Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger recently signed a petition against the repeal of the Clean Power Plan through the Sierra Club. The letter is still open to more signatures until Friday when it will be submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Clean Power Plan was an Obama Administration policy to curb greenhouse gas emissions that current EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has threatened to repeal. Hemminger signed a petition along with mayors from across the nation to stop the repeal.
“To ignore climate change is ridiculous. To repeal things or go backwards makes no sense,” Hemminger said.
She also wrote a letter commemorating recent North Carolina legislation that makes solar energy more affordable. The legislation changes the bidding process for local energy companies that makes innovative, renewable energy cheaper.
Hemminger has long been a proponent of renewable energy and wants to lower Chapel Hill’s carbon footprint.
"I applaud the legislature for pursuing community solar and look forward to working with Duke Energy to bring clean, cost-effective energy to our residents," she said in a press release.
“We are always advocating for anything that helps us to reduce our carbon footprint and become more self-sustaining,” Hemminger said. “We want to see laws and policies enacting that promote that instead of repeal it.”
Hemminger is especially interested in the idea of community energy for the town because it can be a good option for households who do not have an appropriate roof or can afford the upfront investment of solar energy.
As the technology of solar energy improves, it continues to become a smarter investment for towns and cities. With an average of 216 sunny days a year, Chapel Hill has no shortage of solar energy to harness.
