Today, citizens from across the state delivered 1,000 “suns” to
Governor Gray Davis to illustrate their demand for solar power
investments. They then went on to meet with 53 state lawmakers,
urging the elected officials to sign a letter calling on the
California Consumer Power and Conservation Authority to invest at
least $2 billion in clean energy.
“California has an historic opportunity to tip the scales in
favor of renewable energy with a $2 billion investment in clean
energy now,” said Danny Kennedy, Greenpeace’s Global Warming
Campaign Coordinator in California. “For example, a cash infusion
from the state in photovoltaic manufacturing can spark the solar
revolution and provide Californians with good jobs, clean industry
and true energy independence from greedy gas suppliers.”
A rally Sunday, attended by almost a thousand people, focused
attention on a positive vision of what the state can accomplish if
it breaks the vicious cycle of dependence on dirty, unreliable
fossil fuels. The first step the state can take toward that goal is
to cancel the long-term energy contracts Governor Gray Davis signed
this Spring, which lock California unnecessarily into a gas-based
electricity supply.
Raul Benet, from Greenpeace Mexico spoke about how California’s
energy policy effects his country.
“The pollution caused by
California’s fossil fuel burning plants knows no boundaries,” said
Benet. “Mexicans are being hurt by California’s expansion of its
fossil-fuel burning power base.”
