On Tuesday December 1, 2020, I spoke at a Philadelphia City Council hearing. My testimony below.

Hello, My name is Meenal Raval, a resident of the Mt Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia. I’m here today to speak on bill number 200654, about City procurement of electricity, gas and motor fuels.

Of course we need to keep the City humming along. This is also an opportune moment to consider the climate crisis, and the need to use less gas, gasoline and diesel — they’re all fossil fuels, and making it near impossible to breathe in the City. 

Both air quality and emissions reduction need to be included in the decision making process; not just the cost. 

I know of, and respect the work of the Office of Sustainability and the Philadelphia Energy Authority on energy conservation and efficiency across all the City departments. As they work to replace gas heating systems with electric systems, as they work to replace gasoline and diesel vehicles with electric vehicles, and as they invest in solar farms for more of our electricity needs, I  ask…  

Can our Procurement Commissioner show that we, as a city, will need to purchase less and less electricity, gas and motor fuel in the coming years? 

Also, I see that this bill authorizes gas procurement from vendors other than PGW. Since we, as a city, own PGW, my follow-on questions are… 

Shouldn’t we be purchasing from within? And shouldn’t we be working with PGW to transition away from gas and still retain and retrain the PGW workforce? 

My final question is… 

Why is this bill introduced in the Committee on Rules? The last time we needed to authorize the Procurement Commissioner, the bill started in the Committee on Transportation and Public Utilities. I’m referring to bill 180976 that passed May 22, 2019, referenced on today’s bill. 

That’s all…