Is Gavin Newsom Cheating on Clean Energy with PG&E?

A bobble headed larger-than-life-gelled-Gavin Newsom was seem getting in bed with pig-embodied PG&E while leaving his stilt walking solar & wind goddess out in the cold. That was the street theater scene this afternoon on the steps of San Francisco's City Hall while the Board of Supervisors considered the landmark Community Choice Aggregation legislation that would make 50% of San Francisco's energy come from renewable sources by 2017.

The Green Guerrillas Against Greenwash created this scene to draw attention to Newsom's cozy relationship with PG&E. Newsom has appeared at several PR events for the energy company that have touted token advances in green energy, such as the San Francisco Giants' 123 kilowatt solar installation. Meanwhile, he has refused to go on record as supporting Community Choice Aggregation's 360 megawatts.

The guerrilla theater piece was accompanied by fact sheets revealing how Mayor Newsom has been cheating on the city of San Francisco by accepting numerous donations from the CEO of PG&E and increasingly lavishing faux-green photo opportunities with the nuclear & gas power company. PG&E donated $10,000 to Newsom's 2003 Care Not Cash campaign that helped catapult him into the Mayor's office. Last year, the energy company donated $12,500 to oppose Proposition I, a measure asking the Mayor to meet once a month with the Board of Supervisors. Mayor Newsom opposed Prop I and has refused to comply with it, despite the fact that the voters passed it.

Green Guerrillas Against Greenwash is a volunteer-run citizen group formed out of disgust for PG$E's ‘Lets Green This City’ greenwashing campaign and is further outraged at PG$E's attempt to prevent cities from implementing Community Choice Aggregation. By holding high-profile actions, investigative research, and through their website, http://www.LetsGreenWashThisCity.org, Green Guerrillas focus on embarrassing PG$E and exposing their plans to buy politicians and undermine truly green legislation.

Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) is a policy that allows communities to take over the role of purchasing electricity for its residents and provide reliable,
locally generated renewable power that meets or beats PG&E's rates. San Francisco’s CCA will produce 360 megawatts of peak load renewable energy, which accounts for 51% of the city’s energy needs. (In contrast, PG$E is currently violating state renewable energy minimum law; its stated goal is to achieve minimum state mandates of 20% by 2010; and it’s positioning for a massive expansion of nuclear and gas). A policy to implement Community Choice Aggregation is being finalized in SF’s Budget & Finance Committee this month. CCA is endorsed by dozens of environmental and public good advocates including: Senior Action Network, Community First Coalition, Sierra Club, Local Power, Green Party, Our City, Women's Energy Matters, Greenpeace, and League of Young Voters.