As members of the Earth Care Committee at St. Benedict's Episcopal Church, we consider wise stewardship of the resources in this county a sacred responsibility. We share this as Christians with all the major spiritual traditions of the world. Two years ago, several of our members attended and spoke at a Board of Supervisors meeting where a feasibility study for a Community Choice Energy (CCE) program was approved for our county. We were happy about this action.

CCE programs have been shown to make sense, and thus they are growing rapidly across this state. Marin, Sonoma, and San Francisco counties, for example, have ones successfully in place, and many others, like Los Angeles, Monterey, and Santa Cruz, will add them by the end of this year. CCE programs are demonstrably saving both energy—important in these days of climate change, and money—important for cash-strapped local governments. With the Diablo Power Plant closing, the need to develop a viable energy program with significant economic benefits has now become urgent.

Thus our disbelief and dismay at learning of the board's recent rejection of the study that found a CCE would likely be feasible for SLO County. We ask them to reconsider this decision and allow more information to be examined.

Earth Care Committee members: Rev. Michael Eggleston, Joan Ghilotti, Rev. Caroline Hall, John Horsley, Joe Morris, Bob Pelfrey, Rev. Barry Turner, and Alice Welchert

San Luis Obispo