Cleveland and Akron will spread the word about installing home solar panels this summer.
That was the headline from a visit last week by Gina McCarthy, a former U.S Environmental Protection Agency administrator and President Joe Biden’s former climate advisor. McCarthy now leads America Is All In, which describes itself as “the most expansive coalition of leaders ever assembled in support of climate action in the United States.”
The goal of the summertime effort is to make people in Cleveland and Akron aware of the solar panel tax credits available through the Inflation Reduction Act. Staff from the two cities will be doing the work alongside the nonprofits Solar United Neighbors and Power a Clean Future Ohio, according to a news release.
On Wednesday, McCarthy hosted a panel discussion at the Cleveland Foundation about local climate efforts. Her panelists were Mayor Justin Bibb, Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne, Akron Mayor Shammas Malik and Michael Jeans, the CEO of Growth Opportunities Partners.
A Massachusetts native, McCarthy dished out Boston-accented praise to Bibb, whom she called a “friggin’ rock star.”
Rock star or not, Bibb has some legal amp cords to untangle back at City Hall. As a candidate, he pledged to get Cleveland Public Power out of long-term contracts to buy electricity from sources including an Illinois coal plant.
It doesn’t appear that the city has found a way out yet. Bibb told Signal Cleveland that City Hall is talking with activists, lawyers and CPP leaders about revisiting the contract.
“It’s a very complicated, nuanced, legal kind of predicament that we’re in,” he said, “but modernizing the grid and getting a contract that’s responsible but competitive and fair for CPP customers is an utmost priority for me as mayor.”
