August Newsletter: Expanding City Climate Funding + Public Power Takeover Guide

Here is the main news feature from our August newsletter, or please, if you prefer, you can download the whole newsletter here in pdf.

Even better, you can subscribe and get the newsletter fresh and hot, the day they drop!

Minneapolis City Council explores raising funding for equitable climate action

At a time when we need every bit of good news, we are pleased to report that the City Council just passed a legislative directive asking key questions about the historic uses of utility franchise fees, and the possibility of creating an opt-in mechanism for residents who'd like to contribute more. Also, in the wider conversation, Council Members and members of the activist community, like us, are asking: 

1. What other reliable streams of revenue, besides the utility franchise fees (which are a percentage of our total Xcel and CenterPoint bills), could the city tap into that would be equitable for constituents? 
2. What are the lessons from how the Climate Legacy Initiative has been directing its current $10 million in utility franchise fee revenue that could give us guidance on how we can best implement it?  

One of our partner organizations, Unidos MN, has been leading an effort to double Minneapolis’ Climate Legacy Initiative (CLI) funding from its current $10 Million to $20 Million next year, and to expand it by $100 Million in 5 years. In the photo above, a group of Unidos volunteers and staff, including Brian from Community Power, showed up for the Aug 14th City Council meeting and are holding up the wards they are from.  

While we support the need for greater investment, it is important to Community Power that funding methods put downward pressure on utility bills by investing and expanding access to greater energy efficiency. So, effective oversight is key. Going back decades, most of the revenue the city receives from franchise fees goes into the general fund and not into climate action. Now that some of these funds are being directed to climate action, let's spend them well! 

On August 14th, the committee also heard a staff presentation on the development of a Climate Equity Reporting Platform, so the public can have updates and transparency on progress towards meeting climate equity goals.