Originally published on RMI.org.
By Michael Donatti, Erifili Draklellis, Ana Sophia Mifsud, & Rushad Nanavatty
Local governments are making progress on protecting their people and environment. State politicians, sponsored by the fossil-fuel and utility industries, are taking that ability away from them.
A new insight brief from RMI examines state pre-emption of local clean energy and electrification policies, looking at which communities are harmed by these laws, the messaging that is being used to promote them, and who is behind these efforts. It also looks at the conflict between existing state law in “home rule” states and state pre-emption and documents this trend as a national strategy by utility and fossil-fuel energy interests.
This insight brief can help city staff and local clean energy and electrification advocates to better understand and combat state pre-emption policies. In particular, it can help to inform both messaging and legal strategies to resist pre-emption.
