energy projects. ![]() “I see it as a community-wide cooperative effort to aggregate purchasing power,” said Roger Wilkens, former director of the Southeast Ohio Public Energy Council, who now heads up the Re-POWER Network initiative for the Athens Energy Institute. Until recently, however, areas in central and southeast Ohio have lagged behind the northeast, northwest and southwest regions in adopting the plans. Under a 1999 law, more than 100 Ohio communities have so far opted for community aggregation plans to supply residents’ electricity. “Aggregation gives us the leverage to drive these changes in a win-win for consumers, our economy and the environment.” The city’s goal “is to provide residents with 100% clean, renewable electricity through a community choice aggregation program by 2022,” said Erin Beck, director of special projects for the city of Columbus. In states where ratepayers choose their electricity supplier separate from their local utility, the programs let cities negotiate a default option for residents. ![]() Ballot Issue 1 could lower the Ohio capital city’s greenhouse gas emissions by nearly a fifth, according to supporters.Ĭolumbus, Ohio, voters are deciding this election whether to let city government seek out and collectively bid for renewable electricity on their behalf.īallot Issue 1 would create Ohio’s largest community aggregation program. ![]()
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