PRESS ADVISORY: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Bay Area’s Largest Energy Alliance to Host Town Hall with Assemblymember Nancy Skinner

Dynamic Cross-Sector Gathering to Accelerate Local Renewable Energy Projects and Green Job Growth

CONTACT:  Al Weinrub, Local Clean Energy Alliance, (510) 531-0720, al.weinrub@comcast.net

April 25, 2012

Oakland, CA — Over 150 renewable energy movers and shakers will gather on May 10 for the third annual Clean Power, Healthy Communities conference at the California Endowment in downtown Oakland. Participants will bolster efforts to accelerate urban clean energy projects and create local green jobs in the Bay Area.

As PG&E fumbles to maintain its energy infrastructure and drags its feet on clean energy development, Bay Area cities and local renewable power companies are demonstrating visionary leadership, with new models and programs that are bringing the benefits of local renewable power to our communities.

Organized by the Local Clean Energy Alliance, Clean Power, Healthy Communities will focus on how cities can ramp up local renewable energy while cutting global warming pollution and creating thousands of family-supporting clean energy jobs. The conference also includes a town hall discussion with Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, who chairs the Natural Resources Committee and sits on the Utilities and Commerce Committee. Other speakers include international energy experts, representatives from social justice, labor, and environmental organizations, local government agencies, and green businesses. For a schedule of activities, see http://localcleanenergy.org/2012-conference-program

“We’re very motivated by the economic and climate challenges faced by our communities. And we feel we’re at a watershed moment for local clean energy development here in the Bay Area,” said Alliance Coordinator Al Weinrub. “As San Francisco, Marin County, Sonoma County, and East Bay cities move forward on Community Choice energy programs, we are organizing grassroots support to ensure that these strategies truly benefit our communities.” The Alliance’s signature issue is advocating for and implementing Community Choice energy, which can give residents and businesses the choice of obtaining electricity from local renewable resources rather than buying it from PG&E.

The Local Clean Energy Alliance is now Northern California’s largest clean power alliance, with 90 organizational affiliates. “Our 2010 conference launched the grassroots effort to defeat PG&E’s Prop 16, which we won despite being outspent 500 to 1,” said Kirsten Schwind, Program Director at Bay Localize, which hosts the Alliance. “In 2011, our conference and rally gained major news coverage of community demands for safe, clean energy, while opposing the re-licensing of California’s nuclear power plants after the disaster in Fukushima.”

Featured Speakers and Workshops This Year:

• California Assemblymember and clean energy policy leader Nancy Skinner
• Keynote address by policy shaker Bill Gallegos of Communities for a Better Environment
• Panels featuring 350.org co-founder Jamie Henn, international energy expert Paul Gipe, labor organizer Lisa Hoyos, and many outstanding clean power and energy efficiency advocates
• Workshops on game-changing feed-in tariff and Community Choice Energy initiatives

For more, see www.LocalCleanEnergy.org