Some may wonder why “environmental justice” is among the “Five Strategic Game Changer Initiatives” of the NAACP. Why would a historic civil rights organization like ours rank it as equal among other more traditional civil rights mandates: Closing the achievement gap, ending race-based health disparities and abolishing the egregious and racist death penalty?
The answer is all in the numbers.
Communities of color have disproportionately borne the weight of environmental injustice — and it is no different with our electricity production system where the health and economic impacts of the processes are a particularly heavy load. Nearly 70 percent of all African-Americans live within 30 miles of coal-fired power plants like Denver’s Cherokee Station, making African-Americans more likely to suffer from exposure to smog, mercury, and other harmful emissions than any other group.
These same polluting facilities are major contributors to climate change, a global threat that is disproportionately impacting communities of color. While African-Americans endure most of the harmful impacts of traditional energy production, communities of color reap few of the benefits. A study by the American Association of Blacks in Energy found that, while African-Americans spent $41 billion on energy in 2009, only 1.1 percent of energy jobs were held by Black professionals and a mere 0.01 percent of profits were earned by Black businesses.
Colorado has made good progress in cleaning up the state’s electricity mix and putting people in control of their own energy choices. One of the most important state policies driving this clean transition is net metering. Unfortunately, the future of net metering is currently in question at the Public Utilities Commission — and we must speak boldly for justice.
Here’s the story on net metering: It makes sure solar customers get full credit on their utility bills for the valuable clean power they deliver to the grid. Many corporate entities oppose it because having people produce their own solar power is a threat to profits and an old way of doing business. But the NAACP believes it’s time to change the game in the the relationship that all customers, especially communities of color, have with the trillion dollar energy industry.
Affordable solar is putting Coloradans in charge of their own energy like never before. Organizations like GRID Alternatives provide pathways for economically-challenged families of color to go solar — and save precious dollars that can go to help their children thrive and reach goals like college attendance — rather than spending so much money on high monthly utility bills. In 2012, Colorado sent $280 million out of state to buy coal to burn to generate electricity while polluting communities.
In addition to helping families, putting solar on homes, schools, churches and businesses reduces the need for expensive power plants and infrastructure, which can help keep rates low for all of us.. A study by Crossborder Energy found that these grid savings total $13.6 million annually, and that’s before accounting for the environmental and public health benefits that are so important to communities of color.
By putting boots on roofs and harvesting local sunshine, solar also keeps energy dollars invested in our communities in a way that our fossil economy has failed to do. Colorado should be working to expand solar options and ensure access to solar jobs that can be a pathway to the American dream. The state should be encouraging utilities and customers alike to invest in more renewable energy. What our state should not be doing is limiting opportunity by weakening existing successful clean energy programs. The NAACP State Conference strongly urges the Public Utilities Commission and Governor Hickenlooper to support net metering as a critical game-changing tool for building a cleaner, healthier, and more prosperous Colorado for all.
Rosemary Harris Lytle is president of the NAACP Colorado Montana Wyoming State Conference . She lives in Colorado Springs.
