8/12/05 Press Conference: LOCAL FRESNO SUPPORT FOR BIG SOLAR BILL (SB1)

Photo from the Press Conference

from left to right:
Mark Stout, clean energy consultant
Henry T. Perea, Fresno City Council member
Juan Arambula, State Assemblyman
Susan Good, from State Senator Dean Florez’s office
Dale Julin, talk show host (KIRV 1510 am, Monday - Friday 1 - 3 PM) and solar energy salesperson

Thanks for the great photo, Mike!

Fellow Fans of Clean Air & Sustainability,

We greatly appreciate the Central Valley's support for
an important solar power bill, SB 1. Having Fresno
City Councilmember Henry T. Perea, Senators Dean
Florez and Chuck Poochigian's earlier support now
boosted with interest in co-authorship from
Assemblyman Juan Arambula, and support from
Councilmember Cynthia Sterling and Council President
Mike Dages was very gratifying.

Thanks as well to representatives of three local solar
contractors who made it out: Jeff Brown with Solahart
All Valley Energy Systems
(http://solahartallvalley.com), Greg Fisher of
Renewable Energy Concepts (http://recsolar.com), and
Dale Julin with Unlimited Energy
(http://unlimited-energy.com).

Press conference photo (digital video may be available
from Mike Rhodes, Editor of the Community Alliance):
http://indybay.org/news/2005/08/1759181_comment.php#1759299

Bernadette Del Chiaro wins awards for making sure
everyone gets their props in her update below. Thanks
as well to the numerous other folks who helped out in
ways great and small last week. There is also a nice
Letter to the Editor of the Modesto Bee below.

Best,
Mark

===============================================
Million Solar Roofs Bill Update August 12, 2005
(*Corrected/Updated Version*)

In the News: Eleanor Lovinfosse of Delhi told the
Modesto Bee on Thursday to “Tout bill to power up
solar panel use” (see Letter below).

Grassroots Support: Clean Water Action State Director
Erich Pfuehler reports that their activist phone
banking blitz was a huge success they contacted more
than 300 people generating phone calls to Assembly
Appropriations Committee members.

Events: Assemblymember Juan Arambula (who wants to
co-author), a representative from Senator Dean
Florez’s office, Fresno City Council President Mike
Dages [represented by Susana Gomez] and Councilmembers
Henry T. Perea and Cynthia Sterling [represented by
Marlin Ezel] spoke at a local endorsement event
organized by Mark Stout and Environment California’s
Dan Jacobson on Friday. CBS TV was there as well as
several newspapers. Thanks to Michael Crisco and Dale
Julin for working the local media and outreach
support, and Jerry Todd for hooking us up with a great
solar setting.

The Sacramento-based band, Cake, is supporting solar
power at their Anaheim Concert, Sunday, August 14th.
They will be donating a portion of their profits to
Environment California’s Million Solar Roofs campaign
and giving concert goers an opportunity to take
political action.

Full-page NYT ad to call for passage of bill: Hundreds
of Environment California members donated $20,000 to
run a full-page ad in the New York Times in support of
the Million Solar Roofs bill. The ad will run in the
West Coast Edition Wednesday, August 17th. To view
the ad go to http://www.environmentcalifornia.org. Listed as
supporting the bill in the ad includes, among others:
Attorney General Bill Lockyer • State Controller Steve
Westly • CalEPA Secretary Alan C. Lloyd, Ph.D •
Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman • Edward Norton •
Paul & Deborah Haggis • Martin Sheen • Peter Coyote •
Sharon Lawrence • California Building Officials •
California Conference of Carpenters • California
Energy Commission • California State Council of
Laborers.

District Meetings: In addition to the 9 districts
meetings reported last week, 3 meetings were held this
week with Chair of Appropriations Committee Judy Chu,
Assemblymember Karen Bass who sits on appropriations
committee and Assemblymember Joe Coto. Sharp’s Ed
Smelloff joined Jennette Gayer of Environment
California at the Chu meeting where she was generally
positive about the idea of solar power but repeated
the need for the speakers’ wishes to be known before
committing to helping get the bill through her
committee. Three local residents joined Environment
California’s Jenny Shanley and Winston Vaughan at the
meeting with Karen Bass where the assemblywoman was
very supportive and promised to co-author. Lastly,
Environment California’s Tim Leahy joined with two
residents at the meeting with Joe Coto where he was
reportedly supportive and maybe interested in
co-authoring.

Visibility Events: The San Diego Street office did a
HONK FOR SOLAR EVENT where they generated more than
100 honks. Meanwhile, Berkeley did a similar event in
downtown Berkeley counting more than 200 honks.


LETTER TO THE EDITOR IN MODESTO BEE:

Tout bill to power up solar panel use

I would love to see coverage in The Bee on the
Million Solar Roofs bill, SB1. Sponsored by Gov.
Schwarzenegger and authored by Senators Kevin Murray
(D-Los Angeles) and John Campbell (R-Orange County),
it continues solar panel buyer rebates from the
government that were originally set to end in 2006. It
also gives builders who use solar energy in new homes
a financial incentive.

The bill sets the goal of a million homes with solar
power by the year 2017. If this goal is achieved,
California would be more independent from foreign oil,
would have a more dependable power grid, and would cut
pollution and the need for new power plants.

The plan requires home builders to offer solar power
as an option to buyers. The bill also requires
utilities to give credit to homeowners whose solar
panels produce more electricity than they use.

Modesto, which has some of the worst-quality air in
the world, could benefit greatly from the
implementation of clean, renewable energy sources in
California. The bill has been passed by two policy
committees in the state Assembly, and the next vote
will be in the Assembly Appropriations Committee
sometime between Monday and Aug.26.

Contact your state officials to make sure this bill
gets through these two committees.

ELEANOR LOVINFOSSE
Delhi

Bernadette Del Chiaro
Clean Energy Advocate
Environment California
1107 9th Street, Suite 601
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-446-8062 x 103 (office)
916-448-4560 (fx)
bernadette [at] environmentcalifornia.org
http://www.environmentcalifornia.org

Mark Stout
Renewable Energy/Air Quality Consultant
Green Energy Network
Fresno,CA
markstout2003 [at] yahoo.com
http://greenenergy.homelinux.net
http://norcalsolar.org/tour/fresno