The presidential candidate’s
new climate plan includes moving toward 100% public ownership of power.
A year after a neglected
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) power line sparked a wildfire that tore
through northern California, presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders on
Thursday visited Chico, Calif., where many who fled the fire made a new
home. He held a town hall the same day he released a new climate plan, in
which he declared that the days of investor-owned utilities—with their profit
incentives to underinvest in the electric grid and double down on fossil
fuels—have to end.
He’s right: It is time for a
massive public takeover of the nation’s electric grid.
The for-profit companies that
reign over our energy system now have shown no meaningful sign of being willing
to transform our energy system; they are much more interested in shareholder
gains and business as usual. Together, for-profit utilities and fossil
fuel companies have created powerful
political-economic machines across the country to solidify the status
quo of extraction and extortion. In contrast, democratic public ownership of
our energy system could prioritize community benefit over profit, paving
the way for a just and equitable energy system.
“We will end greed in our
energy system,” says Sanders’ climate plan.
“The renewable energy generated by the Green New Deal will be publicly owned.”
His plan comes as public power
ownership campaigns mobilize across the country. California’s movement took off
after the state’s largest for-profit utility, PG&E, requested a bailout
after the fire forced the utility to declare bankruptcy under the weight
of liability claims. Communities across the state are now demanding public
ownership, and the company’s hometown of San Francisco has begun looking
intomunicipalization.
In New York, in the midst of a
July heat wave, Con Edison sacrificed low-income communities of color in
Brooklyn by cutting
their power to avoid a larger blackout. Residents responded with
outrage, and Mayor Bill de Blasio, another presidential contender, called
for kicking
out the utility in favor of public ownership.
The birthplace of the monopoly
for-profit utility, Chicago, just introduced an
order to study the feasibility of taking over Commonwealth Edison
after years of rate hikes and inaction on climate change. Alderman
Carlos Ramirez-Rosa said that “through municipalization, Chicago could
accelerate decarbonization, and implement a progressive rate structure that
ensures better rates for working-class Chicagoans.”
Over the past months, multiple
Democratic presidential candidates have come out in favor of democratizing our
energy system. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (who
this week dropped out to run again for governor) centered much of his
plan for a clean energy economy on community-owned and community-led
renewables. And Julian Castro—the former mayor of San Antonio, where one of the
more progressive public utilities is located—has voiced support for policies
that empower the public to set up democratic utilities not only for electricity
but also internet services and water.
But Sanders has voiced the
most direct support for 100% public power, and this demand is fundamental
to his climate plan. Unlike other proposals to date, Sanders’ plan
explicitly commits to using public dollars for everything, refusing to
leave the transition to corporate investors who so far have failed the public. By
doing so, the Green New Deal proposal also ensures that the benefits of the
plan don’t disappear into the pockets of billionaires like Elon Musk but are
directed toward a more equitable society. Publicly funded projects, when
structured so communities have a say in the types of projects and jobs they
create, also have the potential to be more accountable, and can prioritize
marginalized communities’ access to high-paying, unionized public jobs and
respect the rights of the communities where this new infrastructure is built.
Sanders’ plan envisions
harnessing and expanding the four already-operating federal Power Marketing
Administrations (PMAs) and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), as well
as creating a fifth PMA, to build out renewable energy. It would inject $1.52
trillion into renewable energy expansion and $852 billion into energy storage,
working particularly with publicly or cooperatively owned utilities. By 2035,
this plan would essentially decommodify energy generation through the federal
authorities. Unlike the TVA of the past, designed largely for the benefit of
white men in search of work in the South, the entire plan is based on the Jemez Principles of
environmental justice that focus on bottom-up organizing and including all
people in decision-making.
At the municipal,
district and state levels, Sanders explicitly commits to supporting the
growth of public and co-op utilities. Already, public and cooperatively owned
utilities serve 49 million
people in the United States, at lower
costs and with generally more reliable service. In fact, the entire
state of Nebraska runs fully off of public power after the state
expelled the for-profit utility in the 1940s because of its
extortionist rates. Unlike their for-profit counterparts, these entities are
ultimately beholden to the public and any profits are reinvested into the
community’s schools, parks and public services. This plan would help this
sector expand its reach and invest more in renewable energy, energy efficiency,
and much more.
It also provides express
assistance to states and municipalities so they could start their own
democratically owned utilities—ones driven by the public interest and a climate-resilient
future. This could be key for places like New York or Chicago that are starting
the process of taking over their utility, seeking guidance and expertise
throughout the process. By taking energy utilities into public ownership, we
can catalyze renewable energy deployment at the same time we redistribute
wealth and power.
Elements of Sanders’ proposal
are similar to a
proposal for a Community Ownership of Power Administration that was
co-created by The Democracy Collaborative (where I work) and grassroots energy
groups.
Sanders’ plans for public
ownership don’t stop at electricity. He would also allocate funds to massively increase
public broadband projects to give people access to a new and necessary public
good: the internet. An estimated 19
million people, largely located in rural America, still do not have
access to broadband. He offers a vision for integrated and effective local
public transportation systems with high-speed rail connections. He stresses the
importance of building high-quality, low-carbon-footprint public housing, as
well as weatherizing already-standing homes to end energy poverty. The plan
reinstates the federal Civilian Conservation Corps jobs program to restore our
public lands. It invests dramatically more in public regional development
agencies like the Appalachian Regional Commission. It even creates spaces for
cooperatively owned grocery stores to facilitate local agriculture not held
hostage by monopolies like Monsanto.
Sanders is not alone in his
call for more public ownership. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has similarly audacious
plans for services like broadband, and both Warren and Sen. Cory Booker have
invoked the Civilian Conservation Corps as a model. However, Sanders’ Green New
Deal proposal stands alone in its comprehensive commitment to public funding
and programs.
The future is public. It is
accountable to the principles of environmental justice. It is democratic. It is
decommodified. Sanders’ plan is the latest to set the bar for a new economy
shepherded in by the green energy transition. We learned long ago that private
interests won’t solve for climate and justice at the same time—that change will
have to come from united and empowered people. Now, this realization is firmly
on the presidential political agenda.
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