Ann Arbor for Public Power

Mid July 2022 Newsletter

Ann Arbor for Public Power (A2P2) is moving forward with our campaign to establish a municipal electric utility in Ann Arbor. Thank you for your interest and your support.

Saturday, August 13: Concert to Shut Down Line 5, 2-8 PM

Line 5 is Enbridge Energy’s 69-year-old oil and liquid natural gas pipeline that crosses under the straits of Mackinac. The local chapter of Sunrise, a youth movement against climate change, is sponsoring a day-long concert from 2-8 PM Saturday, August 13, 2022, on Liberty Plaza in downtown Ann Arbor, as part of its Line 5 shutdown campaign. Attendance is free, but donations are greatly appreciated. They’ll support Line 5 protesters and the Thechihila Collective indigenous group. Donation Link: bit.ly/stopline5. 

Lineup: Chris Canas Band, a Detroit blues band fronted by blues vocalist and virtuoso guitarist Canas, along with local jazz singer-bassist Gwenyth Hayes; the jazz-inflected progressive funk-rock quartet Chirp; the jazz fusion band Squeaky Keys; and jazz-rock group Boom on Mizar 5.

Monday, August 17: Learn about the pending DTE Electric Rate Case, and prepare for the public hearing, at our virtual Community Education Session, 7-8 PM.

In January, DTE Energy filed with the Michigan Public Service Commisssion (MPSC) for an 8.8% electric rate increase for all residential customers. In its filing, DTE also proposed a variety of punitive measures aimed at customers with rooftop solar, and those who wish to install it. The MPSC is expected to rule on this case later this year. It will hold a single public hearing, in person only, on Monday, August 22, 2022, at Wayne County Community College’s downtown Detroit campus, 1001 Fort Street, from 6:00-8:00pm. Anyone can speak for 2 minutes. 

  The public may also submit comments by email to mpscedockets@michigan.gov. The comments should reference Case No. U-20836. 

  To prepare for this public hearing, or just to learn about DTE’s proposals, please join us at a virtual education session on Wednesday, August 17, at 7pm.  You can join at bit.ly/3Q7GXBW. To attend register here.

We’re looking for people to help us with canvassing and tabling!

We’re seeking to get our message out about our muni and build the community’s knowledge about our projected Ballot Initiative in Fall of 2023. We do this by “canvassing” door to door in Ann Arbor neighborhoods, explaining the benefits of establishing a municipal electric utility, a muni, in Ann Arbor and encouraging residents to sign up as supporters of our muni and eventually sign to support our Ballot Initiative.

We also set up a table at various places, like at the Kerrytown Farmers Market on Saturdays, and at various public events and do “tabling” to share our literature and give people anther opportunity to sign up as a supporter.

At both canvassing and tabling we need helpers. We provide training before you participate. This is a great way to get involved in our campaign. If you’d like to participate, please send us a message at annarborpublicpower@gmail.com with “canvassing and tabling” in the subject line. To get weekly reminders of upcoming canvasses, please sign up here.

Become a Supporter Today!

Unfortunately our fight for a green future is expensive, if you can please consider becoming a supporter to help us! You can make a one time donation here. We've also added an option to sign up to automatically donate to us monthly, please consider signing up to become a recurring monthly supporter to help fund a clean and publicly owned future here!

Welcome, Volunteers!

If you’d like to get involved with A2P2, contact us at annarborpublicpower@gmail.com. Let us know how you would like to help. For example, you can put up one of our handsome new yard signs on your lawn. For the more ambitious, become a campaign organizer. Also, we’ll be spreading the word about our muni in door-to-door canvassing or through social media. If you have a special skill, let us know. All are welcome.

Join our Discord

Want to join the fight for energy justice and democracy in Ann Arbor? Join the discussion in Ann Arbor for Public Power's Discord server! Our Discord server has up-to-date information about our plans and events. To join, send an email to annarborpublicpower@gmail.com with "Discord" in the subject line and we'll send you an invite!

Contamination in the Huron River

Tribar Manufacturing, a Wixom auto supplier, released an industrial contaminant, hexavalent chromium, into the Wixom sewer treatment system that flows into the Huron River around July 30. Inhaled hexavalent chromium is a carcinogen that can increase the risk of lung cancer. The city and state are currently sampling the Huron River at Barton Pond, Ann Arbor’s main source of drinking water, and upstream. For local updates click here! You can sign up for water quality updates from the City here!

Companies like Tribar must be held accountable for pollution spills and for cleanup costs. Michigan law from 1990-1995 did hold polluters accountable, but Republicans in Lansing gutted that legislation. We support recent proposals for its reinstatement. See Clean Water Action’s historical summary here!

The Inflation Reduction Act: Positive Steps, Alarming Concessions

The U.S. Senate on Sunday, August 7, 2022, approved a sweeping package to combat climate change, lower health-care costs, raise taxes on some billion-dollar corporations and reduce the federal deficit, as Democrats overcame months of political infighting to deliver a major piece of President Biden’s long-stalled economic agenda. This $370 billion package includes the biggest burst of spending in U.S. history to tackle global warming. Energy and climate modelers predict a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 40 percent from 2005 levels by the end of this decade. However, only a portion of that reduction would come from this bill, and the 40 percent falls far short of the U.S. commitment in the 2015 Paris climate accord (50-52 percent). Even that reduction is wholly incompatible with keeping global temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius or even 2 degrees heating.

The Act would also require massive oil and gas leasing in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska, reinstate an illegal 2021 Gulf lease sale, and mandate that millions more acres of public lands be offered for leasing before any new solar or wind energy projects could be built on public lands or waters. In short, the Inflation Reduction Act, while providing important tax credits for renewable energy, also boosts the fossil fuel industry. And the Act does nothing to quicken the retirement of coal-fired power plants, including the ones that provide DTE with over half of its electricity generation. In fact it allocates several billion dollars to their “upgrade.” It falls to local efforts like ours to force the dirtiest monopoly utilities to either clean up their act or face the loss of their customers. 

Juan Jhong-Chung from the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition (MEJC) stated about the IRA in The Guardian, 8/10/2022: “Climate investments should not be handcuffed to corporate subsidies for fossil fuel development and unproven technologies that will poison our communities for decades.”

In the meantime

We’re proud to be doing our part in Ann Arbor to eliminate the use of fossil fuels and to establish our own municipal electric utility. Please join us. We welcome everyone to our events. Check out our website at annarborpublicpower.org or contact us directly at annarborpublicpower@gmail.com.