Nuclear still pending - Ava Community Energy board to vote on September 18

LCEA has word from Ava Community Energy that the Board of Directors will be voting on whether to accept an allocation of nuclear energy from PG&E at next month’s September 18th board meeting at 6:00pm. What we need now is for everyone to spread the word by sharing our Petition to Oppose PG&E's Nuclear in Ava Community Energy to urge the Board to reject the offer. For community groups and organizations, please sign-on and share the organizational letter; please use this form which has a link to an organizational letter and sign up for public comment.

Ava Community Energy staff at a Community Advisory Committee began talking about PG&E’s nuclear offer last Fall and again in the Spring of 2024. The issue appeared on an agenda in April for vote in May. Since then, it has been repeatedly delayed. In the early days, when Ava Community Energy, then East Bay Community Energy, was being formed the Board agreed that nuclear power would not be part of the agency’s resource mix. We are concerned that we have to fight the issue again after the public has already successfully opposed efforts by Ava Community Energy staff to include nuclear energy more than 3 times.

The very first fight in April 2020 to keep Ava’s resource mix nuclear free, inspired more than over 60 public comments at the board meeting where a decision was made not to add nuclear to the mix. December of 2020 was when staff succeeded in getting the board to agree to taking the allocation only if staff could find a buyer who would sell the energy and split the profits with Ava Community Energy. Our advocates insisted that there was no market for this nuclear power and in 2022 staff admitted that no buyer was ever found. What happened to the energy is still a mystery.

Ava Community Energy Staff have led the board to believe that accepting the nuclear deal will result in significant savings for Ava Community Energy customers. However, we believe those claims don’t account for betraying the public with promises of 100% clean energy. Ava will be paying for the nuclear energy at the “brown power” price (fossil fuel gas) rather than the “carbon-free” (nuclear & hydro) cost.

In addition when Ava Community Energy takes nuclear energy from PG&E, it is a significant boost to that corporation because it lowers the percentage of nuclear energy on PG&E's resource mix, which otherwise would be close to 50%, making it difficult for the corporation to meet state renewable energy mandates.  Why would any community choice energy agency want to help a corporation, especially PG&E balance it’s energy mix?  The whole point of Community Choice agencies is to get off the corporate model and be better than PG&E!

There is no way that nuclear energy, with all of its dirty side effects, including mining hazards largely borne by indigenous communities and plutonium waste accumulation that is a constant threat to all living creatures, could be considered “clean” energy.

To join us in holding Ava Community Energy’s promise of clean energy and opposing PG&E’s nuclear power, contact Hernando Sanchez, Energy Democracy Organizer with the Local Clean Energy Alliance at Hernando@localcleanenergy.org

Ava Community Energy Board Meeting
September 18 at 6:00pm via Zoom and in-person at the Cal State East Bay Oakland Center
Details can be found here and agendas are normally posted the Friday before a Board meeting.