— Nick Kukulan, Chair of the Stewardship, Finance, and Administration Ministry
The FCCB Council voted on Tues., Sept. 17, 2024 to oppose Measure GG and to join with other nonprofit organizations, Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín, and a number of Berkeley City Council members to oppose the measure. Measure GG would assess a tax on natural gas consumption of all owners of buildings of more than 15k square feet. (Note that government buildings are exempt from the measure.) This tax would be an added cost on already accelerating PG&E gas bills that our church cannot afford.
As background, our church community expresses and takes action on our concerns about the environment in many ways. The Green Team leads and advocates for us. Church members have made a strong financial commitment to adding a solar array to the new Community Building through the Build. Gather. Grow. capital campaign. This will reduce our electric consumption for the entire campus. When the Durant side of the campus was remodeled for the East Bay School for Boys, 15 years ago, a new high-efficiency gas boiler was installed. The Stewardship, Finance, and Administration (SFA) Ministry is currently studying several ways that we can reduce our carbon footprint. We have paid for a consultant to evaluate the Sanctuary energy use and recommend a gas boiler replacement that is more energy efficient. A conversion to an electric source of heating for the Sanctuary would require PG&E to provide a higher electric service that would cost an estimated $400-500k, just for the service. Converting to heat pumps might cost a similar amount or more.
If you are a Berkeley voter, please study measure GG. Moe Wright, FCCB Treasurer, and I are happy to answer questions you may have about the position Council has adopted.