Climate Crisis Task Force Minutes for June 6, 2017

 

13 people in attendance; recorded by Ferd Wulkan; meeting location FCCPR office

1.     TD Bank Boycott

Vigil/Leafletting in Greenfield every Tuesday 12-1 and Saturday 11:30-12:30.

Hattie reports it is the most satisfying political work she has done, that people are very receptive.

Her goal is to spread the campaign to other locations.

For more information, visit https://actions.sumofus.org/a/td-and-royal-bank-divest-from-the-dakota-access-pipeline-now for more information

 

2.     Pension Fund Divestment

Mass Teachers Association endorsement is significant.

House Bill H.3281 calls for pension fund to divest from coal and sets up commission to make binding recommendations about oil and gas.  Reps. Kulik and Mark are co-sponsors.  We will try to set up meeting of constituents with Rep. Whipps Lee.

 

3.     100% Renewable Communities Campaign

FCCPR held four meetings around the county, and there is some new activity – e.g. a new energy committee in Colrain, Warwick/Leyden/Northfield/Bernardston working to fix schools, a Deerfield 100% Renewable team.  Biggest area of interest was in town aggregation of electrical use to purchase renewables and thereby increase demand for renewables.

 

4.     Aggregation

After a lengthy discussion of technical and logistical details, the task force decided to work toward the creation of something like “Franklin County Light and Power” modeled after successful efforts in Greenfield and the Cape and Islands.  This will be complicated, and we hope to involve the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG).  M A Swedlund, Bob Armstrong and (we expect) Laura Williams will do some initial research and talk with Bob Dean at FRCOG.  If this moves forward, we may set up regional meetings, have information at the Franklin County Fair, etc.  They will present at the next Task Force meeting.

There was also discussion of two other kinds of aggregation:

a)     Group purchasing of mini-splits

b)     Towns sharing an energy manager (Greenfield and Northampton are large enough to have their own)

5.     Next meeting: Wednesday, June 28, 6:30-8:00 p.m., FCCPR Office