Our Power, Our Choice

Let's Be Clear

Posted by Sierra Club Carlsbad Team on August 30, 2018

Definitions of "Clear the Air" from the Free Dictionary by Farlex:

1. To remove or improve stale air or an unpleasant odor. ex: Please open a window and clear the air in here—it's too stuffy.
2. To discuss or otherwise confront a troublesome issue, usually with the goal of alleviating tension or confusion. ex: The silent treatment isn't helping the situation between you two, so just clear the air already. Once we cleared the air, we found that it had just been a simple misunderstanding.
3. To remove doubt from a situation. ex: They were able to clear the air by producing the document in question, so that we could all see it for ourselves.

You might think that a coalition with a name like "Clear The Air", is a group of people that voluntarily comes together to work on making our air cleaner; having less pollutants. Or following along with the definition of a commonly used idiom, the coalition would be one that wants to remove doubt, alleviate confusion or remove an unpleasant odor. But instead, Clear the Air Coalition is just the opposite. It is a group funded by Sempra Energy, SDGE's parent corporation (see our blog from Oct 30, 2017), that is pushing back against CCEs (Community Choice Energy). Instead of clarifying and removing doubt, they are putting out partial truths and amplifying the volume on stories of disinformation that attempt to cloud the picture on Community Choice Energy (see our blog from Oct 27, 2017). Keeping SDGE's own rates to customers high to benefit shareholders, while signing long term contracts for fossil fuel purchase and acquire more gas burning power plants, kind of stinks (see our blog from May 24, 2018).

The truth is that CCEs give homes, schools, and businesses LOCAL control over where our energy comes from, AND what rates we pay - PLUS, the profits generated go right back into our local infrastructure instead of into the pockets of shareholders, paying for improvements to our city parks, schools, and whatever else we vote for. There are now over a dozen CCEs operating successfully across California, and are successful and beneficial to the local people. CCEs cause a real threat to Sempra’s monopoly, which is why they’ve invested millions into this misleadingly named “Clear the Air Coalition” to try and stop us in San Diego County (where we pay the highest energy rates in the entire country) from freeing ourselves from their monopoly and enjoying the benefits that our own CCE would provide.

Don't be fooled by clever misuses of familiar idioms. and don't let the smoke screen cloud your vision.