Energy justice spotlight: Shalanda Baker
Meeting an Energy Justice Icon!
In early June, the WCPSC Annual Education Conference was held in Wāikiki. It comes to Hawaiʻi every fourteen years - shoutout to Hawaiʻi PUC Commissioner Potter and her staff for hosting a successful event full of informative panels for energy professionals and advocates from all over the globe!
From Left: Sam Ruiz (Ulupono), Shalanda Baker (DOE), Layla Kilolu (PUC), Lauren Ballesteros-Watanabe (Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi)
A very special guest of the event was energy justice icon and Director of the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity at the U.S. Department of Energy, the Shalanda Baker. She spoke on a panel about facilitating equity in the renewable energy transition to a room full of regulatory and energy professionals in the public and private sector. Some highlights of her talk include:
Further challenging the common use of “disadvantaged communities” in policy work, which is better described as “underserved” and “overburdened” to reflect the policy decisions which created their circumstances. This then leads into the responsibility of lawmakers and government agencies to enact restorative measures to address them.
Intents of the historic Justice40 Initiative to address inequities of benefits in the transition. No longer can corporate interests take advantage of federal tax breaks without demonstrating that at least 40% of beneficiaries of climate and energy efforts go to underserved and overburdened communities.
Challenging the paradigm of centralized systems design and calling for an overhaul in regulatory framing and policy that bakes equity into decision-making and data research.
Prior to her appointment, Baker was a Professor of Law, Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University and co-founder of the Initiative for Energy Justice, which provides technical law and policy support to communities on the front lines of climate change. Locally, Shalanda is best known as Associate Professor of Law and founder of the Energy Justice Program at the William S. Richardson Law School. The focus of her work at the time was highlighting the impacts of renewable energy on Indigenous communities and communities of color. One of her biggest case studies being the infancy stages of our local energy justice warriors at Hoʻāhu Energy Cooperative Molokaʻi!
From Left: Parker Kushima (HSEO), Sam Ruiz (Ulupono), Shalanda Baker (DOE), Sebastien Selarque (HNEI), Layla Kilolu (PUC), Grace Relf (PUC), Stephany Vaioleti (HIEnergy)
As a self-professed fan-girl of this incredible trailblazer, it was such an honor to meet Shalanda at the conference and the spark her passion for energy and climate policy is in the next domain to advance civil rights. For those of us that feel intimidated by the technical expertise that dominates the sector, Shalanda’s book “Revolutionary Power: An Activists Guide to the Energy Transition” is a catalyst for the work Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi does today. It is a comprehensive yet digestible analysis of where we are in our energy system today and offers a roadmap to what it can be to secure our essential human right to affordable, just, clean energy..
Fortunately, there are a growing number of voices within the local energy sector that are coming together to bring an equity lens and “justice-first approach” throughout the implementation of energy policy and programs in Hawaiʻi. A few of us had the honor of having dinner with Shalanda and discuss the current energy injustices we are holding conversations around changing; from community engagement to dismantling a century old centralized power system owned by a virtual monopoly with a fiduciary responsibility to off-shore financiers. She affirmed that we are a part of a growing movement that is directly tied to her work within the federal government. We are not alone in this fight. A few things I learned from our conversation:
As much of an uphill battle local energy justice work feels, there are some real advantages Hawaiʻi has, such as constitutional acknowledgement of energy as a public trust resource.
Hoʻāhu Energy Cooperative and Shake Energy Collaborative are two local entities whose leadership in community-owned energy development are not only a guiding force locally, but are a part of a growing effort nationally to dismantle corporate monopoly utilities. In other words, Hoʻāhu is the future.
Creating a standard for community benefits in utility-scale energy projects is an issue going on at the national level as well.
Despite her high profile, position of power, and wealth of knowledge in this field, I found Shalanda to be a gracious human, just as eager to learn from us as we were to learn from her; with an impassioned vision for energy justice that is truly infectious. Our conversation left us feeling encouraged that we are on the right path. I wish I could remember everything that she said, but most importantly she gave us the courage to recognize our place in this growing urgency to transition not just to a better energy system- but a more just society. We are called to this work for a reason, and it’s important to own that, own our story. I wish I could remember everything she shared, but can leave you with the ending note from her book that aligns with the take away from our time with Shalanda:
“You, dear reader, are a product of your own stories, the places you have been, and your own ancestors’ wildest dreams for your life. Take the tools I have outlined. Arm yourself with them. Make them your own. Use them to create your own revolution. We are rooting for you.”
Change can’t come soon enough, so mahalo to Shalanda for gifting us with such a grounding perpetual flame for energy justice. Mahalo to my energy justice friends at the Public Utilities Commission that made it possible to share space. The revolution is underway, it’s exciting times.