photo by Ryan McKnight, Creative Commons
Sometimes it’s important to do things that seem hopeless. Working to slow climate change, obviously, is one of those things. Pushing against federal bureaucracies certainly seems hopeless too. But I hope you’ll follow me on this one, because sometimes the ripples we make now add to a building wave that can wash the muck and mire away. And now is a really good time to throw a pebble.
TOSS A STONE IN THE POOL OF THE FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION
Earlier this winter, the regional electric grid operator, ISO-New England, held an auction for your electric bill payment dollars which resulted in over $12 Million being allocated to Merrimack Station to continue burning coal into 2025 in what’s called the forward capacity market. The result is that all of us are supporting a dinosaur coal plant for another year, when we should be shutting down fossil fuel plants as fast as possible. Blech!
But underneath this business as usual there are lots of currents moving. Here locally, the movement to reform how the ISO works is picking up steam among climate action groups as well as governments and NGOs. And down in Washington, DC, the bureaucrats who regulate ISO’s policies now have a new majority of commissioners ready to make some substantial changes to decarbonize how electricity is generated in the US. As part of that, they are taking more seriously the activists who have been pushing for reform for years. And thus here comes our moment.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (aka FERC) is reviewing the results of ISO-New England’s recent auction. Part of that is taking public comments. While the odds that FERC rejects ratepayer money going to subsidize Merrimack Station might be low, it’s a unique moment because the public never comments on stuff like this. With activists pushing on FERC for reform in DC, and the movement here locally to reform ISO-NE, pushing a little harder sets the table for some bigger changes. And in this forum the bureaucrats have to actually read and respond to what we have to say.
When you’re done, let us know about it and if you’d be so kind as to share your comment with us that would be awesome. As the old union song goes “drops of water turn a mill, singly none, singly none.” Let’s keep splashing.
