THE SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY BLUEPRINT ENERGY FUTURES

Energy has in the past and will in the near-term and far-term future govern changes in the way we shape and live daily in our communities.

The way we adjust to an integrated urban design first will determine when, and for what purposes do we move into a better settlement. The three prime elements for our survival are air, water, food and fiber.

Then comes ENERGY. The fourth sustainable principle is the provision of energy via electricity in a network of self-sufficiency that will not be open to brownouts. Reading this Sunday’s Los Angeles Times “Electric utilities waging a power struggle” by Margot Roosevelt is the usual mix of politics regarding clean power versus dirty power. Our four major utilities are all still being serviced by five resources – coal, hydro, natural gas, nuclear and renewables. Natural gas statewide serves 42% of our current electricity needs. The proposed cap-and-trade program for reducing greenhouse gases promises to be expensive for LA DWP as they are by far the greatest CO2 polluter. All utilities are bobbing and weaving all these regulatory complexities. The State politbureau again are pointing fingers at the Federal Government. The brawl over how to regulate electricity plants pits Southern California’s public power generators against it’s for profit utilities.

It is amazing how much time is spent with matters that divide the private and public interests delivering power for our future communities electricity needs. Focusing on future electricity generation is paramount instead of arguing about the past.

Without an answer to this need for electricity how do we better accommodate forecasted population growth in the Great Valley and offer better mobility for both people and goods? Surely unless this principle can be accomplished at a lesser cost per mile how can one possibly get principle seven working for both the SJV Blueprint and SJV Partnership to propose an efficient use it’s own natural resources to build future settlement structures?

Tied to this is principle eight - how are we all handle our consumptive products in order to reduce waste? We desperately then need to swiftly give citizens protection in the way of security, safety and justice with meaningful actions in principle nine when observing all these current arguments back and forth is not getting us beyond the pace of a tortoise into a regional future. Principle ten as to how do we accommodate the urban design of SJV future regional settlements to best balance man-made structure with that of nature is still misunderstood by citizens. Consider the recent HCF use in the Big West Refinery in Bakersfield.

The economics of the future SJV between the wealth – poverty gap is widening between the rural, city and suburban citizens. How do we stabilize both work and/or jobs with a base value for sustainability in our eleventh principle?

The prime question in the twelfth principle is the problem that all people have ( Citizens and Politbureau) in making a better community and that is how do we make decisions for unanimity in our democracy for building sustainable places?

This leads to a final observation: The most pressing decision facing the Citizens and Politbureau in the State of California may be how best to accelerate the transition from a fossil-fuel-based energy system to a system based on climate-friendly energy alternatives.

Graham Kaye-Eddie

4/20/08 545 words