Our View: AB1060 makes green money available

It’s amazing to us that in this era of renewable energy mania, where the development of green and sustainable resources is so important to the state and country’s future, the state would have to coax local governments into taking its grant money.

Of course it’s not exactly like that, but when the state is offering up $7 million in grant funds to help counties develop programs and policies dedicated to developing and promoting green energy sources, you take it.

Some counties and agencies throughout the state have said the deadline to apply for Gov. Jerry Brown’s funding was too tight, and that could have been the reason for governments not jumping all over the money.

Still, you make the time, set aside staff and man hours and take advantage of funding that could help your communities find themselves in a better position to achieve prosperity through energy independence.

Imperial County did, and will continue to do so, going after more money in this latest round of funding through AB 1060. In the first round, the county earned the maximum allotment of $700,000, which was used in the development of a master environmental impact report, among other things, to better plan the distribution and development of renewable energy facilities throughout the Valley.

It’s important that all of the 15 counties in California that stand to benefit from this money do so. It would be easy to say more for us (which really isn’t possible), but it’s much better to see our state as a whole develop out its renewable energy potential. We are trying to meet standard energy portfolio mandates that could increase drastically soon. At the same time, the more we produce as a state, with the transmission necessary to export it, the better our nation will be as a whole as we attempt to get away from a reliance on fossil fuels.

It’s surprising the money wasn’t used the first time around, but it’s fortunate that it is still available. Imperial County still stands to benefit, and so do the rest of the eligible counties.

THE ISSUE:

Counties apply for renewable energy grants.

WE SAY:

Everyone should take advantage of these dollars.