Government Affairs Representative Rod Ross from Arizona Public Service (APS) requested that the Navajo County Board of Supervisors adopt the resolution opposing the “NextGen Climate Action” ballot initiative at the meeting on May 8.
Ross said that the basis of the initiative was to force Arizona to have 50 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. “The initiative did not originate in Arizona,” said Ross. “It is the brainchild of a group in San Francisco that is funded 100 percent by California billionaire Tom Steyer and is being pushed into Arizona, Nevada and Michigan.”
According to the resolution, “The Clean Energy for a Healthy Arizona initiative would circumvent Arizona’s current structure for regulating utilities, which has provided Arizona residents with some of the safest, most reliable and affordable energy in the country for over 100 years.”
Ross said as a representative of APS, “We believe the best place for energy policy is the Arizona Corporation Commission. With this initiative, you are killing thousands of jobs as well as tax revenues.”
The board voted unanimously to adopt the resolution. The initiative can be viewed on the Navajo County website under the Board of Supervisor agenda for May 8.
