The resolution calls on municipal operations in Tampa to use completely renewable energy by 2035, along with zero-carbon emission public transportation, and future monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions- along with other green energy goals.
It also calls on City of Tampa leadership to urge the State of Florida and the Federal Government to enact and enforce bold state and federal level policies to end the extraction and use of fossil fuels, eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, and build out the transportation and energy infrastructure necessary for a one hundred percent clean, renewable energy transition.
The city council has until next week to vote on the resolution at its Thursday morning meeting on Aug. 5.
If approved, the resolution would take effect immediately and see Tampa join neighboring St. Petersburg (which committed to Ready for 100 in 2019) and 180 cities across the country in making the move toward green energy.
Brooke Errett is the senior organizer for Florida Food and Water Watch. She also leads the working group within the Tampa Bay Climate Alliance that helped draft the original resolution. She points out that the original resolution’s language was changed from 2030 to 2035.
“Although the municipal date was pushed back to match the community-wide goals, this is a resolution we can celebrate,” Errett told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. “A strong federal call to action and a focus on 100% clean renewables brings it home!”
CL reached out to Councilman Citro for comment on the resolution, but did not receive a response.
Environmental magazine Grist points out that the resolution is non-binding, and “more of a North Star for the city than a mandatory policy.”
But Errett says the crucial aspect is in the language and intent of the resolution.
“Most importantly is that it sets an agenda and a firm goal and has an official call to action,” Errett told CL.
A major obstacle for Ready for 100 in Tampa are state preemption laws that were put in place by Republicans.
In June, Governor Ron Desantis signed a law that prohibits local governments from taking action that restricts or prohibits energy sources used by utilities, including fossil fuels. The law also canceled any binding resolutions for Ready for 100 that already existed. It also prevents city officials from banning gas stations or requiring gas stations to install electric vehicle chargers.
Errett says that in the face of the state’s control of municipalities, she hopes that politicians like Representative Kathy Castor and the Florida congress will get involved to support bold national policies that will help Florida transition to renewable energy.
In Tampa’s new version of the resolution—which was originally set to be presented by Citro to city council in March, before the state’s preemption law came into play—the language now concentrates on local and federal goals.
In the language of the resolution, there is a pledge for support toward “the current federal goal of a just and equitable community-wide transition to one hundred percent clean energy electrification by 2035.”
The resolution points out that shifting to renewable energy will help the city cope with extreme weather events and sea-level rise, will be a benefit for the Tampa economy, and will help reduce air pollution.
For Time Magazine, climate change experts predicted what the world will look like in 2050 if immediate action isn’t taken to end the use of fossil fuels. By that time, many parts of the world have become uninhabitable, they say, and climate disaster is common. Breathing has become more difficult in cities, and “your cough never seems to disappear,” the experts wrote.
In the Tampa Bay area, active Ready for 100 campaigns exist in Pinellas County, Eckerd College, and on multiple University of South Florida campuses. All of the campaigns call on renewable energy within the next two decades, with different goals for each campaign.
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This article appears in Aug 5-11, 2021.