January 2022 Newsletter

New Year’s Greetings to All! Our journey to a municipal electric utility (a muni) in Ann Arbor continues. An important meeting is coming up.

Attend or watch the City Council (CC) meeting Tuesday, January 18, 2022, at 7:00 pm!

Council can authorize a muni feasibility study on Tuesday by voting for a resolution similar to the one that Energy Commission passed in December. That resolution was advisory, but Council can require action with a positive vote on Monday.  This would be an important early step towards municipalization. 

We encourage individuals to attend the meeting in person (vaccinated, masked, and socially distanced) or tune into the meeting, City Council meets in person in the second floor Council chambers at 301 E. Huron St. Click https://ctnvideo.a2gov.org/CablecastPublicSite/watch/3?channel-1 to access the meeting virtually; it will appear at exactly 7:00. Or go to a2gov.org, click on the Democracy block, then click on CTN, the City’s tv station.

Join our rally in support of municipalization at 6:00 in front of City Hall, before the CC meeting!

We’ll rally at 6:00pm on January 18, 2022, in front of City Hall, 301 E. Huron, to encourage our councilmembers to vote for a feasibility study for a muni. Please join us—vaccinated, masked, and socially distanced—to make our wishes clear to the public, Council Members, and the mayor. 

Check out, and pass on, this Facebook invite to the rally: https://fb.me/e/343IHYkq1.

IMPORTANT: Contact your City Council representatives and Mayor Taylor now!

We encourage you to email or call your City Council representatives and Mayor Taylor, to tell them you want public power and a feasibility study into full municipalization. The best emails are personalized and present a personal experience along with factual information. We have a sample email below to help you get started.

Sample Email

Dear Council Member <name>

I’m writing to ask that you pursue the creation of a full municipal electric utility. I support efforts of Ann Arbor for Public Power, which has collected over 1200 signatures in favor of a study into municipalization. DTE has consistently under invested in our electrical infrastructure while overcharging us for the service they provide. Most importantly they are the third dirtiest major utility in the country with over 70% of their generation coming from fossil fuels, mainly coal, and only 10% from renewable sources. This is unacceptable and I believe that municipalization is our only realistic path to break free of their monopoly and achieve our A2Zero renewable power goals. I hope you will support the efforts to move towards public power in Ann Arbor by voting for a feasibility study into municipalization.

Thank you,

<Your Name>

Contact Info 

Mayor Chris Taylor email: ctaylor@a2gov.org, Phone: 734-794-6165

Council Members with Contact Info:

Ward 1 Lisa Disch LDisch@a2gov.org 734-369-3571

Ward 1 Jeff Hayner JHayner@a2gov.org 734-255-6085

Ward 2 Linh Song LSong@a2gov.org 734-210-1396

Ward 2 Kathy Griswold KGriswold@a2gov.org 734-657-7900

Ward 3 Travis Radina TRadina@a2gov.org 734-219-6551

Ward 3 Julie Grand JGrand@a2gov.org 734-678-7567

Ward 4 Jen Eyer JEyer@a2gov.org 734-210-0765

Ward 4 Elizabeth Nelson ENelson@a2gov.org 734-997-9688

Ward 5 Erica Briggs EBriggs@a2gov.org 734-355-3931

Ward 5 Ali Ramlawi ARamlawi@a2gov.org 734-730-6062

Or use this single email to write the mayor and all Council Members: CityCouncil@a2gov.org

Welcome, Volunteers!

To get involved, contact us at annarborpublicpower@gmail.com. Let us know how you can help. For example, you can put up one of our handsome new yard signs on your lawn. For the more ambitious, we’ll be spreading the word about our muni in door-to-door canvassing or through social media. When we sponsor a public event, you can help us talk about our campaign with those who attend. Or if you have a special skill, let us know. We welcome all to our team of volunteers!

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!

Steps leading up to the January 18, 2022, City Council (CC) meeting

A2P2 has worked with the Ann Arbor Energy Commission (EC) for the last year to establish the legal framework for a muni, document the need for public power, and to learn from other communities that have pursued municipalization. This culminated in EC’s unanimous adoption of its muni feasibility study resolution at the December 14 meeting.

Related matters:

At the November 9, 2021, EC meeting, Dr. Missy Stults, Director of the Ann Arbor Office of Sustainability and Innovations (OSI), described a new plan for reducing city greenhouse gas emissions. The city would establish a Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU), a nonprofit utility that would help city residents make their homes more energy efficient, install solar panels, and switch from gas heat to electric heat pumps. Residents would be able to opt in to SEU service or to continue to rely exclusively on DTE. A2P2 supports the SEU, and the EC voted to recommend advancing the SEU in its resolution. 

At the December 7, 2021, City Council (CC) meeting, the CC placed the Community Climate Action Millage, or tax, on the November 2022 ballot for voters to decide. The 20-year, one mill property tax, if passed, would raise about $140 million for climate action. Spending would be guided by the A2Zero carbon neutrality plan.

Learn about Democratizing the Grid

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance will hold a seminar on January 20, 2022, at 1:00 pm for those interested in challenging energy monopolies. Learn more and register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_PCGt1W-ns_mcyMU0HNQUXg 

Extreme weather conditions throughout the Country

The Climate Crisis is here now: flooding on the East Coast; record high temperatures followed by record snowfall in Tennessee during Christmas week; prolonged tornados in Kentucky and Illinois, leveling entire cities; wildfires whipped up by strong winds destroying 1,000 homes and livelihoods near Boulder, CO; destructive fires on the West Coast; and drastically changing weather patterns throughout the country and world.

According to the annual report of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), released January 10, 2022, the US was battered by 20 separate billion-dollar climate and weather disasters in 2021, one of the most catastrophic climate years on record, which led to at least 688 deaths.

Congress drags its feet on supporting climate crisis mitigation

Biden’s Build Back Better bill remains on hold, as two democratic (in name only) Senators won’t vote for it. Some democrats say the two holdouts are still considering their options; others think not. We are outraged that two U.S. Senators can hold up progress for the whole country.

Voting rights bills at risk

At the time of this writing the voting rights bills are being hotly debated and President Biden has given his blessing to changing the filibuster to allow a simple majority to pass the bills. The democrats are caucusing to try to bring all democrats on board with changing the filibuster and passing the voting rights bills.

In the meantime

We’re proud to be doing our part in Ann Arbor in fighting against the use of fossil fuels and for the power of the people to control their own municipal electric utility. We welcome you to join us, if you’d like to help! Please check out our website at annarborpublicpower.org or contact us directly at annarborpublicpower@gmail.com!