October 17, 2017

More than 50 cities across the United States have committed to equitable transitions to 100% renewable energy futures. Today, we asked the Durango City Council to join this growing movement by committing to 100% local, renewable energy by 2050. Doing so would:

  1. Keep energy dollars local by offering businesses entrepreneurial investment opportunities while creating competitive, high quality, local jobs. In this way, we will limit energy imports and prevent export of our financial capital.
  2. Stabilize energy costs for citizens and businesses as the cost of fossil fuel energy continues to rise.
  3. Protect our quality of life by keeping Durango’s air, land and water resources healthy.

What Local First Did and Why: Many of the members of the local, independent business community in Durango support local, clean energy. In order to start a dialogue with those members as well as communicate the response of that dialogue to the City Council, Local First and our community non-profit partners circulated a 100% renewable energy petition. We presented the results of the petition to the Durango City Council on October 17, 2017 because they are in a unique position to be working with LPEA to achieve this goal.

On November 29th, the 50th City in the U.S. adopted 100% renewable energy goals. Here’s what the Mayor of Salt Lake City, Jackie Biskupski, had to say about adopting this goal:

“By committing to 100 percent clean energy, cities like Salt Lake City and Truckee are sending a message that we care about the health and prosperity of the people in our communities. Clean energy is the future, and cities that make the investment today are not only helping to protect the environment, they are positioning themselves to be the economic and social powerhouses of tomorrow.”

ACT LOCAL OUTCOME

As of January 2018, 111 businesses and 1,000 individuals signed on to support 100% renewable energy by 2050, with 80% of electricity generated locally by 2030.

The response from the City Council to this incredible show of support was strong, and the next day, on October 18, 2017, the City Councilors asked LPEA how we can achieve this goal. There are a variety of options, from increasing distributed generation to reconsidering the terms of our 2050 contract with Tri-state. All of these options should be explored.

NEXT STEPS: The next step for our community is to join these 50 cities and continue this dialogue with the LPEA Board, the Durango City Council, the business community, and the public at-large. Even the nearby cities of Aztec and Bloomfield who have depended so long on the extraction of natural gas committed themselves to install PV power to lower their utility costs. Local First will continue to work with all partners that share this common vision as a way to transform our local energy economy as this is a fundamental part of our mission as a non-profit organization.