Glendale – At a public Salt River Project (SRP) board hearing on Thursday, Environment Arizona associate Bret Fanshaw encouraged SRP, Arizona’s second largest utility company, to use funds from a proposed rate hike to increase their renewable energy portfolio and adopt a strong energy efficiency standard.
“Our energy usage should be clean and efficient in order to improve air quality, stop climate change, and stabilize ratepayer’s bills,” said Fanshaw. “Particularly, we would like to see SRP increase energy efficiency to at least 20% by 2020, with clear and measurable benchmarks each year to reach that goal.”
Salt River Project is currently considering a rate increase of 4.9% to its customers in Arizona, down from the proposed 8.8% increase that was delayed in September. SRP notes that the price increase is needed to fund a new $1 billion coal-fired facility in Springerville, which began operating in December. An additional $539 million will go to meeting federal air-quality requirements at the coal-fired Coronado Generating Station near St. Johns.
“Instead of spending millions more on burning coal, SRP should work to harness Arizona’s vast potential to become the nation’s solar capitol,” Fanshaw stated. “SRP has a huge opportunity to take advantage of a clean energy market free of pollution and impending federal regulations.”
A recent report released by the Environment Arizona Research & Policy Center shows that Arizona’s carbon emissions increased 61% between 1990 and 2007. According to the report, this was the highest percentage increase of any state in the nation during that time.
A factor in this increase was the Navajo Generating Station near Page, owned in part by SRP. In a report analyzing data from the Department of Energy, Environment Arizona Research & Policy Center found the Navajo Generating Station to be the 8th largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the United States.
“To combat carbon emissions and the huge price tags that come attached, SRP should place more focus on renewable energy and energy efficiency,” Fanshaw concluded. “This will not only be important for current SRP customers, but for their children and the many more generations of Arizonans to come.”
