Update: A unanimous vote for CCE in Irvine!!!
Apologies for the belated update! Tuesday, Dec. 10 was a FANTASTIC day for Irvine, consumer choice and #climateaction!!! ���❤️�
— To stay up to date on this growing movement, please join our new Facebook group OC Families for Consumer Choice. —
Long story short, the Irvine city council did pretty much exactly what we wanted on Community Choice Energy!
Irvine City Councilmember Michael Carroll (who said a few weeks ago that he decided to meet with us in large part because of all the signatures and comments he received through this petition) made a motion in support of CCE soon after the meeting started. Discussion ensued, and many community members, including high school kids, business leaders, scientists, elected officials from neighboring cities, parents and one 7-year-old future windmill farmer spoke in favor of CCE.
There was a some heated back-and-forth among a few council members about whether to do a third-party review of the feasibility study completed earlier this year, and ultimately they agreed that the third-party review is acceptable as long as it, “Does not hinder the CCE formation in any way.” Ultimately, after two hours of discussion, the council voted UNANIMOUSLY to have city staff reach out to other cities that would want to join Irvine to create a CCE, which is how CCEs are formed in most places.
Here’s a rough quote of what Councilmember Carroll said in the motion: "Direct staff to conduct the analysis required and to secure the interest of other CCE Joint Powers Authority partner cities including but not limited to Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa and Tustin regarding their interest in joining Irvine in a JPA, asking staff to return with the preliminary JPA findings and JPA formation documents no later than May 12, 2020. All in preparation to submit a CCE Implementation plan to the CPUC by December 31, 2020. And in addition, ask the city attorney to include a third-party review of the Irvine CCE Feasibility Study including pros cons and lessons learned from other CCEs, which will not hinder the Irvine CCE formation in any way.”
Unfortunately, the California Public Utilities Commission’s deadline for applying to create new CCEs is in December, so the earliest we would be able to apply will be Dec. 2020, but now the city has the time it needs to work out all the many details and get other cities on board.
The council plans to discuss CCE again in February, but Councilman Carroll has already reached out to the leaders of Irvine Families for Consumer Choice to invite us to a meeting and get our input on next steps, which shows us he is quite sincere about making this happen.
In this age of partisan divisiveness, it was inspiring to see a council of three Republicans and two Democrats have a productive conversation and vote together on something that will bring so many benefits to Irvine, OC and the world beyond.
To watch the meeting, go to http://legacy.cityofirvine.org/cityhall/citymanager/pio/ictv/player/default.asp?ID=512. Click on 2019 Meetings and then the CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING (1 P.M.) Dec 10, 2019 VIDEO. Unfortunately, there’s no way for us to provide a direct link to the video.
We want to offer our deepest thanks to Councilmember Carroll for making the motion of the year, to Mayor Christina Shea who is poised to be the queen of green, Councilmembers Farrah Khan and Melissa Fox for their constant and truly righteous support of CCE and to Councilmember Anthony Kuo for his careful stewardship.
Many thanks to you for signing and sharing this petition. It really did make a huge difference.
We still have lots of work to do, but we are on our way and we should celebrate this victory. Here’s to you!!!
— To stay up to date on this growing movement, please join our new Facebook group OC Families for Consumer Choice. —
For more info on CCE, go to OCcleanpower.org.