Palo Alto Paying Over $20,000 Annually to Natural Gas Trade Group Fighting Climate Action

image_50427649
on

Nearly a year ago, the city of Palo Alto โ€” home to Stanford University and the unofficial capital of Silicon Valley โ€” joined a handful of other California cities in enacting an all-electric building mandate. City leaders touted the new law, which is intended to tightly restrict future use of natural gas-powered heating and cooling in new construction, as an important part of the cityโ€™s plan to slash greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent byย 2030.

At a time when California is facing climate changeโ€“driven extremes like sweltering temperatures and unprecedented wildfires, the urgency of achieving this emissions reduction target seemsย clear.

But as Palo Alto moves to curb climate pollution and phase out natural gas in buildings, the city is still involved with a lobby group devoted to promoting this fossil fuel. Environmental advocates call it a conflict of interest that is undercutting Palo Altoโ€™s commitment to curbing globalย warming.

โ€œPalo Alto is very pro-electric and has very aggressive climate goals, yet theyโ€™re still funding an entity that is trying to undermine those objectives,โ€ said Matt Vespa, a California-based attorney with the environmental law organization Earthjustice. That entity is the American Public Gas Association, or APGA, a gas industry trade group that opposes policies to phase out naturalย gas.

Leading climate and energy experts say addressing the climate crisis requires an โ€œelectrify everythingโ€ approach of switching up everything currently running on combustion to getting power via the electric grid, since electricity can be generated from sources that donโ€™t emit greenhouseย gases.

As Palo Alto and other cities across the country are starting to embrace this approach of electrifying everything from vehicles to buildings, the fossil fuel industry and its trade groups like APGA are vehemently pushingย back.

โ€œMake no mistake, our industry faces threats on many levels, and it is through APGA we can work diligently together to address these threats head on so our communities and customers may continue to enjoy abundant and affordable natural gas long into the future,โ€ an APGA representative wrote in a September 20, 2017 cover letter to a Palo Alto cityย official.


Screen shot of the cover letter accompanying Palo Alto’s 2018 APGA membership duesย invoice.ย 

APGA represents municipal or publicly owned gas utilities in lobbying Congress and energy regulators, claiming over 700 public gas utility members. The group is aligned with the larger gas industry, including investor-owned utilities, petroleum and pipeline companies, and gas utility trade associations like the American Gas Association.

Investor-owned gas utilities such as Southern California Gas and Chesapeake Utilities are projected to contribute $150,000 this year to APGA, according to documents obtained by the Climate Investigations Center. Oil giant BP and top fossil fuel financiers like JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs are among APGAโ€™s national sponsors .

The group is spending over a half million dollars in 2020 on anti-electrification advocacy efforts, according to documents obtained by the Climate Investigationsย Center.

Palo Alto remains a member of APGA and pays about $21,000 a year in annual dues, according to records obtained by Earthjustice and shared withย DeSmog.

Palo Alto Adopts Building Electrificationย Policy

In November 2019 the Palo Alto City Council adopted its mandate for all-electric new buildings. More than 50 cities and counties in California have committed to or are considering similarย policies.

Under Palo Altoโ€™s electrification policy, all new construction from 2020 onwards must have either an all-electric design with no gas hookups, or a highly efficient design mixing electric power with natural gas in limited uses, such as gas cooking ranges or fireplaces. The city is also offering incentives to electrify existingย buildings.


This story is part of the investigative series,ย Unplugged:ย The Gas Industry Is Fighting Efforts to ‘Electrifyย Everything’


Itโ€™s all part of a broader emissions reduction strategy the city pursued since 2016 called the Sustainability/Climate Action Plan Framework. The plan targets an 80 percent reduction of the cityโ€™s greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels by 2030, two decades ahead of Californiaโ€™s statewide emissions reductionย target.

Palo Altoโ€™s municipal utility, called City of Palo Alto Utilities, or CPAU, operates six utility services, including electric and gas. In 2015, the city launched a carbon-offset program called PaloAltoGreen Gas as a short-term strategy to offset CPAUโ€™s emissions, primarily via capturing methane from livestock operations such as a dairy farm called Green Valley Dairy in Krakow, Wisconsin.ย Thanks to these offsets, CPAU claims to be the first carbon neutral utility in the world.


Graphic from City of Palo Alto Utilitiesย website

Beyond offsets, Palo Altoโ€™s stated long-term goal is to reduce gas use through implementing energy-efficiency measures and facilitating the use of high-efficiency electric appliances. This transition away from direct use of gas means the future of the cityโ€™s gas utility is highly uncertain. Palo Alto has acknowledged as much: A recent staff report submitted to the cityโ€™s Utility Advisory Commission, or UAC, noted that achieving the 2030 climate target could result in a โ€œnon-viable gas utility,โ€ or at least a gas utility that is โ€œsignificantly scaledย back.โ€

Paying a Gas Industry Tradeย Association

At the same time that Palo Alto is grappling with the future of its reliance on natural gas, the city remains a member of the APGA. According to records obtained via a freedom of information request by Earthjustice, the city paid nearly $20,200 to APGA in 2018 membership fees and about $21,000 in 2019, and APGA has billed the city about $21,500 for its 2020ย membership.

ย 

โ€œPalo Altoโ€™s stated policies are very oriented towards strong climate action and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, so it seems inconsistent to be then funding through membership dues a fossil fuel trade group that actively lobbies against such policies,โ€ Earthjusticeโ€™s Rebecca Barker toldย DeSmog.

Earthjustice has brought this information to the attention of environmental activists in the local community, including the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Altoโ€™s Green Sanctuary Committee.

In July, Earthjustice raised concerns about Palo Altoโ€™s APGA membership with CPAU. According to Earthjustice attorney Matt Vespa, CPAUโ€™s Christine Tam, a senior resource planner, replied with a two-sentence explanation: โ€œIn response to your comment, the Engineering and Operations team at CPAU rely on APGA for safety-related information. We do not participate in their lobbyingย efforts.โ€ย 

Since then, CPAU has continued to receive comments from some members of the public questioning the city utilities department’s continued membership in APGA, according to a packet of documents linked to the Utility Advisory Commissionโ€™s September 2, 2020 meeting agenda online. The UAC is a seven-member panel appointed by the city council to help provide oversight and advice to the utilities department (CPAU).ย 

CPAU recently released a statement pointing to the cityโ€™s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and decrease fossil gas usage, but emphasized that maintaining the โ€œsafety and reliabilityโ€ of the gas system remains aย priority.

โ€œThe City is aware of APGAโ€™s advocacy efforts and has expressed concerns about the APGAโ€™s positions. APGA staff is aware that Palo Alto does not share its positions,โ€ CPAU noted in its online statement, but the agencyย โ€œbelieve[s] that continued membership continues to be in the communityโ€™s best interests at thisย time.โ€

ย 

Palo Altoโ€™s director of utilities, Dean Batchelor, did not directly acknowledge any conflict between the cityโ€™s APGA membership and its plans to phase out natural gas. โ€œWe have reiterated that Palo Alto is actively exploring electrification in our service territory and developing relevant policies and programs while carefully considering the operational implications for our gas utility operations,โ€ he said, and โ€œwill continue to do so when corresponding about theseย issues.โ€

Time to End Palo Altoโ€™s APGAย Membership?

Some community members, however, say itโ€™s time for the city to cut ties with APGA.

โ€œItโ€™s time for CPAU to end its membership in [the gas lobby], and find another organization that can provide the technical information that [APGA] provides,โ€ Debbie Mytels, a Palo Alto resident and chair of Peninsula Interfaith Climate Action, wrote in a September 2 email to the UAC. โ€œCutting off membership at this time would send a strong signal to [APGA], reminding them that their organization was established to provide for the needs of PUBLIC utilities, not the needs of the โ€˜naturalโ€™ gasย industry.โ€

Jeralyn Moran, a co-chair of the Green Sanctuary Committee, agrees that itโ€™s time for the city to end its payments to APGA.

โ€œIdeally we as a city of Palo Alto could steer clear of our relationship with APGA and move forward toward more clean energy,โ€ Moran says. โ€œRenewing our relationship with an entity like this is sending a bad message, that the Palo Alto [climate] goals are not all that important, that we can kind of blow it off and we have lots of time, which weย donโ€™t.โ€

ย 

Bill Hilton, another member of the Green Sanctuary Committee, calls the cityโ€™s ongoing membership in APGA โ€œhypocritical,โ€ and said the group has begun โ€stirring the potโ€ on the APGA membership within the localย community.

Hilton believes there may be few in city government who know about the membership, and even fewer that APGA is actively lobbying againstย electrification.

Members of the Palo Alto City Council did not immediately respond to requests forย comment.

โ€œAt the end of the day, we have to live our values and spend city funds accordingly,โ€ while also maintaining a safe and steady energy supply, said Steven Lee, a candidate for the Palo Alto City Council in the upcoming November election, who intends to advocate for severing the relationship with APGA ifย elected.

โ€œAs Palo Alto moves away from natural gas and towards greater energy efficiency and electrification,โ€ Lee said, โ€œwe also need to defund trade groups who are actively resisting the necessary change and progress we must make to tackle climateย change.โ€

Check out the DeSmogย investigative series, Unplugged:ย The Gas Industry Is Fighting Efforts to ‘Electrifyย Everything’

Main Image: โ€œPlugged in to the sunโ€ utility box mural by Ceevah Sobe on University Avenue in Palo Alto, 2012. Crop of original image by: Adam Fagen, CC BYNCSAย 2.0

image_50427649
Dana is an environmental journalist focusing on climate change and climate accountability reporting. She writes regularly for DeSmog covering topics such as fossil fuel industry opposition to climate action, climate change lawsuits, greenwashing and false climate solutions, and clean transportation.

Related Posts

Analysis
on

Right wing YouTuber Tim Pool is the latest to own โ€˜climate peopleโ€™ with fake facts spouted by a grizzled TV oilman.

Right wing YouTuber Tim Pool is the latest to own โ€˜climate peopleโ€™ with fake facts spouted by a grizzled TV oilman.
on

Campaigners warn that the UK will face โ€œpressure from American fossil fuel interestsโ€ to slow its energy transition.

Campaigners warn that the UK will face โ€œpressure from American fossil fuel interestsโ€ to slow its energy transition.
Analysis
on

Oil patch advocate Lisa Baiton called for more extraction and less regulation at Vancouver address that didnโ€™t once mention climate change.

Oil patch advocate Lisa Baiton called for more extraction and less regulation at Vancouver address that didnโ€™t once mention climate change.
on

PA-based CEO Toby Rice hobnobbed with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Now heโ€™s poised for pipelines, exports, and profits.

PA-based CEO Toby Rice hobnobbed with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Now heโ€™s poised for pipelines, exports, and profits.