The Committee will next hear from Clean Air Council, Sean Hoffmann, if you'll come forward; Green Building United, Daniel Marzec who will read testimony from Rich Freeh; Philly Thrive, Shawmar Pitts, if you'll call forward; and POWER, Pastor Rashid, if you'll come forward. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
We're going to continue with the same path that we've been on. So we're going to ask all four of you to start by stating your name for the record and then beginning with your testimony. And once the entire panel is finished, we'll jump right into it.
Good afternoon. My name is Sean Hoffmann and I'm an attorney with the Clean Air Council and the Legislative Director for Clean Air Action Fund.
My name is Daniel Marzec, Communications and Policy Manager with Green Building United.
My name is Shawmar Pitts. I'm Co-managing Director at Philly Thrive and a lifelong Philadelphia resident.
I'm Jonny Rashid, Pastor for West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship and part of POWER Interfaith.
Sure. Thank you so much, Councilmembers, for the opportunity to testify today and thank you so much for holding this very important hearing. As I mentioned, I'm an attorney with Clean Air Council and Legislative Director for Clean Air Action. We fight for your constitutional right to a healthy environment as a Pennsylvanian. I'm also a true believer in Mayor Parker's vision for Philadelphia to become America's cleanest, safest and greenest big city. But that will not happen unless and until we step our game up here in Philly. Last year the Clean Air team that I am a part of lead over 80 public health and environmental action campaigns engaging over 8,000 people. We achieved 10 major legal victories, including at the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and had 26,000 new users utilize GoPhillyGo, an app we designed to encourage fossil fuel-free trip planning via bikes, walking and public transit. Clean Air team works on environmental and lifesaving public health issues, but today I'm here to talk about climate change. And I think it's important. We've heard a lot of fabulous information and data and it can get very complicated, and I think it's important to simply as possible sort of discuss what it is here these problems that we're dealing with. Fossil fuels have literally changed the way the planet functions. The consequences are global and devastating. Philadelphia's made some great strides in the Office of Sustainability and others who we've heard from today should be commended for that. But we are not on track to become the cleanest, safest, greenest city. This is the City of Brotherly Love. And we've addressed this already today, we need to show that love to every Philadelphian, particularly those who live in neighborhoods hardest it by the effects of climate change. The primary driver of climate change just so we're clear for the record is fossil fuels, including coal, oil and frack gas, also known as natural gas. To get energy from fossil fuels, we burn or combust them. Every time we burn fossil fuels, they release emissions that cause climate change and harm our lungs even if we can't see them. Every time you turn your natural gas burner on in your kitchen, that releases emissions into our homes that are bad for our lungs and bad for the planet. There is no such thing as a clean burning fossil fuel, full-stop. It's simply a question of how dirty they are when we burn them. Extracting, transporting and processing them is also very dangerous. A town about 100 miles west of here has been on fire since 1962, Centralia, Pennsylvania thanks to the coal beneath it. And I'm sure everyone here has heard of the East Palestine train derailment and public health disaster that was as President Biden recently described it, not an act of God but an act of greed. And we've also talked about plastics here today, which is inextricably linked to fossil fuel use. Most plastics are derived from petroleum, from oil. It is also an immense problem that is totally connected to our use of fossil fuels. The damaging impacts from climate change as we've discussed today are not hypothetical. We have already seen what that looks like here in Philadelphia. Philly went almost two years without decent snow, then 60 degrees in February. And just this past weekend it was unseasonably warm. We see heat records summer after summer and we know what follows. Climate change causes annual flooding that we once considered a once-in-a-century event that now happens almost yearly. The Delaware River is expected to rise as much as a foot within the next years. And 18 these impacts are felt most by 19 those who live in historically 20 disadvantaged neighborhoods, who 21 also cannot afford to relocate or 22 protect themselves from heat and 23 flooding.
24 Neighborhoods like Cobbs 25 Creek, Point Breeze, Strawberry Mansion and Hunting Park are among those most vulnerable to heat in Philadelphia, with some of them showing heat degrees higher than 5 other parts of the City, 22 6 degrees. Eastwick, Germantown, 7 Manayunk and East Falls are some of 8 the most vulnerable neighborhoods 9 in Philadelphia to flooding, but 10 that list will likely grow as the 11 river levels rise. 12 Voters under the age of 40 13 view climate changes as a 14 bipartisan issue. With each 15 election cycle, Millennials and Gen 16 Z make up a greater proportion of 17 the electorate. And nowadays most 18 of us are concerned about climate 19 change and the state of our 20 environment. Elected officials who 21 do not keep up risk getting voted 22 out. Our City's goal is to hit carbon neutrality by 2050. To even meet that let alone claim the title of greenest biggest city in America, we need to move away from the use of so-called natural gas as quickly and completely as possible. That means Philadelphia Gas Works should become the Philadelphia Geothermal Works. )
It's already PGW. You don't even have to rebrand. You keep all trucks, all the signs, it's already there. PGW has been with Philly since 1838 and that isn't something that is to be cast aside lightly. But instead of allowing PGW to waste mountains of money on replacing aging fossil fuel infrastructure, we must become a global model for the transition to clean energy. PGW is currently exploring the viability of geothermal, but we must demand it and accelerate the process. Every new gas line installed, and they're being installed as we speak, pushes us further from our goal and invests more money in dirty fossil fuels. Investing in clean geothermal now just makes sense financially and environmentally. Philadelphia also needs to lean into building energy efficiency and electrification to reduce our emissions, save money and become more climate resilient, and that's something we've heard a lot of great info about already today. Something I like to say a lot is the cheapest and cleanest energy is the energy we never have to use. Helping homeowners with new windows, better insulation and energy-efficient electric heat pumps would go a long way to lower Philadelphians' energy bills and more efficiently heat and cool our homes, all with lessened air pollution. It's been mentioned earlier, we've got an old housing stock here in Philly and we love our old buildings, but they are drafty. We can do a lot to fight climate change just by insulating our homes. Thanks to the federal tax credits from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, there are more incentives for energy efficiency than ever before, ever in American history. Philadelphia should help its residents tap into those resources, especially in the most vulnerable parts of the City, and it's great that we've already had some good discussion on how to do that. Meeting the challenges of climate change is extremely difficult. And as has been said, we've hit the low-hanging fruit already. We're at a point where major leadership is required and tough decisions have to be made. But it's now or never. And Philadelphia, as I said before, absolutely can be the cleanest, safest, greenest big city in America. We're a world class city. We all know that. And we can pioneer ways to be carbon neutral by 2050 while protecting those most impacted by climate change and saving money along the way. The fossil fuel lobby may have its hand in Harrisburg, but not in Philadelphia. And the Clean Air team and I stand ready to assist in any way we can to ensure Mayor Parker's vision for Philadelphia becomes a reality. Thank you. (Applause.)
Good afternoon. Thank you, Councilmembers Thomas and Landau --
Just real quick will you restate your name before you speak for the
Thanks. Daniel Marzec, Green Building United. My name is Daniel Marzec, Communications and Policy Manager for Green Building United. Through education, advocacy and strategic initiatives, Green Building United promotes the development of buildings that are sustainable, healthy for inhabitants, resilient and cost-effective. Our community's made up of architects, engineers, building operators, policymakers and advocates, individual residents and businesses from across our regions. Thank you so much, Councilmembers Landau and Thomas, for holding this space for this important discussion today. I want to open by first addressing the importance of climate action. As we've heard from others today so far that the impacts of climate change are here. The last three years alone have been some of the hottest on record. Toxic air quality from wildfires have made our air some of the worst in the world last summer. And in 2021, the impacts from Tropical Storm Ida devastated communities across Philadelphia and inundated the Vine Street Expressway. It's not a surprise. At end of the Nutter Administration, the then Mayor's Office of Sustainability published Growing Stronger, a report on expected climate impacts in Philadelphia. A decade later we've seen many of those impacts come true. There is some good news. Thanks to the commitments that the City has made, reductions have been made and we are on track to at least avert the worst-case scenarios reported in Growing Stronger, but it's extremely critical that we continue to act on our commitments and accelerate action to keep on track or exceed our goals as to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. As you may have heard already, in Philadelphia the entire two-thirds are emissions. Carbon emissions come from the buildings and electricity grid that powers them. At Green Building United, we're focused on our built environment, the buildings that we live, grow and play in. And we're identifying and supporting efforts to cut emissions from existing buildings and new construction, Philadelphia's homes, businesses, schools and nonprofits. Philadelphia has programs in place now that are working to cut emissions in the built environment while reducing energy bills and creating job opportunities for Philadelphians. Thanks to former Councilmember Blondell Reynolds-Brown, for the past decade large buildings have been required to track and report their admissions on an annual basis, a process called emergency benchmarking. In 2019, City Council added a requirement for many large buildings to tune up their existing systems. Green Building United manages this program, and benchmarking alone has led to an average 5 percent reduction energy use over the past decade, and we're starting to see an additional savings of 4 percent for buildings that have completed the Building Energy Performance Policy programs. At the residential levels, City initiatives like the Basic Systems Repair program and Restore, Repair, Renew help residents get their home to state of good repair. These kinds of programs are critical for energy efficiency. While these programs require more funding and could better emphasize emissions reductions, it's important to know that home repair is climate action. Funding these critical programs benefits our most vulnerable neighbors while making progress towards our climate and emissions goals. In recent years, the Philadelphia Energy Authority's groundbreaking Built to Last program has brought together many of these existing home repair programs and brings in the expertise on climate emissions reductions and health while also helping seniors stay in their homes for longer and avoid community displacement. With all that said, these programs alone won't eliminate emissions from buildings. In many buildings, residents are left out of current policies.
We need to accelerate this action to meet our climate goals and ensure Philadelphians benefit from the clean energy transition that results in good-paying family- supporting local jobs, affordable housing and a better quality of life for all residents. Now's the time to be talking about decarbonization in Philly. We have a new Mayor, who has renewed pledges to meet Philadelphia's climate goals and the dedicated leadership in City Council who's ready to resource this work and make it possible. We also have the Biden Administration making the most ambitious investments in climate action in history via the Infrastructure Investment Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. This funding is just the beginning to reach -- this funding is just beginning to reach Philadelphia. And over the next years, we'll 5 make it possible for City 6 businesses and residents to 7 accelerate action on climate to 8 meet the goals set forth by the 9 City of Philadelphia. 10 We do applaud Mayor Parker's commitment to upholding meeting Philadelphia's climate goals. We agree with the Mayor when she calls on City leaders to work together and take an all-of- city approach to accomplish our goals, including climate action. It will take concerted efforts from both the private and public sectors to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. City departments and quasi governmental agencies like SEPTA and Philadelphia Gas Works must be resourced and held accountable for their efforts to meet the challenge of climate action in our city. As Mayor Parker has said, if it's not in the budget or not someone's job, it won't get done. )
Over the next month -- thank you. Over the next month, we look forward to reviewing the Parker's Administration budget and meeting with Councilmembers and staff to encourage further investment in climate action in key departments, including the Philadelphia's Office of Sustainability, Department of Licenses and Inspections, Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation and the Philadelphia Energy Authority. We're also convening conversations of private and public sector partners today, in fact, around the next generation of building performance policies, building on the great work that is already in place while recognizing the imperative to move quickly to ensure we are playing our part in cutting emissions to realize the benefits of a cleaner, greener and more sustainable future of all Philadelphians. I would like to close on two themes to keep in mind as City Council pursues further action on climate in Philadelphia. The first one is providing regulatory certainty. Increasing the ambition of climate programs seems daunting. But one message that we have received at Green Building United for members of the building community and others is that they are seeking regulatory certainty. The writing is on the wall. They know they need to reduce their emissions. They need guidance from City government. Giving building owners clarity on how Philadelphia intends to meet 2050 targets will help them plan ahead and make smart investments. The second point, job creation. For almost a decade, Philadelphia Energy Authority has been tracking job creation through their energy campaign. They set a goal of creating 10,000 new jobs. And as you heard earlier, they're on track to meet that goal or exceed it. Thinking about all the work that's still left to do in this important area, think of all those potential jobs just waiting to be created. And each and every one of those needs and should be done by Philadelphians. Thank you so much for your time and I appreciate the opportunity to be here. (Applause.)
Yes. My name is Shawmar Pitts. I want to apologize anyway before I even get started because I'm really excited right now from all the testimony that we heard and how important this hearing is and the history of our city. And sometimes I can't contain my excitement, right. So you might see that, right, while I'm sitting here talking, right. I'm a lifelong Philadelphian, and I'm the Co-managing Director of Philly Thrive. Philly Thrive is an environmental housing justice organization that represents hundreds of Philadelphia residents, mostly based in Grays Ferry, but not limited to Grays Ferry. We're worldwide. We'll help people anywhere. Grays Ferry's an environmental justice community in all senses of the word. We are in the 97th percentile in the entire country for rates for asthma and we have a greater than percent chance of being severely affected by flooding over the next 30 years. The majority of residents are low income with a significant percentage of senior citizens. Populations who are most at risk in the face of climate disaster and our community was poisoned for decades by the East Coast largest oil refinery. According to the City's Climate Action Playbook that you all wrote, buildings and industry account for 75 percent of Philadelphian's carbon emissions, 75 percent. We have the solutions. We know what it will take for a just transition away from fossil fuels. We just have to act on it. We have a tendency to cling to the past and finance the past, knowing that we need to invest in the future for the sake of our children. The systems we are financing are unhealthy. Last fall Philly Thrive went out and we talked with our community. We surveyed over 100 long-term Grays Ferry residents about their housing needs. By far the biggest need named by over 60 percent of long- term residents is home repairs. People are losing their homes because they can't afford to make essential repairs. We have an opportunity in Philadelphia to address the needs of our long-term residents. And today I just want to elaborate on two things. I want to talk about the opportunities presented by home repairs and I want to talk about the redevelopment in the Bellwether District and PGW so that we can enact this transition. We have an opportunity in Philadelphia to address the needs of our long-term residents and keep them in their homes and meet the City's carbon neutrality goals at the same time. Repairing homes in a way that increases energy efficiency and adds clean energy is a no-brainer way to transition from fossil fuels. This project -- this process reduces energy costs for low-income residents. It improves our air quality and health and will drastically support our city to reach our climate goals. The City has a solution. We need to fund the Philadelphia' Energy Authority's Built to Last program. (Applause.)
This is a holistic home repair program that includes weatherization, heat pumps and solar energy. Our City Council needs to include $5 million for Built to Last in this year's budget in the coming year. We'll need much greater investment from all levels of government, but it is crucial for the City to invest now so that the program can continue to develop, improve and expand. Once again, buildings in industry account for 75 percent of Philadelphia's carbon emissions. Grays Ferry borders the Bellwether District at the site of the former PES Oil Refinery. It makes up 2 percent of Philadelphia's land mass, the largest redevelopment in Philadelphia's history. Philly Thrive and other RCOs in South and Southwest Philly have been negotiating with Hillco for pretty much four years to make sure this development is fossil fuel-free so we have clean air in our community. If we're serious about carbon neutrality by 2050, then you, our City Council officials, need to mandate that all future large developments in Philadelphia, including the Bellwether District, be fossil fuel-free. (Applause.)
Now, this is tough. This is tough because financially a lot of people, like I said, we cling to the past. And in our state of Pennsylvania, we have a natural gas reserve and we have Shell and we have frack and this is big business in our state so it's tremendous pressure from that industry to try to keep us on that path so that they can make the money that they're used to making. We got to break away from that because it doesn't help us. It doesn't serve us. And for us to believe, I think that 2050, right, that's why -- I was just sitting there and when Councilman Thomas said, how can we speed this up and make it 2040, take 10 years off, right, because we don't have until 2050, right. I don't know where that number came from, but we don't have until 2050 to get it right. We don't. We don't. (Applause.)
That's wishing. I'm hoping we got until 2050. But from what I'm seeing, we don't have until 2050. We got to act right now. We can't take steps backwards. If you imagine me as the City of Philadelphia and you imagine that carbon neutrality is the door right there, we can't take not one step in that direction that way. We got to go that way. So we got to get away from natural gas. We got to get away from all those natural fossil fuels. We have to do it now. (Applause.)
We need City Council to take leadership in transforming PGW. One of PGW's plants is right in our neighborhood and we're affected by PGW's decisions as ratepayers and as people who live with gas appliances in our homes. If we're going to move from fossil fuel to clean energy in Philadelphia, PGW has to change drastically. We've been testifying at Gas Commission hearings, at the Public Utility Commission hearings for years. PGW will continue to hold back the transition to clean energy until City Council and the Mayor's Office require them to change. They won't do it on their own. (Applause.)
Achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 is the bare minimum of what we need to protect the health, safety and well-being of our communities. We have to start now. The City is not currently taking the actions needed to achieve this goal, and it seems as if we know this because that's why we're here for this hearing today. You are the ones who called this hearing and I'm so glad you did. We need energy-efficient home repairs by allocating $5 million to Built to Lastin the City budget and we need all new development, including the Bellwether District to be free of fossil fuels, and we need City Council to make PGW transition away from gas infrastructure. And in closing, I just want to say that I've spoken to the representatives at Hillco about going green, right. And this was my first request in trying to establish some negotiations for community benefit agreement for my community. And a lot of the RCOs they came in and they was talking about how much money, how much money, what you going to give us, what you going to give us. So when I came and I sat down at -- we was in the park, at the picnic table in the park, you know, they said everything about money. You know, I wasn't really concerned with money too much. My first request was that we want 100 percent fossil fuel-free green energy used in the construction for all the heat in all the buildings in the all the energy for these new buildings. This is what we need. And we want this whole place cleaned up from the contamination that was done for over 150 years because it affects us. And everybody looked at me like I was crazy because I wasn't talking about money. But I am talking about money because you need investment to be able to do those things and that's what people couldn't see that far. So we do need money and we do need investment, but it has to be put in a position to be used to make us fossil-free so that we can save this planet and save ourselves at the same time. And we have to be able to -- because the hardest thing for me to do is like when Councilman Phillips said, how do we bring this like all the people that testified, all the language that they use, how do we make our residents just understand what we're talking about when you're using these big words and all this language, right, how can you make that relate to our everyday lives because it's all connected. Environmental justice is connected to every justice that you can name. It's just intertwined like I got my hands locked. It's intertwined with racial justice. It's intertwined with social justice. It's intertwined with economic justice. It's all connected and we need to make a way and we got to stand up and be strong and be forceful, and we have to be resoluting, knowing that we're doing the right thing just because people not going to be able to make the money they used to make. They're going to have to come out of their comfort zone. PGW can't be Philadelphia Gas Works. It got to be Philadelphia Geothermal Works just like he said. We got to be confident and know we're doing the right thing, so we got to do it. We don't have choice. That's it. That's it. (Applause.)
So thank you so much. I appreciate y'all letting us come here and just give y'all what we need to give y'all because we need y'all. Man, we need legislation. That's how we going to do it. We need legislation on this right here. That's what we need. That's how we going to change it, legislation. Thank you so much. (Applause.)
I'm Jonny Rashid. I'm Pastor for West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship. And I'm a preacher, but I won't preach like my brother just did there. POWER's a multi-racial, multi-faith organizing movement that works for racial and economic justice for a livable planet on a livable planet, and there's dozens of congregations and thousands of people connected to us throughout the City. So your actions as representatives over the next couple of years will determine whether we have the capacity to be a thriving city, not just in the near term but in the future too. We're not on track for a carbon neutrality by 2050 and we're certainly not on track to get there by 2040 which is a more responsible goal. So I'm going to outline two actions that we need City Council to take focusing on repairing Philadelphians' homes and transforming PGW. Our members are harmed by multiple overlapping crises in our city. Unaffordable housing, high rates of poverty and gun violence, unaffordable energy bills and more. And we're also facing a climate emergency, flooding, heat waves wildfire smoke, all that is hurting us. And if we don't respond with urgency to stop fossil fuel emissions, we'll create a legacy of devastating harm. And these problems are intraconnected. We don't have to choose between fighting against poverty, tackling gun violence, preventing displacement and addressing the climate crisis. By focusing on housing and energy, we can tackle multiple crises at once. First, we need large scale public investment to repair and decarbonize our homes. That will improve people's health and it will heal -- stay in their homes and afford their energy bills, create good jobs and stop fossil fuel pollution. The Philadelphia Energy Authority's Built to Last program is a critical initiative that should receive more investment right now, so we urge you to provide at least $5 million for the Built to Last in the next budget for the City. City Council must work to ensure that PGW is accountable for its role in achieving our City's 2550 carbon neutrality commitment. And we need you to make the City's 2050 carbon neutrality deadline binding into closely supervise PGW's decarbonization to make sure it stays on track. The City owns PGW and fossil fuels that it sells are one of the largest sources of climate pollution in our city, so we must replace those fossil fuels entirely with clean energy over the next 13 to 25 years, and we need to protect 14 low-income residents at every step 15 in that process. 16 We've attempted to work 17 with PGW for the last three years. 18 We hope PGW will lead the 19 transition to clean energy. But 20 instead we've seen PGW executives impede it. In two examples, they continue to pursue new gas customers aggressively. Just this year they're proposing to spend $19 million on infrastructure for new gas customers and they're planning on spending upwards of $8 billion over the next decade to replace gas pipes even though we need to stop burning gas by 2050. They declined our request to hold even a single stakeholder meeting about potential alternatives to that plan. So we urge City Council to require PGW to implement policies and budgets that match the 2050 carbon neutrality goal with clear milestones along the way and participatory transparent planning. (Applause.)
Dr. King invoked this quote, "The fierce urgency of now." This phrase applies in 2024 as we face the climate crisis. And those of us who have the least wealth and power are harmed most. So what kind of city will you leave as your legacy. Now is the moment for fierce urgency and we're counting on your leadership. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you all for your testimony. In the spirit of time, I want to allow the next panel to come and testify. If you all can just hang right back there. You don't even have to go on the other side. If we can just call the next two panelists up, and then we'll do all six, both the third panel and the fourth panel together for questions just in the spirit of time because I know that we're a little over schedule.
Torrey Fishman from Zipcar and Jay Arzu from Weitzman School of Design, if you would come forward. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Mr. Fishman, if you'd state your name for the record, you can begin with your testimony. As soon as he's done, Jay, if you could do the same, that would be great. Thank you.
Thank you. Torrey Fishman from Zipcar. Good afternoon, Chairman Thomas and members of the Legislative Oversight Committee. My name is Torrey Fishman and I serve as Manager of Public Partnerships and Policy from Zipcar. I appreciate the opportunity by provide testimony on how Zipcar and car sharing can help advance the City's carbon neutrality goals and to answer any questions you might have. Zipcar is the world's leading car-sharing network, driven by a mission to enable simple and responsible urban living by reducing the need for personal car ownership. Car sharing allows Zipcar members to reserve vehicles by the hour or by the day typically from a location just a short distance from home. By sharing a car, fewer personal vehicles are on the road which means less congestion, less carbon emissions, less curb and parking competition and more free space in neighborhoods across the City for people, not cars. While Zipcar has a national presence, we consider our relationship with Philadelphia to be a particularly important one as our President Angelo Adams is a proud Philly native hailing from the 9th Councilmanic District. While Angelo regrets that he couldn't be here today, he recently visited to help launch our new partnership with the Philadelphia Housing Authority where Zipcar provides affordable convenient vehicles to residents enabling them to access personal and professional opportunities. A press release outlining that partnership has been submitted as part of my testimony today. Zipcar has operated in Philadelphia since 2007 and has become a vital part of the City's transportation ecosystem. Zipcar's model of car sharing has proven to be an important sustainable transportation option for an increasingly diverse cross-section of Philadelphians at every corner of the City and at every income level. According to our North American Transportation Survey, which we release annually to illustrate the social and environmental impact of Zipcar, we know that nearly 90 percent of our members in Philadelphia do not own a car. Nearly 50 percent of them have postponed buying or leasing a car because of their Zipcar membership and more than 40 percent of them would buy a car if Zipcar disappeared tomorrow. That's a lot of cars that we're helping keep off the road in Philadelphia. According to AAA, the cost of new car ownership was at an all-time high in 2023 and this estimate does not consider the cost of EV ownership and its specific requirements. Because of this, 60 percent of our members in Philadelphia report they joined Zipcar specifically to avoid the prohibitively high cost of car ownership. Zipcar is an affordable option because our membership includes gas, electric charging where applicable, insurance options, maintenance, roadside service and dedicated parking spot. Due to the cost and complexities of electric vehicles and many cities' goal of providing affordable, sustainable transportation for all, Zipcar believes that the future of EVs is shared, not owned. Independent studies also show that Zipcar's roundtrip model of car sharing has a positive impact on the environment and supports the City's carbon neutrality goals. For example, one Zipcar takes up to personally- 10 owned vehicles off the road. 11 In Philadelphia where we 12 personally have a fleet of about 13 300 vehicles at 140 locations, that's about 4,000 cars that we're keeping off City streets, enough cars to fill Dilworth Park six times over. Car-sharing members also have a lighter carbon footprint than noncar-sharers. Each member reduces their carbon footprint by up to 1600 pounds per year and each member tends to drive 40 percent fewer miles after joining Zipcar because they depend on a diverse mobility network for the transportation needs and only drive when actually necessary. Last year marked the beginning of a new chapter for Zipcar.
We further expanded our commitment to reducing carbon emissions by launching EVs across multiple markets, including Philadelphia. And we joined the White House EV Acceleration Challenge, committing to place 12 percent of our EV fleet in 13 overburdened communities and expand 14 our EV fleet to double its current 15 size in 2024. 16 A best practice we've 17 inquired from providing shared 18 electric vehicles is that 19 collaboration between the public 20 and private sector is going to be 21 critical to successfully meet and 22 expand sustainable transportation 23 goals. By working together and 24 tapping our broad and deep 25 experience, Zipcar and the City of Philadelphia and other public and private sector partners can help advance a historic and generational transition and ensure that we're paving the way for the future of sustainable transportation. Zipcar's excited to work with the City on innovative solutions to expand EV car sharing to increase the availability of charging infrastructure city-wide. A successful program Zipcar has launched in partnership with cities across the country is Zipcar for Government, a car-sharing program designed explicitly for City government employees. C. and other cities across the country, they're using Zipcar as a flexible fleet solution that allows city employees to drive EVs and hybrid vehicles to conduct important services, like building inspections and social work home visits. We found that programs like Electric Car Sharing for Governments allow cities to help reduce capital cost, electrify government transportation and promote sustainability. As a mission-driven company, Zipcar shares the City's goals of reducing carbon emissions and help provide innovative solutions to help the City become a national model that runs on affordable, convenient and sustainable transportation. To that end, we look forward to continuing to work with this Committee and the City Council to advance the City's carbon neutrality goals by expanding electric car sharing as an affordable and sustainable option throughout the City. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today.
Hello. My name is Jayr Arzu. I'm a Ph.D. student in city and regional planning at the University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design. Chair Thomas, esteemed members of the City Council and fellow citizens, it is truly an honor to share insights on a transformative transportation project that promises to significantly reduce carbon emissions in our beloved city, the Roosevelt Boulevard Subway project. The narrative of the Roosevelt Boulevard Subway stretches back to 1913. With subsequent proposals in 1948, 1960, 1975, 1985, 1994 and most recently in 2003. Today propelled by federal and state grants, we stand on the cusp of realizing this visionary project through PennDOT's Route for Change program which was recently awarded $2 million to do NEPA studies. Anyway let's dive into the numbers. In 2003, the last time the Roosevelt Boulevard subway was scrutinized, it was forecast to save motorists and transit users a staggering 12,900 hours of travel time annually. Furthermore, the subway was projected to divert approximately 83,300 daily trips from automobiles to transit with an estimated ridership of 124,500 daily riders. While these figures may seem dated, I challenge everyone in this room to critically contemplate their collective implications. Expanding upon these benefits, implementing the Roosevelt Boulevard subway holds multi-faceted advantages for our region. First, reducing vehicle mass travel translates directly into a substantial decrease in carbon emissions aligning seamlessly with our city's climate neutrality goals. By providing a reliable alternative to private vehicles, we are not only mitigating environmental impact, but we're also paving the way for a greener, more sustainable urban future in the City of Brotherly Love. Moreover, the projected savings of 12,900 hours of travel time annually implies a significant enhancement in productivity and quality of life of our citizens. Time saved in commuting can be redirected toward more meaningful pursuits, spending time with your family, engaging in community activities or perhaps contributing to our local economy. In addition, the estimated diversion of 83,300 daily trips from automobiles to transit not only reduces traffic congestion but also addresses safety concerns on Roosevelt Boulevard, one of the most unsafe urban roads in the country. The Roosevelt Boulevard subway is not merely a transportation project. It's a catalyst for resiliency and a region for unprepared climate change. The Roosevelt Boulevard subway not only aligns with our city's climate neutrality goals, but also addresses the pressing concerns of overtly car-centric region and the safety challenges faced by pedestrians on Roosevelt Boulevard. In closing, let us collectively envision a future where our region's transportation infrastructure is environmentally conscious, enhances productivity and ensures the safety and well- being of our citizens. That starts here today with getting projects like the Roosevelt Boulevard subway completed. Thank you for having me and I look forward to further questions.
Thank you. I'm going to be very brief really quick. A couple of questions so please try to be brief in the answers. Does the City have any appetite right now for a shared Zipcar program? Have you spoke to anybody in the Admin about looking at using Zipcar or a model like Zipcar to be able to offset some of the things that we're doing around fleet and car usage right now currently?
We've had informal conversations with members of the Administration and members of City Council, and there was an RFP issued I believe two summers ago. I want to say 2022, but I believe it expired and it was never acted upon. We welcome the opportunity to re-engage in those discussions.
Sure. So I'm not making a push for Zipcar, I want to be clear, because folks from the Administration is here. But we do want to explore the concept of what it means to have a shared car program if that could put us in a position to further our agenda around less cars and carbon neutrality. So thank you for that. I'm like 98 percent in support of the Roosevelt Boulevard project as it relates to the subway going all the way up to the Northeast. I went to Frankford High School. I spent more time in the Northeast than probably most folks know. Let me give you 2 percent hesitation. Who's paying for it?
So for a project this large, we would have a federal package. So most of the funding for the Roosevelt Boulevard subway would come from CIG grants from the Federal Transit Administration. And for a project this big and because our region lacks large mega projects, we probably could get anywhere from 65 to 75 percent of a federal match for this project, so it would largely be through federal grant.
That's why I'm 98 percent there because I know the federal government isn't going to do 100 percent as far as paying for it. Who offsets the rest of that cost? Is it the state, is it the City or is it private sector?
So there's a few ways to do that, Chairman. Number one, we could have a situation where of course there's a partnership between the City and the Commonwealth, the state, or there's actually programs from the Federal Transit Administration, U.S. DOT like (inaudible) 49 where we can get low interest loans from the federal government. So there's multiple ways to have a federal aid package for the Roosevelt Boulevard subway. The important thing is actually getting it there and getting it shovel- ready, which we now have the ability to do because of the $2 million grant that we got about a week and a half ago. So -- oh, yeah, to elaborate on that, we got $2 million to do NEPA studies. So once PennDOT is able to move forward and choose a locally-preferred alternative, we'll be able to fully study that and send that to the federal government, the FTA, to move forward and talk about these funding packages.
Well, congratulations on that grant. Please push them to get us as many federal dollars as we can for that specific initiative. And whatever the federal government doesn't pay for, I will volunteer Harrisburg to come up with those dollars because, you know, things are a little tight for us on the City level. But in all honesty, I do commend you for the work you've done, you and your entire time. The level of dialogue that now exist around the idea of Roosevelt Boulevard extension for a subway is more prominent than I've ever heard and I think it starts with dialogue if we want to see something actualize itself. So I appreciate your advocacy as well as the other advocates who's been pushing for this specific initiative. And honestly, I'm joking but you know you guys have my support. I think it's a great idea. And whatever I can do on the City Council side, we want to push that as well as the shared car initiative to be able to put us in a position to save a little bit on the City side and do our part. Before I pass it to the Vice-Chair, I also just wanted to commend the efforts happening around Hillco. I think it's very important to encourage the type of development at Hillco that you're encouraging. But anybody in the listening audience or those who might watch this at a later time on YouTube, if you haven't seen that space, it is huge. The amount of land that we're talking about, I remember when the conversations first started and they said that this was like 2 percent of the entire city or something like that, don't quote me on that number, I like to have my facts, my staff does a good job with making sure we have facts, but it's a huge pot of land. And it is going to be an intrical part of the future for the City of Philadelphia. So thank you for your advocacy. To the other folks who testified, thank you for your advocacy as well as your expertise and your patience, because I know this has been a long dialogue. That's my monologue. I'll pass it to Vice-Chair Landau.
I just wanted to end by thanking all of you so much for your testimony. It was fantastic, especially the last panel, the previous panel. I feel like we've been talking about environmental justice, racial justice for so many years, and it was pockets of conversations around the City, but that it's all coming together now. And to hear the activism coming from the ground that includes the expertise, the technical expertise and then some of the techno-elect expertise that's also focused on our very few goals that we can all reach immediately going towards the future was super helpful to see. For those of us who are not in this field all the time, it's a little complicated, right. But making sure that we know the steps, making sure that we can see that home repair is climate action, making sure that we can see ending fossil fuels is climate action, and that every single day we can be taking steps to educate and do stuff on the ground that gets us towards these goals is super helpful. I don't want to wait until 2050. I want to make sure it happens before then and we're here right beside you trying to do the best we can. So please come to us and keep educating us, we need it. And we'll keep having hearings like this to give you an opportunity. So thank you so much, but our doors are always open. (Applause.)
That concludes public testimony on the bills today. We'll now move to public comment. If the Clerk's -- if the Sergeant-at-Arms can set that up. Ms. Bond, Mr. Ballenger, Connor D., Peter Ferch and Mitchell Chanin. If you'll come forward, we'll hear from you in that order. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Just so you're aware, as we've been here an hour and a half longer than we were supposed to, public comment today will be limited to two minutes per witness. Please confine your remarks to two minutes. We will cut you off after that.
Hi. My name is Linnea Bond. I'm a Philadelphia resident and the Health and Environmental Educator Director of Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania. The only thing I'll really add to Shawmar's excellent testimony is just a couple of things. Historically, our municipally-owned gas utility PGW has operated with minimum oversight which has led to overspending, fighting electrification at the state level and budgeting that invests in our city, our city and (inaudible) assets. I want to underscore what he said about legislation. I also would like to encourage both of you to -- I made a documentary in partnership with Hunting Park NAC and Sierra Club. It's a 20-minute documentary interviewing six women who went through the Built to Last program and I would recommend watching it. I'll send it to both of you after this. And I also want to highlight one thing that I don't think people commented on, which is that as we're moving toward our climate goals, we need to make sure that looking at MACH2, that it is not a backslide in our environmental work. There are few more ways to do hydrogen production wrong than right. And many powerful people financially invested in the proliferation of fossil fuel hydrogen and end-uses of hydrogen where electrification would be a more sufficient solution. So far the MACH2 Process has followed the fossil fuel playbook, keeping communities in the dark with the first and only scheduled meeting being held far away from the neighborhoods likely to be affected by this infrastructure during the workday. And that's all I'll add. Thank you.
Thank you for your testimony. I'm not going to comment on every public comment. But if you could get us a copy of the documentary --
Good afternoon, Chairperson Thomas and Vice-Chair Landau and members of the Legislative Oversight Committee who didn't stick around, but I hope that they will listen to what has happened here, there's a lot of great information. My name is Robert Ballenger. I'm an attorney at the Energy Unit at Community Legal Services. I represent families to ensure they have access to affordable heat, electricity and water in their homes. I also represent groups to try to advance energy affordability and I represent all PGW customers as public advocate in budget proceedings before the Gas Commission. I submitted written testimony in advance. I'm not going to really touch upon what's in there today, but just to help lift up some of what I've heard. We need to approach this racial justice issue of the energy transformation in a clear and equitable way. And we need to focus on efficiency and electrification for low-income and moderate-income families first to avoid what's known as the death spiral. We also have to reject the mindset that can paralyze us, and this is something that I've fallen into from time to time. We can't do it because it will make it unaffordable for poor people. We have to start there and embrace the fact that the home environment is part of our overall environment and we need to start by protecting it and investing in low-income housing. I was before the Transportation and Public Utilities Committee almost five years ago talking about PGW's diversification and nothing has happened. It's past time to act. The energy transformation is here. There are opportunities potentially in geothermal. And I would submit to you that there are future opportunities in demand response and distributed energy that the City should be exploring as a rule- making going on at the PUC. And finally, jobs. They are estimated 38.2 million jobs in renewable energy and as many as 139 million total jobs in the energy sector. I believe City Council should be acting here and I would just point out when the General Assembly passed the law that brought PGW under the PUC for rate- making, it didn't take away your legislative power to determine the mission of PGW and the steps necessary to fulfill it. And I would look forward to working you as I have with many people in this room on that, on that issue. And with that, I'll hand it off.
Thank you so much. Wonderful. So my name is Connor Descheemaker. Good afternoon now to Committee Chair Thomas, Vice-Chair Landau, members of the Committee on Legislative Oversight. I'm from Transit Forward Philadelphia. We're a coalition of over 30 Greater Philadelphia organizations, including labor unions, business associations, neighborhood groups and CDCs, senior disability rights advocates, immigrant refugee support groups and environmental and public policy MGOs. Our goal is to advocate for a safe, accessible and sustainable transit network and to amplify the voices of underrepresented riders and promote transit equity. Philadelphia's known as bedrock of American democracy and also the poorest big city in the country, a center of industry and port activity while playing host to numerous superfund sites, as has been mentioned in earlier testimonies today. With that history comes an unparalleled legacy of just building infrastructure. It's been here for a long time. And with that, we have a lot of choices that come up. One example of a choice that comes with that is approval in the last 10 years of a SEPTA natural gas plant near the center of Nicetown-Tioga, historically disinvested in a Black legacy neighborhood that doesn't have heavy rail infrastructure that stops in it but does have heavy rail infrastructure that passes through it. The strengths and weaknesses mean that we have lots to gain and lots at risk when considering how to pursue a future of carbon neutrality rooted in environmental justice. With transportation taking up 29 percent of U.S. carbon emissions in 2021, mode shift in public transportation play a prime role in helping Philadelphia meet its goals. With our city's high poverty and 30 percent of households without access to a car, that means that electrification and electric vehicles will not be the only means by which we achieve success here. By making transit easier for those dependent on it, we can attract new riders to the system and remove the incentive and at times imperative for lower middle-class residents to spend the thousands of dollars required annually to own and maintain a private car. This also reduces traffic congestion and emissions from idling cars as well as the wear and tear on our roads that is actually going to increase with heavier electric vehicles. Currently the City of Philadelphia provides one of the lowest local funding contributions for public transit, despite being among the top 6 transit systems in the United 7 States for generated revenue, we 8 provide less local support than 9 peer cities like Chicago, Seattle 10 and Phoenix. Increased local funding can make transit more effective for residents that depend on it whose livelihoods were drastically improved by being able to rely on transit. City-controlled solutions like bus-only lanes, signal prioritization, corner daylighting, well-lit shelters with seating, bus stop parking enforcement can help make the most of our existing resources. In particular, these policy changes will provide for faster, more dependable buses. The backbone of our transit system representing a vast majority of trips and riders. We've had catenary wires and other really incredibly tools in our trans system since Simon Memorial. We just continue on this path and move towards sustainability --
Hi. Good afternoon. I'm Peter Ferch, resident of Philadelphia. Part of POWER but speaking just for myself today. I first want to thank Councilmembers Landau and Thomas for pulling this together. This is great. My comments might be a little disorganized because I didn't prepare anything ahead of time. I wanted to listen to everything that had to be said and kind of pick some things to comment on. I think we got some really great testimony today. You guys got a lot of things to think about. I just want to kind of emphasize a couple of things. And one is that what has been achieved so far has been low-hanging fruit, right. It's been the easy stuff. We took credit for PECO converting from coal to gas, right. That really wasn't anything that we did, right. We benefited from that. Right now PECO has absolutely no plans for the next five years of changing their fuel mix and right now it's half a percent solar, right. So we're not going to get any benefit from changes from PECO. POWER, we are actually working with the PUC and with PECO to try to get them to up that. We welcome you to come to testify if you would like. But you had asked what can you do, and there's been a lot to talk about, PGW. Why is PGW in 2025, why do they have $20 million in their budget to build more pipelines? PGW should be legislated to stop selling gas. Why are they lobbying the Parks Department to get off the steam loop and put natural gas burners in the Parks Department? That should stop. You guys I think have the power to tell PGW or certainly the members of the Gas Commission with which one City Councilperson has not even been named is missing, could tell PGW to stop selling more gas. We could legislate no gas in new buildings. The Temple professor mentioned that million 20 tons I think it was of greenhouse gases are emitted by Philadelphia. PGW is responsible for 5 million of those tons. A lot of that gets represented by buildings. A lot of buildings are burning natural gas so it comes out in theirs, but PGW is responsible for that product as being sold that's causing that. Ban gas in new buildings. Require green building materials. We talked about the cost of -- again, the professor talked electric art steel versus coke steel. Require green materials in new buildings. The City could buy green energy. Again, PECO's standard energy has half a percent of solar in it. You guys can legislate more protective bike lanes. You can take care or deal with the parking in the bike lanes. Lots of people would ride bikes except people think it's just too dangerous, right. Obviously -- oh, you can provide the funding that the Sustainability Department and the Energy Authority require. I thought the Energy Authority did an outstanding job of very clearly talking about what needs to be done. And again, what we've done is the low-hanging fruit. It's going to be harder. It's going to get more expensive. If you look at the numbers that they talked about, 1300 houses with heat pumps over the last five years or something, we've got five more sets of that before, right, so that's five times 1300. That's not anywhere near being on target to reach our goals. Same with the 27 homes with over seven years with solar panels on them. Four times that is about 10,000 homes with solar panels by 2050. I don't think we're on target, right. I think we have a lot of work to do. Anyway enough. Thank you very much for your time.
Thanks so much for the opportunity to testify. My name's Mitch Chanin. I'm a member of both the Philly Thrive and POWER Interfaith, also Reclaim Philly and a bunch of other groups around the City. I know everyone wants to go home. I will be brief. I didn't prepare, but I wanted to just share a few comments after hearing what was shared today. I fully support the testimony from POWER and Philly Thrive and pretty much everything that's been said today. I wanted to just emphasize a couple of things that maybe didn't get quite enough attention. One is that I think instead of thinking about goals or targets, we should be thinking about deadlines. 2050 could be a deadline and City departments and agencies and public entities could be required to meet the deadline. I agree that 2050 is too far in the future and the deadline should be sooner. But at a minimum, I think we should be doing something to require compliance with a deadline. Through POWER Interfaith I've been participating in our interventions in the review of PGW's budget and their rate case when they ask for a percent rate 7 hike from the Public Utility 8 Commission. Something that became 9 really clear is that though the Gas 10 Commission reviews PGW's budgets in order to basically make sure they're not wasting money and protect ratepayer interest, they don't have any statutory mandate to require PGW to comply with the City's climate goals. So the City has this 2050 target, but there's no law of any kind that I'm aware of that requires anyone to do anything to comply with the 2050 target, including the very large fossil fuel utility that the City literally owns. They are planning according to an independent analysis that we helped with a little bit, they're on track to spend upwards of $8 billion on gas infrastructure over the next 30 years or so, which would be designed to last for 50 years or more beyond that, even though we say we're not going to be using fossil fuels after 2050. So we need every single dollar we can muster to transition to clean renewal energy in a way that is reducing poverty, making sure everyone can afford their energy bills and improving public health. $8 billion could go a long way if it were spent on the things we actually need and not fossil fuel infrastructure. And PGW management executives have totally refused to engage in meaningful dialogue. Last year in a case before the Gas Commission we asked them to require a single stakeholder meeting about non-pipeline alternatives that could achieve those goals rather than $8 billion on fossil fuel infrastructure. They said no, PGW didn't want to do it and the Gas Commission declined to mandate that. So I think we really need legislation that changes this framework for PGW. (Applause.)
That's my two minutes. I will leave it there. Thank you very much.
I do want to say thank you to all of the people who stayed for public comment and listened to the entire hearing. You truly care deeply about this issue and about our city. Vice-Chair, do you have any final remarks?
Well, let's do this because I can't do it that way, how about you come up, say your name for the record, ask your question and let us answer your question on the record. (Witness approached Witness table.)
My question is that I am both a member of the Sierra Club, the Program Manager for Philadelphia Climate Works and the Sierra Club of Pennsylvania is also a proud member of Here For Climate Justice Coalition, which stands for Housing, Equity Repair and Electrification for Climate Justice. A number of the (inaudible) that already spoke today are also part of that coalition. And as a member of HERE 4 Climate Justice, I want to echo what so many others have said around the need to allocate $5 billion in the budget for the Built to Last program. This program, as many have already named, would allow for more long-term residents to stay in their homes while also addressing energy efficiency and expensive public utility bills for low-income residents. Mr. Thomas, one of the things that you were asking early on, Councilman Thomas, was for examples of what people are doing in other places that this city should be considering. When we put together our testimony, we put together a bunch of examples and links to those examples as well as some things that we think that the City should be doing. Some --
What you can do is you can submit your testimony for the record.
We will collect all that information and we'll consider it. And what I also suggest is the next time we have this hearing, that we include you and your organization in the --
Yeah. I would just say my question was we weren't entirely clear about how to submit testimony, and some of the things included a bunch of links. So we would love to have the Councilmembers get it if there was any way to do it.
So we'll do -- my Chief Clerk is behind me for this hearing --
-- Dave Maynard. You can have a conversation with him when we adjourn the hearing to be able to give us the testimony for today's conversation. But I mean, clearly you've been here the whole time. You can tell by the energy of the Councilmembers as well as some of advocates that are here today that this is probably going to be a series of conversations, right.
We are serious. I got a whole list of people that we're going to invite the next time we do this, so PGW is clearly at the top of that list. PECO, Schools -- I don't know where I put it. I don't want to start naming and miss --
-- people. But based on today's testimony, the Navy Yard, we're going to have the School District. We're going to have a list of people that we invite to be a part of this conversation as we move forward, and we need to do it in phases because we have these subsectors of government. We're going to have these organizations and community advocates. And clearly, based on today's conversation it's a huge appetite for it. So I can assure you that this is just the beginning. We're going to continue to push this issue to the Legislative Oversight Committee, both myself as the Chair as well as the Vice-Chair. We have a huge appetite to really try to put a dent in this problem, and we want you all to be a part of the conversation because you're the advocate. So get us the information --
Awesome. Deeply, deeply appreciate you and that appetite. I think all of us are here because we have that appetite also.
Let me say thank you to the Council staff as well too. This is a much longer hearing than what we anticipated, so thank you, Lopez, to the entire team, Sergeant-At-Arms, our Clerk. Everybody involved, thank you all. I know this was a much longer hearing than we were supposed to have. We definitely appreciate your patience and your commitment and service to the City of Philadelphia. There being no further questions from members of the Committee or no witnesses to testify, I will ask if there is anyone present whose name I haven't called would you speak up now? (No response.)
Hearing none, I want to say thank you to all the panels of witnesses for their participation today. Of course, we value your opinions. And this concludes the business of the Committee. We are now in recess to the call of the Chair. And I can assure you this conversation will continue. Thank you everybody. And thank you, Vice-Chair Landau. And congratulations on your first hearing.
Thank you. (Committee on Legislative Oversight concluded at 2:41 p.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence noted are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me in the foregoing matter, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. __________________________________ TANEHA CARROLL