The Green New Deal Must Include a Federal Renewable Energy Commission to Replace FERC

(Click Here to Sign the Statement)

Our country and world desperately need the enactment of a Green New Deal. The science is clear: by 2030 we must be decisively onto the path of energy efficiency, conservation and wind, solar and other genuinely clean and safe renewable energy sources. Fossil fuels must be in a sharp and permanent decline as the power source for electricity, as well as for transportation and heating/cooling of buildings.

This Green New Deal (GND) shift will lead to the creation of millions of new jobs, including for those historically discriminated against and for those currently working in the fossil fuel industry. It will strengthen the labor and other movements and increase the number of good-paying, union jobs in our economy. It can be a major driver of the kind of positive, justice-based social and economic transformation so clearly needed in the United States.

This shift is already happening, but not rapidly enough. Just as FDR’s New Deal in the 1930s created the legislation and policies that began to raise the U.S. out of the Great Depression, the Green New Deal can bring together the people of this country and concentrate our collective efforts on the historic, must-succeed task of transforming our energy system and economy and doing so within the third decade of this century, by 2030.

In order for GND legislation to accomplish this task it must include a transformation of the federal agency tasked with regulating and overseeing the U.S. electrical grid-FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

FERC was created in 1977 when Congress passed the Department of Energy Reorganization Act. Over 40 years later, it’s time for a FERC overhaul. FERC must be replaced by FREC, the Federal Renewable Energy Commission.

A transformed FERC would not be a revolving door for its leaders and employees with the fossil fuel industry, as it is currently. An investigative article in April, 2015 in Greenwire summarized it this way: “Employees at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have deep ties to the industry they regulate, according to agency documents detailing their job negotiations and stock holdings. Ethics records throughout 2014 show agency staff seeking employment with grid operators, law firms and utilities that the agency has jurisdiction over and often meets with as it sets new orders and rules. In addition, FERC employees have held stock in or remain part of pension plans from companies that can be affected by the agency’s work.”

Leaders and employees of a new Federal Renewable Energy Commission must be personally and professionally committed to the historic task of shifting rapidly from fossil fuels to renewables. Leaders must be chosen based not upon their ties to the fossil fuel and nuclear power industries but on their experience with and commitment to renewables.

FREC’s new purpose must be made explicit in a mission statement which commits it to lead the urgent work of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and shifting to a renewable, jobs-creating, justice-based and energy efficient power grid and economy.

As distinct from the way FERC operates, potentially affected and proximate communities must be notified from the very beginning of planning processes for proposed new and/or expanded energy infrastructure. They must be given sufficient support, including funding, to enable them to fully participate in decision-making processes.

FREC’s funding stream must not be dependent on fossil fuel industry “fee-for-service.” Right now ALL of FERC’s budget comes from fees on industries that have business before FERC. It is in the financial interest of FERC to have as much business with them as possible. Given the power of the fossil fuel industry, this encourages corruption and pro-industry bias.

Many of us signing this statement have been resisting FERC’s pro-fossil fuels policies going back many years, particularly as hydraulic fracturing with horizontal drilling-fracking-has disrupted lives and communities and led to an explosion of new fracked gas pipelines and other infrastructure. FERC has proven itself to be a rubber-stamp agency for the pipeline and gas industry, granting permits for all but two of over 400 proposals for new interstate gas development. It is long past time for FERC’s abuses to end!

We urge elected officials, media outlets, community and religious leaders and all people of good will to join us in our public call for FERC to be replaced by FREC. As we continue to resist FERC, fracking and fossil fuel infrastructure, we must build a movement toward this essential, critically-needed objective.

(Click Here to Sign the Statement)

Signed: 

1. Beyond Extreme Energy
2. 1000 Grandmothers for Future Generations
3. 198 Methods
4. 350.org- National
5. 350 Bay Area
6. 350 Brooklyn
7. 350 Central Mass
8. 350 Charlotte
9. 350 Columbia
10. 350 Conejo / San Fernando Valley
11. 350Fairfax
12. 350 Loudoun
13. 350 Marin
14. 350 Montgomery County
15. 350 NJ-Rockland
16. 350 NYC
17. 350 PDX
18. 350 Seattle
19. 350 Triangle
20. 350 Vermont
21. 350 Westlake
22. 350 West Sound Climate Action
23. Abalone Alliance Safe Energy Clearinghouse
24. Abita Committee for Energy Sustainability
25. Agricultural Missions, Inc
26. Animals Are Sentient Beings, Inc.
27. Appalachian Gas Working Group, WV Rivers
28. Aquashicola/ Pohopoco Watershed Conservancy
29. Backbone Campaign
30. Back Country Excursions
31. Baltimore People’s Climate Movement
32. Baltimore Veterans for Peace
33. Berks Gas Truth
34. Berkshire Environmental Action Team
35. Beyond Nuclear
36. Bistel Co.
37. Boston Clean Energy Coalition
38. Breathe Easy Susquehanna County
39. Breathe Project
40. Brian Boortz Public Relations
41. Bronx River Bicycle Works
42. Buckingham: We the People
43. Bucks Environmental Action, PA
44. Burlington VT Climate Reality Chapter
45. Cancel Compressor Coalition, Va.
46. CASE
47. Center for Biological Diversity
48. Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War
49. Chatham Research Group
50. Chesapeake Climate Action Network
51. Chesapeake physicians for Social Responsibility
52. Christians For The Mountains
53. Church Women United in New York State
54. Citizen Power, Inc.
55. Citizens Allied for Integrity and Accountability (CAIA)
56. Citizens Awareness Network
57. Citizens Coalition for a Safe Community
58. Citizens for Renewables
59. Citizens United for Renewable Energy (CURE)
60. Citizens’ Resistance at Fermi Two (CRAFT)
61. Citizen Voices Radio Show 
62. Clean Water for NC
63. Climate Action Alliance of the Valle
64. Climate First!
65. Climate Hawks Vote
66. Climate Jobs PDX
67. ClimateMama
68. Coalition Against Pilgrim Pipeline – New Jersey
69. Coalition for a Nuclear Free Great Lakes
70. Coalition to Protect New York
71. Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety
72. Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone
73. Conscious Talk Radio
74. Ct Shoreline Indivisible (CTSI)
75. DC Statehood Green Party
76. Dogwood Alliance
77. Don’t Gas the Pinelands
78. Don’t Waste Michigan
79. Don’t Frack Calvert
80. Earth Action Inc., NY
81. Earth Evolution
82. Earthkeeper Health Resources
83. Eat for the Earth
84. ECHO Action NH: #FossilFree603
85. Efficiency 1st, a div. of Washington Power & Light,Inc
86. Elmirans & Friends Against Fracking
87. Energia Mia
88. Environmental Justice Task Force of the WNY Peace Center
89. Erie County Green Party
90. Extinction Rebellion New Paltz
91. Fairbanks Climate Action Coalition
92. Fiends of Bruce
93. Food & Water Watch (National)
94. Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station
95. Franciscan Response to Fossil Fuels
96. FreshWater Accountability Project
97. Friends of Buckingham
98. Friends of Horseshoe Bend Park
99. Friends of Nelson
100. Friends of the Earth
101. Friends Of The Piscataquis Valley
102. Genesis Farm
103. Grand Junction for Peace
104. Green America
105. Green Country Sierra Club 
106. Green Earth Goods
107. Green Education and Legal Fund
108. Green Party of Butler and Venango Counties (PA)
109. Green Party of Pennsylvania
110. Green State Solutions
111. GreeningUSA
112. Guilford Peace Alliance
113. Haw River Assembly
114. Heal(thy) Community Coalition
115. Hip Hop Caucus
116. Howard County Climate Action (MD)
117. Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc.
118. Hudson Valley Green Party
119. Idle No More Michigan
120. Indivisible We Rise West Central PA
121. Interfaith Moral Action on Climate
122. JustPeace
123. Lancaster Against Pipelines
124. LEAF of Hudson Valley
125. Lebanon Pipeline Awareness
126. LEPOCO Peace Center (Lehigh-Pocono Committee of Concern)
127. Locust Point Community Garden
128. Longmeadow Pipeline Awareness Group
129. Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership, NJ
130. Maine Solar Energy Association
131. Marcellus Outreach Butler
132. Marshalls Automotive
133. Metro N.Y. Catholic Climate Movement
134. Milford Doers/Residents of Crumhorn Mtn
135. Mountain Lakes Preservation Alliance, WV
136. Movement for a People’s Party
137. Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment
138. Naropa University
139. NC WARN
140. NCAPPPL–NC Alliance to Protect Our People and the Places We Love
141. Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force
142. New River Conservancy
143. New River Valley Chapter of the Sierra Club
144. New York Interfaith Power & Light
145. New York Progressive Action Network – Enviro Committee
146. NH Energy Impacts on Health Study Groupup
147. Nicaragua Center for Community Action
148. NJ Skylands Sunrise Hub
149. NJ State Industrial Union Council
150. No Fracked Gas in Mass
151. North American Climate, Conservation and Environment(NACCE)
152. North American Water Office
153. North County Climate Change Alliance
154. Northeast Organic Farming Association-Interstate Council (NOFA-IC)
155. Northern New Jersey NOW
156. Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
157. Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS)
158. Nuclear Free campaign of the Sierra Club
159. Nuclear Information and Resource Service
160. Nuclear Watch South
161. NuclearBan.US
162. Nukewatch
163. NWSOFA/Indivisible
164. NYC Grassroots Alliance
165. NYC H2O
166. Occupy Bergen County
167. Oil Change U.S.
168. On Behalf of Planet Earth
169. Our Revolution
170. OVEC-Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition
171. Parallax Perspectives
172. Patriots From The Oil & Gas Shales
173. PAUSE – People of Albany United for Safe Energy
174. Peacemakers of Schoharie County
175. Pennsylvania Alliance for Clean Water and Air
176. People for a Healthy Environment
177. Physicians for Social Responsibility – Kansas City
178. Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) Philadelphia
179. Physicians for Social Responsibility- Philadelphia
180. Plymouth Friends of Clean Water
181. Plymouth Friends of Clean Water, NY
182. Popular Resistance
183. Power Shift Network
184. Preserve Franklin County Virginia
185. Preserve Giles County
186. Preserve Monroe
187. Preserve Montgomery County VA
188. Preserve Salem
189. Proposition One Campaign for a Nuclear-Free Future
190. Protect Our Water Heritage Rights (POWHR)
191. Radiation Truth
192. Reach Out America
193. Reclaim Augusta
194. Redwood Alliance
195. Residents Allied for the Future of Tioga (RAFT)
196. Residents Organized For a Safe Environment (ROSE)
197. Resist the Pipeline
198. Rockland Citizens Action Network
199. Roseland Against Compressor Station (RACS)
200. Safe Energy Rights Group (SEnRG)
201. San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace
202. Sane Energy Project
203. Santa Cruz Climate Action Network
204. Save our streams, PA
205. Save Passamaquoddy Bay 3-Nation Alliance
206. Save Planet Earth
207. Shrimpers and fisherman of the RGV
208. Sisters of Charity Federation
209. SocioEnergetics Foundation
210. Solar Wind Works
211. South Jersey NOW-Alice Paul chapter
212. Stop NY Fracked Gas Pipeline
213. Stop the Algonquin Pipeline Expansion (SAPE)
214. Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice
215. Sullivan Alliance for Sustainable Development
216. Summers County Residents Against the Pipeline
217. Sunrise Movement Baltimore
218. Sustainable Arizona
219. Sustainable Medina County
220. Terra Advocati
221. The Banner
222. The History Business
223. The Peace Farm
224. The Shalom Center
225. Therapists for Social Responsibility
226. Three Mile Island Alert
227. Triangle Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
228. Tricounty NY Transition
229. Ulster Activists ( Indivisible group)
230. Unitarian Universalist Mass Action Network
231. United for Action, NY
232. Upper Green Side
233. UUFHC
234. Valley Watch, Inc.
235. Vermont Citizens Action Network
236. Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance
237. Vestal Residents for Safe Energy (VeRSE)
238. Veterans PC Canada
239. Voters of Watchunghills
240. We Are Cove Point
241. Whidbey Environmental Action Network
242. White Rabbit Grove RDNA
243. Wilco Justice Alliance (Williamson County, TX)
244. WildEarth Guardians
245. Women’s Energy Matters
246. Wyoming County Greens
247. Yoga For Peace,Justice, Harmony With The Planet!