SHIVER FOR YOUR LUXURY BELIEFS.

New Orleans and Pensacola are among the cities that have recorded more snowfall this winter than DeKalb or Rockford.  Often the snow comes in before the polar highs, but all winter the polar high has been so positioned as to move the snow bands to the south.  Thus Indianapolis and St. Louis got the Christmastime panhandle hook storms, and that snow cover well might have enabled the polar high to nudge the next set of snow bands along the Gulf (of Mexico, or of America?) Coast.

Meanwhile, in Naperville, the citizens are doing their citizenly thing by directing the city power utility to boycott coal-fired suppliers.  "The Say No To Coal consortium wants to pack seats at the Naperville City Council meeting Tuesday night to raise awareness that a big decision looms over the city:  whether now’s the time for a contract extension with its current electricity provider, the coal-heavy Illinois Municipal Electric Agency (IMEA)."

By way of background, Naperville own the electric distribution assets such as substations and wiring, and they procure power from the lowest bidder.  They do not act as a system operator buying power from the cheapest available supplier by the hour or by the day.

Naperville, unlike most other municipalities in Illinois, provides electricity to taxpayers as a local service, rather than residents relying on an investor-owned utility such as Ameren or ComEd to keep their lights on. But doing so takes a lot of resources and industry expertise that the city doesn’t have in-house. So instead, it purchases energy from IMEA, an organization that offers an already assembled power supply to members at a wholesale price.

City staff have stated that in the time they’ve worked with IMEA, the agency has provided stable energy pricing to Naperville and performed utility work the city wouldn’t have been able to tackle on its own. The drawback is that the bulk of IMEA’s energy portfolio comes from pollution-producing coal.

Sure sounds like the Agency is doing what a proper system operator should do, sourcing base and peak power supply prudently, for those other municipalities in Illinois that also run the local distribution assets.  (No, I'm not going to run over to the university library to obtain a count.  Being retired means knowing where to look, but no longer obligated to look.)

The contract between the Agency is not due for an immediate renewal, but there are elections upcoming for city council (in Illinois, the local elections are on a different calendar than the state and national elections) and what good are luxury beliefs if you can't signal your virtue?

Consortium members and supporters will be speaking at the meeting to voice their concerns with the potential extension, organizers say. As part of the effort, organizers have invited the broader Naperville community — residents, organizations and businesses included — to attend in solidarity.

“I would love to see 200 people show up,” said Fernando Arriola, chair of community relations for the Naperville Environmental and Sustainability Task Force (NEST), one of the several organizations that are part of the consortium. “I think we just want to show the mayor and the city council … that there’s a passionate group of people from all around Naperville that this is important to.”

Alongside NEST, which is an official Naperville advisory body, other consortium members include the League of Women Voters of Naperville, First Congregational UCC Naperville, Accelerate Climate Solutions and Green Scene North Central College.

"Solidarity."  Tell me Naperville Sun reporter Tess Kenny didn't just put her byline on a press release without telling me she didn't put her byline on a press release.  The usual suspects got their name-checks, and the timing of the gathering is no accident, dear reader.

Tuesday’s meeting also comes a day after President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office.

“The timing of this Say No To Coal action is the day after the inauguration of a president, who has called climate change a hoax and championed policies that favor continued extraction and burning of fossil fuels,” said Cathy Clarkin, co-founder and executive director of Accelerate Climate Solutions.

“By taking this action on the heels of the inauguration,” she said, “we acknowledge that we still have the power to address the climate crisis, reduce carbon emissions and create a clean energy future. The people who will be showing up on Jan. 21 are ready to work with the city of Naperville to decide what kind of future we want to build together.”

The meeting did take place, and the true believers showed up.

Where Naperville gets its electricity from isn’t just a utility decision, Naperville District 203 teacher John Klein-Collins told the Naperville City Council Tuesday night. It signals the city’s values, he said.

“(Do we value) our own needs over the needs of others?” he said. “Convenience over conscience? Or will we demonstrate integrity and take steps towards a more sustainable and equitable energy future?”

Despite the bitter cold, the Naperville City Council chambers were packed with community members like Klein-Collins imploring elected officials to chart a greener path forward for the city. The pleas were in response to the council grappling with the issue of whether now’s the time for a contract extension with its current electricity provider, the coal-heavy Illinois Muncipal Electric Agency (IMEA).

Teachers, students — from middle school to college — members of the Naperville Environment and Sustainability Task Force, religious leaders and local residents turned out to speak. Many wore red and held signs that read, “Say No To Coal.”

All the usual worship-words, complete with the usual calls for sacrifice that sound a lot better in the abstract than they will when the solar panels are snowed in, the wind isn't blowing, and those Chinese storage batteries are revealing their flaws.

Councilman Josh McBroom said, “It’s important to you guys so that means it’s important to us.” He added that if there was a way to ensure Naperville could continue to have reliable and affordable electricity “all on renewables and all on clean energy, I think you would have a unanimous vote up here,” noting that he really wants “to believe that’s possible.”

Wanting to believe is not the same thing as knowing that you can.