Draft Letters to Warren & Markey
February 14, 2022
Senator Elizabeth Warren Senator Edward Markey
2400 JFK Federal Building 975 JFK Federal Building
www.warren.senate.gov www.markey.senate.gov
15 New Sudbury Street
Boston, MA 02203
Dear Senator Warren:
The Fix the Grid campaign requests that you speak with Chairman Richard Glick of the FERC and ask him and his fellow commissioners to reject the terrible decision by ISO-NE to delay reform of its MOPR rules until the bidding round ending in 2025. Because of the three-year financing, siting, construction schedule for electrical energy facilities, this decision means that ISO will bring no significant amounts of solar, wind, or battery energy into the New England grid until 2028.
Given United States commitments to the Paris Agreement and President Biden’s stated goal of a zero-carbon electric grid by 2035, the decision announced on Thursday February 3rd is a flagrant violation of the public trust given to ISO-NE and the NEPOOL advisory group. New England, the United States, and the other nations of planet earth are hurtling toward a dangerous and potentially crippling period of climate change. ISO’s refusal to address climate change and its embrace of the natural gas-powered status quo, is a betrayal of its obligations to act on behalf of the interests of the 15 million residents of New England. Only a clear signal from FERC that ISO must rapidly change its ISO rules to allow solar and wind power can rectify the situation.
In addition, please ask Chairman Glick to have the FERC work with ISO-NE to implement a transition to 100% renewable energy by 2035 in a way that respects the need for environmental justice in all decisions and the desire of New England residents to have a say in how their energy is delivered. In particular:
- The Future Capacity bidding process should be open only to clean, renewable power sources like solar, wind, batteries, and conservation efforts.
- ISO should stop prolonging the life of dirty, obsolete fossil fuel power plants by using them as “peaker plants.” It must begin an orderly process of replacing them with a variety of battery storage along with renewables.
- Ensure no environmental justice communities are burdened with more than one fossil fuel energy installation.
- ISO should issue no new contracts for power plants using fracked natural gas. Also, no new hydropower that is generated in Indigenous communities – in Canada or the U.S.
- ISO should encourage small scale, decentralized energy production by opening the Future Capacity bidding process to smaller producers including cooperatives, towns, and other community-based power generators.
- Most important, FERC can encourage democratic governance by the people of New England, by pushing ISO to change the biased NEPOOL voting process.
We are at a pivotal moment in human history. The CO2 build up in our atmosphere is reaching the point where catastrophic weather events will change the meaning of living on this planet. While no one energy system or energy source can be the complete solution, no energy system, including the New England electric grid can stand apart and say, “we are not involved, this is not part of our mission.” Everyone is responsible, especially system managers.
Sincerely,
Your Name
Your Address