A Just Energy Transition is Underway

Sep 7

On this episode of The Joy Report, we’re discussing what energy justice is + why energy ownership must be re-imagined to overcome the current priority of profit over maintenance, affordability, and human health. A true just transition will create opportunities for people who have been excluded from the start of the renewable energy movement to become recipients of intentional investments, benefactors of job training in the renewable energy sector, and key thought leaders in this space.

Episode Transcript

“Welcome to The Joy Report, a podcast dedicated to sharing stories about climate solutions and environmental justice grounded in intersectionality and optimism. Tune in to hear updates on all things climate, social, and environmental justice explained in a succinct and accessible way by me, Arielle King, an environmental justice advocate and attorney passionate about environmental education. This podcast aims to give you the tools you need to stay informed and take action to protect the planet.”

Episode Agenda

In this episode, we’re discussing energy justice + working towards more decentralized energy systems.

Topic Background

It shouldn’t be a shock to anyone that our current energy system is in need of a major overhaul. Our current, fossil fuel-dependent grid is owned by a small sliver of the population who have prioritized profit over people, and caused significant harm to people and the planet. But before we dive into this concept, let’s take a step back and explain what the grid is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Fwh86X-G04 [1:28-2:07]

To sum it up, electric system, which includes electricity generation, transmission, and distribution, is owned by a mix of entities, including private, public, and government. Currently, about 72% of U.S. electricity customers get their energy from less than 200 companies. About 3/4 of utility consumers get their electricity from investor-owned utilities. This ownership model issues stocks owned by shareholders, and accounts for nearly 40% of energy generation, 80% of transmission, and 50% of the distribution. Unsurprisingly energy disparities arise since investor-owned utilities are always looking for opportunities to increase profits.

The current grid creates inequities in the amount people pay for their electricity, who can access cleaner, more renewable energy sources, and who experiences the health risks associated with garnering electricity from fossil fuels. The environmental impacts of electricity generation, extraction, production, and transportation can contribute to large-scale regional environmental concerns, as well as localized concerns that affect the area directly surrounding the source.

Disparities within the current grid give rise to sacrifice zones, which are areas where a small segment of the population disproportionately bears the burden of living near an industry. Although everyone benefits from these industries, mostly low-income and BIPOC communities experience the environmental consequences

One example is the 85-mile corridor in Louisiana called Cancer Alley, where nearly 150 refineries, plastic plants, and chemical facilities heavily pollute the air and harm those who live there. In fact, yet another plastic factory that is set to be built in Cancer Alley which will discharge toxic chemicals into the already heavily polluted air and water. This is part of the fossil fuel industry’s push to turn an oversupply of fracked natural gas into more plastic, causing further harm to the people living in this area and the planet.

In the energy context, as Michele Morrone and Geoffery L. Buckley’s book titled *[Mountains of Injustice](https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1j7x69w#:~:text=Mountains of Injustice,-Book Description%3A&text=Research in environmental justice reveals,power plants%2C and polluting factories.)* explains, sacrifice zones are characterized as “an unfortunate product of high demand for energy coupled with the lack of comprehensive energy policy designed to protect areas that generate the energy sources modern society takes for granted.”

In the United States, 68% of African Americans live within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant, compared to 56% of the country’s white population. Living near these [types of facilities](https://surgery.duke.edu/news/despite-studies-health-effects-coal-burning-power-plants-remain-unknown#:~:text=A review of studies over,disease and other health problems.) increases death rates at earlier ages, risks of respiratory diseases, lung cancer, cardiovascular disease and other health problems. For the preservation of our planet and all its inhabitants, we cannot continue on like this.

That’s why we need energy justice and a just transition to clean, renewable, affordable energy. Here’s what Dr. Tony Reames has to say about energy justice

[insert 1:40-2:35 https://youtu.be/HwrzCMebgmg]

Dr. Reames is the Deputy Director for Energy Justice at the U.S. Department of Energy.

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Changing our grid may seem like an impossible task since it’s been this way forever, right? Before the grid existed, humans hunted whales and used their oil for candles. Around the same time that whale populations began to decline from this practice, petroleum was discovered in Pennsylvania in 1852. Soon after, other fossil fuels became a more popular and reliable source of energy. By 1935, the energy grid evolved into the one we’re essentially still using today. In other words, change is possible even when it seems insurmountable. In less than 150 years we have transitioned from using whale oil to light homes to harnessing the earth’s naturally replenishing resources to provide energy to whole communities.

A better way to produce energy already exists in ways that benefit people and planet. Environmental justice advocates and scholars have been talking about the “just transition” for years now. This movement away from fossil fuel dependence is defined by the Climate Justice Alliance as a “vison-led, unifying, and place-based set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.” The transition must be just and equitable— it must redress past harms and create new relationships of power for the future through reparations.

Now is the time to reimagine energy ownership. A just energy transition must be built to create economic justice and equitable access to reliable, clean, affordable energy. We must find ways to overcome the energy sector’s current priority of profit over adequate maintenance of infrastructure as well as impacts to human and planetary health.

We need energy democracy, which is defined by Shalanda Baker as a means of opposing energy corporations on a large scale by replacing investor-owned utilities with publicly owned, democratically run alternatives. It also means creating opportunities for economic justice. This includes ensuring equal access to high-paying jobs and training in the renewable energy sector for those who have worked within the fossil fuel industry. It requires creating opportunities for equal access to energy resources and education so people can make informed decisions about what happens in their homes. Energy democracy also looks like distributed ownership of new energy production, like community solar farms.

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Like many other industries, there has been a relatively small, homogenous group of individuals who have been benefitting from advancements in the energy sector, with a 2019 study from the Solar Energy Industries Association on diversity in the solar industry finding that 85% of senior executives in the solar sector are white and 80% are men. A true just transition will create opportunities for people who have been excluded from the start of the renewable energy movement to become recipients of intentional investments, benefactors of job training in the renewable energy sector, and key thought leaders in this space.

Fortunately, we are already beginning to see shifts toward this equitable, inclusive, just energy transition, and Black women are at the forefront.

IE’s founder, Leah Thomas recently sat down with Shalanda Baker on IG live to discuss energy justice.

IG Live convo with Leah & Shalanda: https://www.instagram.com/tv/ChIZTwHsyz4/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D [21:27-20:37]

The Justice 40 initiative that Shalanda mentioned is President Biden’s commitment to ensuring that at least 40% of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution. And here’s what she had to say about getting involved and leading the charge for this initiative:

IG Live convo with Leah & Shalanda: [https://www.instagram.com/tv/ChIZTwHsyz4/?](https://www.instagram.com/tv/ChIZTwHsyz4/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D) [17:57-16:10]

This unprecedented amount of attention to equity and justice issues can be seen not only in the federal government but also within the private sector. Updating infrastructure and ensuring that intentional investments are made in communities that have been historically overlooked for this type of aid and environmental protection is exactly what environmental and energy justice is all about.