The following is the opinion and analysis of the writers:
Tucson can be proud to have thoughtful, caring and smart Council members, along with an outstanding, compassionate leader in Mayor Romero. But even the best and brightest can make mistakes.
And they have made a doozy with their rushed (effectively zero public comment); under-informed (nationwide, other municipalities have successfully negotiated side agreements to their utility franchise agreements legally committing their utilities to putting meaningful dollars into climate action plans); and potentially catastrophic approval of the franchise agreement between the City and Tucson Electric Power (25 more years of TEP burning climate-disastrous fossil fuels while continuing its current 20-year track record of empty promises on renewable energy.)
Ordinarily, these kinds of boring, technical agreements generate scant public attention, and the required voter approval is a no-brainer. But not anymore. Not when the region’s biggest belcher of greenhouse gases wants another 25 years to enrich their shareholders at the expense of cleaner air and the region’s dwindling water supply. And charge everyone everywhere all at once for what mostly benefits a few special interest groups.
The City has only itself to blame for this mess. TEP took supreme advantage of a set of circumstances that put the City in a bind—and set itself up as the White Knight, spreading the franchise agreement like a coat across a very muddy puddle so the City could walk across and not get its feet wet.
What we’re seeing is a Tragedy in Three Acts.
Act One. Enter the University of Arizona with righteous climate goals of 100% renewable energy. Problem: not enough electrical capacity. Solution: Build out two miles of high-voltage transmission lines to UA’s doorstep through the Sam Hughes neighborhood.
Act Two. Enter neighborhoods. Not at all happy about their sight lines. They organize and pressure the City. Charter says to underground lines in view corridors (but says nothing about how to pay for it). Sam Hughes is in a view corridor. Cost: $45 million to underground, but only $1.8 million to put on poles. Who cares? City will write checks. UA happy, Sam Hughes happy. (UA deafening silence about kicking in any dough and potentially even bigger City money worries as many more neighborhoods would also qualify as view corridors.)
Act Three. Enter Tucson Electric Power. “Hey, City, we can help.” Just sign on the dotted line right now (the current franchise agreement doesn’t really end until April 26, 2027) and we’ll get you the undergrounding money! No, we’ll put nothing in writing about money to put real meaningful dollars into your Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, but here’s a letter of righteous intent from our CEO. We won’t do Jack to help with undergrounding or quickly move on midtown’s deteriorating electrical infrastructure unless you immediately approve this new franchise agreement and get it to a public vote.
Epilogue. There won’t be a sad one if you vote “no” on Prop 412. You’re going to be paying higher rates that benefit a select few. There’s only a pitiful amount of money in it to fight the climate disaster Tucson faces and fully acknowledges in the City’s climate plan. And if you vote “yes” there will be no/zero/nada leverage to bring TEP to the climate mitigation bargaining table for any parallel agreement that could legally obligate them to change their energy mix.
TEP isn’t the bad guy here and really neither is the City. TEP is just doing what its corporate charter requires: make as much money as legally possible.
The only temporary solution here is to vote “no” on 412 and rethink this whole idea of undergrounding.
What about making those two miles of poles (14 or so) into a City attraction of art by, as Judith Anderson, a member of the Tucson Climate Coalition, suggested, acknowledging Tucson’s cultural heritages: the Yaqui, Tohono O’odham, Latino, Black and more, creating a different kind of view corridor on those poles? Just a thought.
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