Energy Resources Customer Services Oct 14 2026

Unknown: plug

Unknown: uh

Unknown: Thank you.

Unknown: Thank you.

Unknown: Thank you.

Unknown: Five seconds.

Unknown: Greg's here.

SPEAKER_10: Heidi's here.

SPEAKER_10: Okay.

Unknown: Good evening and welcome to the Energy Resources and Customer Services Committee and Special

SPEAKER_10: Board Meeting of October 14th.

SPEAKER_10: This meeting is being recorded and can be accessed on SMUD's website.

SPEAKER_10: Please remember to unmute your microphone when speaking in order that our virtual attendees

SPEAKER_10: may hear.

Unknown: The microphone will display a green indicator light when the mic is on.

SPEAKER_10: For members of the public attending in person that wish to speak at this meeting, please

SPEAKER_10: fill out a speaker's request form located on the table outside this room and hand it

SPEAKER_10: to security.

SPEAKER_10: Members of the public attending this meeting virtually that wish to provide verbal comments

SPEAKER_10: during the committee meeting may do so by using the raise hand feature in Zoom.

SPEAKER_10: At the time the public comment is called, technical support staff will enable the audio

SPEAKER_10: for you when your name is announced during the public comment period.

SPEAKER_10: You may also submit written comments by emailing them to public comment at SMUD.org.

SPEAKER_10: Written comments will not be read into the record but will be provided to the board electronically

SPEAKER_10: and placed into the record of the meeting if received within two hours after the meeting

SPEAKER_10: ends.

SPEAKER_10: Chief legal officer, please conduct the roll call.

Unknown: Dr. Sanborn?

SPEAKER_08: Here.

Unknown: Dr. Fishman?

SPEAKER_08: Here.

SPEAKER_08: Chair Buettomsen?

SPEAKER_08: Present.

SPEAKER_08: All committee members are present.

SPEAKER_08: Also present are directors.

SPEAKER_08: Rose Herber.

Unknown: Perth and present Tamaya.

Unknown: Okay.

Unknown: So I am going to read something but just because I saw a bunch of people in the lobby.

SPEAKER_10: Sometimes next door and social media is not correct.

SPEAKER_10: That's my own personal commentary.

SPEAKER_10: So I know there's lots of people inside and outside.

SPEAKER_10: I wanted to be clear as to what is on the agenda and not on the agenda.

SPEAKER_10: I know many people have reached out to the board, have posted that they think that we're

SPEAKER_10: discussing data centers this evening.

SPEAKER_10: It is not.

SPEAKER_10: It's not an item that we can engage on.

SPEAKER_10: It's not on our agenda.

SPEAKER_10: We always allow public comments.

SPEAKER_10: You're welcome to wait until the very end and comment as you wish.

SPEAKER_10: But in terms of discussing anything tonight, data centers are not on the docket.

Unknown: I also wanted to clear up.

SPEAKER_10: I think some people are not aware.

SPEAKER_10: We do have some information on our website that might be very helpful for people that

SPEAKER_10: are not aware about our current data centers.

SPEAKER_10: So I wanted to take this time to just briefly discuss SMUD's approach to large loads in

SPEAKER_10: general so that the public here and those might be listening.

SPEAKER_10: Data centers have been in our service territory for over two decades.

SPEAKER_10: There are about 16 data centers in our service area today.

SPEAKER_10: And they support vital services that our entire community relies on, including banking and

SPEAKER_10: health care.

SPEAKER_10: And just on a personal note, many of them are right by my house where I live.

SPEAKER_10: While most attention focuses on massive hyperscale data centers booming in other parts of the

SPEAKER_10: country, the Sacramento region is seeing a small number of data center inquiries and

SPEAKER_10: projects without the same massive scale or volume that's seen throughout the rest of

SPEAKER_10: the country, including Silicon Valley, Virginia or Texas.

SPEAKER_10: We at SMUD, we don't make land use decisions for the development of data centers or other

SPEAKER_10: large electrical load projects.

SPEAKER_10: These decisions are made by local jurisdictions through open and public review processes,

SPEAKER_10: including zoning, permitting and environmental review.

SPEAKER_10: Once a project is approved, we're obligated to provide service.

SPEAKER_10: We also have an obligation to our customers to keep rates affordable and the grid reliable

SPEAKER_10: and safe.

SPEAKER_10: That's why we provide technical expertise and consult very early on with potential large

SPEAKER_10: electrical load customers, typically before a project is even submitted.

SPEAKER_10: This early support and planning helps influence projects that maximize benefits for all customers.

SPEAKER_10: For example, if a large electrical load customer can shift their usage outside of peak hours,

SPEAKER_10: it minimizes the amount of energy we need to purchase during peak hours when the costs

SPEAKER_10: are highest.

SPEAKER_10: This keeps our rates low for all customers.

SPEAKER_10: There's a lot more information, including a fact sheet and FAQs on our website at SMUD.org

SPEAKER_10: forward slash large load projects.

SPEAKER_10: I also want you to be aware that we'll be discussing large load, which is of interest

SPEAKER_10: of people in discussing data centers on November 11th, so next month's meeting.

SPEAKER_10: The agenda and presentation will be posted a week prior to the meeting, so you can review

SPEAKER_10: those online.

SPEAKER_10: We'll discuss SMUD's principles for serving large loads.

SPEAKER_10: This includes reiterating SMUD's priorities and commitments, specifically our commitment

SPEAKER_10: to ensuring other customers don't pay for the costs to serve these new large loads,

SPEAKER_10: which includes and encompasses data centers.

SPEAKER_10: That's how we've always approached serving new large electrical load customers, and we

SPEAKER_10: will expand on that in November.

SPEAKER_10: So tonight, actually on the agenda, we have two agenda items.

SPEAKER_10: First we'll have a discussion about our IRP, our integrated resource plan, and that will

SPEAKER_10: officially kick off that process.

SPEAKER_10: It's a fairly long process, so tonight is the first of many.

SPEAKER_10: We'll discuss the purpose of them, our approach, and talk about the timeline and public outreach

SPEAKER_10: process.

SPEAKER_10: The other agenda item is our Jackson-Bulk substation project.

SPEAKER_10: Thank you all again for being here.

SPEAKER_10: If you're interested in hearing the discussion about large loads and data centers, I encourage

SPEAKER_10: you to come back on November 11th.

SPEAKER_10: So tonight, item number one on tonight's agenda to kick us off for our 26-27 integrated resource

SPEAKER_10: planning public process and provide our presentation, objectives, filing requirements, the history,

SPEAKER_10: the key focuses of the IRP, and our community outreach.

SPEAKER_10: Our presenter is Brian Smaughn.

SPEAKER_10: He's the director of resource planning and settlements.

Unknown: All right.

SPEAKER_14: Thank you, Chair Buie-Thompson.

SPEAKER_14: Good to see everyone here tonight.

SPEAKER_14: Tonight, I guess again, my name is Brian Smaughn.

SPEAKER_14: I'm the director of resource planning and settlements here at SMUD.

SPEAKER_14: Tonight, excited to be here to kick off the public process to develop our next integrated

SPEAKER_14: resource plan.

SPEAKER_14: Through this process, we wish to engage with our board very heavily throughout this process,

SPEAKER_14: but it's also very important to us to engage with the community.

SPEAKER_14: We have a very comprehensive community engagement plan that we'll talk about later in this process.

SPEAKER_14: So there's going to be a lot of time for us to really walk through the IRP, the assumptions,

SPEAKER_14: the details, the tradeoffs, explore, pass forward from here.

Unknown: And really at the end of this, we want to update our SD9 policy goals on the environmental

SPEAKER_14: side, right?

SPEAKER_14: It's also important to keep in mind as we kind of move ahead in this process to keep

SPEAKER_14: focus on some of our core tenants, right?

SPEAKER_14: Affordability is a big piece of what we do here as a community-owned and operated organization.

SPEAKER_14: Our low rates relative to our IOU neighbors saves about $1.5 billion left in the economy

SPEAKER_14: here, left in our customers' pockets maybe to spend on other things, right?

SPEAKER_14: And technologies, electrification, maybe electrify their vehicle, right?

SPEAKER_14: There's a lot of benefits to that affordability.

SPEAKER_14: Low rates also incentivize electrification as well, right?

SPEAKER_14: So more dollars in our customers' pockets to electrify, but also maintaining affordable

SPEAKER_14: rates is critical to decarbonizing the areas in our economy that provide so much in the

SPEAKER_14: way of poor air quality and also greenhouse gas emissions.

SPEAKER_14: On the reliability side, you know, that's absolutely critical as well as a utility here,

SPEAKER_14: electric utility.

SPEAKER_14: Anytime our customers flip that light switch, we want to be there for them, right?

SPEAKER_14: That's absolutely critical.

SPEAKER_14: Provides much in the way of really powering the region.

SPEAKER_14: Everything that goes on here in Sacramento starts with electricity, right?

SPEAKER_14: You think about the hospitals, the airports, grocery stores, right?

SPEAKER_14: Right here, SMUD, or the family in the morning that turns on the power for the morning, right?

SPEAKER_14: Starts that coffee.

SPEAKER_14: Really gets the day going.

SPEAKER_14: So reliability is another key pillar for us as part of this process.

SPEAKER_14: So we really need to make sure we maintain reliable service for our customers.

SPEAKER_14: That leaves sustainability, right?

SPEAKER_14: We do want to be sustainable.

SPEAKER_14: We have been environmental leaders in energy over the last many decades.

SPEAKER_14: And so we need to really take a look at our path going forward, seeing how we can balance

SPEAKER_14: these three key pillars, right, as part of the IRP.

Unknown: And again, we're just kicking off the public process tonight.

SPEAKER_14: It's really tonight's about kind of the what, the when, the why, the how of the IRP.

SPEAKER_14: So there's not much detail here, but we're talking about the process and really why we

SPEAKER_14: need to update the integrated resource plan.

SPEAKER_14: Our current IRP was adopted in 2021.

SPEAKER_14: That's our 2030 zero carbon plan, right?

SPEAKER_14: And today, as we've been discussing the last year, there's a lot of conditions that have

SPEAKER_14: changed with that IRP.

SPEAKER_14: Costs for one have increased so rapidly the last five or six years.

SPEAKER_14: Solar went up two to three times what it was in 2020.

SPEAKER_14: Wind has doubled.

SPEAKER_14: Geothermal costs have doubled as well.

SPEAKER_14: Storage two to three times what it cost in 2020.

SPEAKER_14: So there's a lot of challenges with that current IRP.

SPEAKER_14: Also mentioned the lack of new emerging clean technologies, right?

SPEAKER_14: Those technologies that needed to address the remaining 10 percent of our emissions.

SPEAKER_14: We thought about long duration energy storage.

SPEAKER_14: We thought about carbon capture, hydrogen fuel, right?

SPEAKER_14: Those are things that are not quite ready at scale at the price needed for us here to

SPEAKER_14: maintain affordable rates.

Unknown: And so we'll go through this process and really update the assumptions and really look at

SPEAKER_14: several paths forward.

SPEAKER_14: As I mentioned on the intro slide there, we will be engaging with the community.

SPEAKER_14: We have a very comprehensive outreach plan.

SPEAKER_14: Our corporate comms team has been working on that.

SPEAKER_14: We'll share some more about that later in the slide deck.

SPEAKER_14: We're also including industry in this process.

SPEAKER_14: We have the energy and environmental economics consultants, also known as E3, to help support

SPEAKER_14: this IRP development.

SPEAKER_14: They've been part of the last two IRP developments.

SPEAKER_14: And so they're very familiar with SMUD, our board, our desires, the community as well.

SPEAKER_14: And they're familiar with our system.

SPEAKER_14: And that helps a lot in this process.

SPEAKER_14: They'll also be part of discussions with the public as part of that community outreach

SPEAKER_14: process.

SPEAKER_14: We'll touch more on the actual what as part of that community outreach later in this deck.

SPEAKER_14: At the end of this process, as Chair Buie-Thompson mentioned, this is a pretty long process.

SPEAKER_14: We're shooting out to April to really end this process with a board adopted IRP.

SPEAKER_14: And at that time, we'll follow up with updating our Strategic Direction IX policy goals.

SPEAKER_14: That's a typical process.

SPEAKER_14: Align internal policy goals with the IRP that's adopted by the board.

SPEAKER_14: And the final act is really to file that IRP with the California Energy Commission,

SPEAKER_14: no later than September 2027.

SPEAKER_14: That kind of closes the cycle.

SPEAKER_14: I thought I'd share some historical perspective on planning forward.

SPEAKER_14: You know, SMUD has had a great history of planning forward.

SPEAKER_14: My colleague Joyce Hribar had sent me this 10-year look back in 1946 to 1956.

SPEAKER_14: Thanks, Joyce.

SPEAKER_14: This 10-year look back again summarized a lot of what happened between 1946 and 1956.

SPEAKER_14: But it also had some forward-looking nuggets in this report.

SPEAKER_14: At the time, SMUD's general manager was James E. McCaffrey.

SPEAKER_14: And that first 10-year period was a stretch of enormous growth in the region, presenting

SPEAKER_14: the growing need for more electricity, but also the need for forward-looking planning.

SPEAKER_14: Population locally was about 400,000.

SPEAKER_14: Our economy included large farming operations, food processing plants, railroad shops, government

SPEAKER_14: air-based installations, lumber retailers, and state government facilities, as well as

SPEAKER_14: the residences that employed those areas.

SPEAKER_14: In SMUD's first 10 years of operation, our customers tripled.

SPEAKER_14: Peak loads grew by 228 percent to about a whopping 220 megawatts.

SPEAKER_14: Today it's about 3,300 megawatts peak load.

SPEAKER_14: Energy demand grew by 175 percent.

SPEAKER_14: And seeing the need for more electricity back then, in 1952, we said, hey, we need something

SPEAKER_14: more, right?

SPEAKER_14: We plan the 40-year contract for the Central Valley project.

SPEAKER_14: That's a Bureau of Reclamation project, hydro project here in California.

SPEAKER_14: 290,000 kilowatt hours at about $4 a megawatt hour.

SPEAKER_14: So really great deal by today's standards.

SPEAKER_14: Also planners identified the need to expand our system to support growth in the region,

SPEAKER_14: constructing the North City substation in 1950, South City substation in 1953, the

SPEAKER_14: Alberta substation in 1954, and drawing lines between those substations and other existing

SPEAKER_14: subs really to support the delivery of energy and to support the growth in the region.

SPEAKER_14: And I'll note, you know, kind of the biggest, you know, example of just looking forward

SPEAKER_14: is the development of the UART.

Unknown: At that time, someone had the idea to look east, right, look into the Sierras to build

SPEAKER_14: the Upper American River project.

SPEAKER_14: In 1955, we issued an $85 million bond to fund the first phase of that very valuable

SPEAKER_14: project.

SPEAKER_14: Between four hydro plants, 206 megawatts, and in 1956, we received our federal permits

SPEAKER_14: to build that project.

Unknown: And in 1957, we broke ground on construction and the rest is history, right?

SPEAKER_14: It's probably the greatest asset we have in our portfolio today is the UART.

SPEAKER_14: Clean, low cost, and reliable.

Unknown: So that's kind of a fun look back in time.

SPEAKER_14: Most recently, our resource planning activities have been guided by SD9, right, our Strategic

SPEAKER_14: Direction 9.

SPEAKER_14: This directive has all of our major policy goals focused on energy supply but also electrification,

SPEAKER_14: right?

Unknown: In 2004, SD9 was established and we set many goals throughout the year and achieved many

SPEAKER_14: goals.

SPEAKER_14: In 2010, we're the first California utility to be 20% renewable.

SPEAKER_14: In 2008, we set a goal for 90% below 1990 level GHG by 2050.

Unknown: And while that was great, we said, hey, we need kind of a milestone marker in between

SPEAKER_14: those two points and we set a 2020 goal to get us on track to that 2050 target.

Unknown: 2018, we went through a public process to develop our net zero 2040 goal.

SPEAKER_14: A million metric tons in our energy supply in 2040 offset by electrification of a million

SPEAKER_14: metric tons again in 2040.

SPEAKER_14: Most recently, our board adopted our 2021 IRP and that was a zero carbon plan.

SPEAKER_14: And we knew at that time that plan was going to be challenging.

SPEAKER_14: We all shook our heads and said, yeah, it's going to be a moonshot goal, right?

SPEAKER_14: That's aspirational, but let's see what we can do to try to achieve it.

SPEAKER_14: And so since then, we've been on this path to try to achieve as much as we can within

SPEAKER_14: our guardrails.

SPEAKER_14: So the question now is, you know, where do we go from here?

SPEAKER_14: I think that's the natural question, right?

SPEAKER_14: With all the challenges and the plan today, you know, the idea is really to explore various

SPEAKER_14: paths going forward, given the kind of the realities that we're living in today, high

SPEAKER_14: cost, lacking new technology, but also focusing on the benefits of electrification in the

SPEAKER_14: region.

SPEAKER_14: And some folks may not be familiar with an integrated resource plan.

SPEAKER_14: So I thought this could be helpful.

SPEAKER_14: Just walking through what an IRP is.

Unknown: An IRP is a long-term utility planning study, typically looking 10 plus years ahead and

SPEAKER_14: evaluating paths to meet our customers' demand, right?

SPEAKER_14: We want to look at the demand of our customers, how is that growing over time, and what types

SPEAKER_14: of resources can we meet that demand with?

SPEAKER_14: Or perhaps maybe it's demand side programs with our customers.

SPEAKER_14: So looking at those things and then evaluating the tradeoffs between the paths.

SPEAKER_14: And really keeping into focus that reliability, affordability, and sustainability goal of

SPEAKER_14: the organization.

SPEAKER_14: Also good to point out that these plans have a limited shelf life, right?

SPEAKER_14: Things can change pretty rapidly as they have the last five years.

SPEAKER_14: We need to be prepared to adjust and kind of change our course periodically.

SPEAKER_14: These IRPs also help us from a strategic perspective.

SPEAKER_14: We use these IRPs to change our policy goals in SC9 as I previously mentioned.

SPEAKER_14: And last but not least here, an IRP helps us meet our statutory requirement with the

SPEAKER_14: California Energy Commission.

SPEAKER_14: We have to supply a compliant IRP per Senate Bill 350 once every five years.

SPEAKER_14: Our last filing of this ECP was in 2022 and our next filing date is no later than September

SPEAKER_14: 2027.

SPEAKER_14: And one last mention here is that IRP has to be board adopted through a public process,

SPEAKER_14: right?

SPEAKER_14: So that's very important to point out here.

SPEAKER_14: That's part of why we want to engage with the public, right?

SPEAKER_14: So that's what an IRP is.

SPEAKER_14: It's also good to know what an IRP is not.

SPEAKER_14: An IRP is not a definitive roadmap to achieve our goals.

SPEAKER_14: As I pointed out, assumptions can change and will change, right?

SPEAKER_14: And we need to be able to adjust to that and kind of chart our way as we deal with those

SPEAKER_14: realities.

Unknown: IRP is also not a substitute for ongoing organizational decisions nor is it a playbook for specific

SPEAKER_14: projects or programs.

SPEAKER_14: For example, the IRP is going to say we need so much wind, so much solar, so much geothermal.

SPEAKER_14: During implementation and execution, we'll go out and try to survey, you know, where's

SPEAKER_14: the best cost resource out there, lowest environmental impacts, meets our policy needs, and so on.

SPEAKER_14: So that's more of an implementation thing.

Unknown: An IRP also is not a guarantee of outcomes.

SPEAKER_14: And so we cannot perfectly predict the future, especially when we're looking 10 plus years

SPEAKER_14: down the road, right?

SPEAKER_14: This is kind of just opening the door to seeing what's before us as part of this IRP.

SPEAKER_14: Last but not least, an IRP is not a rate-making process.

SPEAKER_14: We're not here to set rates as part of this process.

SPEAKER_14: We're looking more long-term.

SPEAKER_14: We do have the rates process coming in mid-2027 that will address the rates for the year 2028

SPEAKER_14: and 2029.

Unknown: And as we go through this process, we'll evaluate and consider a number of key variables in

SPEAKER_14: the IRP.

SPEAKER_14: Load growth is certainly one, right?

SPEAKER_14: We need to understand how our loads may grow over time.

SPEAKER_14: There's a lot of policy around electrification.

SPEAKER_14: So how does that increase our load into the next decade?

SPEAKER_14: And we'll be able to look out past 2030, right?

SPEAKER_14: There's a lot of expected load growth as policy increases on the electrification front.

SPEAKER_14: So understanding how those things will increase our load will be extremely important.

SPEAKER_14: We'll be able to evaluate what types of resources might help meet that demand, right, into the

SPEAKER_14: next decade here.

SPEAKER_14: At what prices, at what costs, at what volumes, right?

SPEAKER_14: We'll have to take a best guess at what might be available.

SPEAKER_14: On the emerging technology front, what can we reasonably expect from new technology?

SPEAKER_14: What's available when, just as we did in the previous IRP?

Unknown: We'll also have to consider local air quality contributors as well as greenhouse gas emissions,

SPEAKER_14: right?

SPEAKER_14: We want to understand the economy-wide picture.

SPEAKER_14: I think that's going to be important as part of this.

Unknown: We also want to think about our thermal generation and how that fits within the transition to

SPEAKER_14: affordable and reliable transition, right?

SPEAKER_14: We heard from the California Energy Commission last month.

SPEAKER_14: They talked about the need to maintain thermals during the transition, right?

SPEAKER_14: That seems to be the best way to maintain affordable rates and reliable power while

SPEAKER_14: continuing to add clean energy technologies to the grid.

Unknown: We also have to consider state policy on decarbonization.

SPEAKER_14: We know the state has goals to be 90 percent clean energy by 2035, 95 by 2040, and 100

SPEAKER_14: by 2045.

SPEAKER_14: What does that path look like?

SPEAKER_14: How much faster can we potentially move in certain areas?

SPEAKER_14: We also need to understand how our customers will continue to adopt DERs at their homes

SPEAKER_14: and businesses and how things like load flex programs and other demand response programs

SPEAKER_14: can help reduce peak energy needs.

Unknown: Lastly here, affordability and community resiliency.

SPEAKER_14: What's the best path for our communities, right?

SPEAKER_14: That's really what we need to ask here as a community organization, balancing affordability,

SPEAKER_14: reliability, and sustainability.

SPEAKER_14: With that, I think some big questions we're really trying to answer here are what does

SPEAKER_14: our decarbonization path look like considering the challenges today, high cost, lacking

SPEAKER_14: new technology that completely decarbonize?

SPEAKER_14: How do we maintain reliable service and affordable power but still continuing to try to achieve

SPEAKER_14: our goals in decarbonization, right?

SPEAKER_14: We haven't left those goals out.

SPEAKER_14: We still want to try to decarbonize.

SPEAKER_14: We just need to see the paths to get there.

SPEAKER_14: What levers do we have to maybe minimize the cost to our customers and keep rates affordable?

SPEAKER_14: What major generation and grid investments are needed in the coming years?

SPEAKER_14: Is there something 10, 13 years down the road that we need to start thinking about?

SPEAKER_14: Is there a transmission need?

SPEAKER_14: Is there how much generation do we need to build to serve the future of the grid here?

SPEAKER_14: How do distributed energy resources fit in with that?

SPEAKER_14: We talked about that on the previous slide too.

SPEAKER_14: That's an important piece.

SPEAKER_14: Last but not least here is where should we focus our customers' dollars?

SPEAKER_14: Where do we get the most value for our customers as part of this work?

SPEAKER_14: We're at the tail end of the presentation here, focused on schedule, community outreach,

SPEAKER_14: and then we'll close out.

SPEAKER_14: The schedule here, as we promised back in April, we kicked off the IRP in the October

SPEAKER_14: timeframe.

SPEAKER_14: That's where we're at here today, October 14th.

SPEAKER_14: We'll follow up with about four subsequent committee board committee meetings to continue

SPEAKER_14: the discussion.

SPEAKER_14: We'll have a lot of information to share throughout this process.

SPEAKER_14: Meanwhile, between December and March, we'll be kicking off the community outreach and

SPEAKER_14: engagement plan.

SPEAKER_14: Really looking to get the breadth of feedback from our customer base here in Sacramento,

SPEAKER_14: our customers.

SPEAKER_14: We really want to make sure we're reaching out as wide as we can go to really get everyone's

SPEAKER_14: priorities in the IRP.

SPEAKER_14: In April, we'll ask the board to adopt an IRP at the end of the process and file that

SPEAKER_14: IRP with the energy commission no later than 2027.

Unknown: Meanwhile, we'll continue having discussions with the community.

SPEAKER_14: Just as we had with the zero carbon plan, we'll continue having virtual forums, community

SPEAKER_14: meetings and the like.

SPEAKER_14: Keep the discussions going as part of this even post IRP adoption.

SPEAKER_14: A little bit more on the community outreach and communications plan, again, focused between

SPEAKER_14: December and March.

SPEAKER_14: The goal is to inform the public about the key IRP topics, the scenarios, the trade-offs.

SPEAKER_14: Really try to inform and educate the community about the IRP and some of the most important

SPEAKER_14: things that are included.

SPEAKER_14: We also want to gather community input on the priorities.

SPEAKER_14: Again, we want to hear from all of our customers on this IRP.

SPEAKER_14: The goal last year is to really balance, get a balance of broad and highly targeted

SPEAKER_14: outreach to garner a wide range of inputs.

SPEAKER_14: To do that, we'll use large presentations such as virtual forums, but targeted presentations

SPEAKER_14: as well to the business community, the environmental community and other key nonprofit organizations.

Unknown: We'll also reach out to neighborhood associations in each ward.

SPEAKER_14: We have about 14 plus meetings planned in each ward as part of this.

SPEAKER_14: As well as targeted outreach to special populations such as young adults and social justice organizations.

SPEAKER_14: To do all that, we'll continue using a multi-pronged communications and outreach plan.

SPEAKER_14: Our communications team has gotten really good at this through rate processes, through

SPEAKER_14: past IRP processes and does a fantastic job at outreach here.

Unknown: Again, we'll focus on community engagement using web, digital and social media.

SPEAKER_14: There's an IRP website on smud.org today that's live.

SPEAKER_14: Gives our customers an opportunity to go out and stay informed, look at past presentations,

SPEAKER_14: look at the schedule forward to make sure they're part of the process here.

Unknown: We'll also be developing marketing and public relations material.

SPEAKER_14: We're prepared to communicate outward.

SPEAKER_14: Last but not least is communicating inwards, right?

SPEAKER_14: Making sure our internal community is also along for this journey.

SPEAKER_14: There's a lot of folks internally that don't really touch the IRP, so making sure they're

SPEAKER_14: informed is also key to the process here.

SPEAKER_14: That brings me to my final slide for tonight.

SPEAKER_14: I just want to highlight the next steps.

SPEAKER_14: December 9 is our next board meeting.

SPEAKER_14: It will be the policy committee meeting.

SPEAKER_14: That's the second IRP committee meeting to date.

SPEAKER_14: We'll review some of the foundational IRP elements, some ZEEC CP learnings and progress to date.

SPEAKER_14: We'll look at some of the scenarios that we wish to explore throughout this process.

Unknown: We'll also have more details about the community outreach timeline at that time.

SPEAKER_14: Following the December 9 meeting, we'll kick off the neighborhood association meetings

SPEAKER_14: as well as some of the other outreach that's going on.

SPEAKER_14: A lot of that material on December 9 will be probably revisited with those neighborhood

SPEAKER_14: associations, but we'll be able to have a dialogue, answer questions, gather feedback,

SPEAKER_14: that sort of thing.

SPEAKER_14: That's really the next steps here with IRP.

SPEAKER_14: My final slide, so I'd be happy to answer any questions that folks may have here.

Unknown: Thank you, Chair Buie Thompson.

SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you kind of laying out the decision-making process that the board will be going through

SPEAKER_00: and the fact that we will be getting public input to make decisions about our integrated resource plan.

SPEAKER_00: My only comment is December is a terrible month to go to neighborhood association meetings.

SPEAKER_00: Usually, they're either canceled because of the holidays or they've got a lot of other things to do.

SPEAKER_00: So I know it's just beginning then, but I just want to point out that it's very important that

SPEAKER_00: neighborhood association meetings that are well attended are the ones that we want to go to in December

SPEAKER_00: might be a difficult time just saying.

SPEAKER_14: Appreciate the feedback, Director Herber.

SPEAKER_14: I imagine if we need to reschedule, I think we would go ahead and do that and just make sure that we're staying in tune with these folks.

SPEAKER_14: I don't know if there's anything else to add here.

SPEAKER_14: Thank you.

Unknown: Good evening.

SPEAKER_05: My name is Crystal Richardson.

SPEAKER_05: I'm the interim director for community relations outreach and support.

SPEAKER_05: Thank you for that comment.

SPEAKER_05: I did just want to share, yes, we totally understand the challenges that may take place in December.

SPEAKER_05: December is just our starting point.

SPEAKER_05: What we've learned is some of our neighborhood association and groups only meet on a quarterly basis.

SPEAKER_05: So if we weren't able to, December might be our only opportunity to not have to ask them to hold a special meeting.

SPEAKER_05: We want to make sure that we're making this easy for our customers and communities.

SPEAKER_05: We're trying to push into meetings they may already have scheduled.

SPEAKER_05: So I don't anticipate we'll see a lot happening in December, but that really is our starting point.

SPEAKER_05: We'll be working with our organizations on what makes the best sets for them.

SPEAKER_05: Thank you.

Unknown: Go ahead.

SPEAKER_19: Brian, thank you.

SPEAKER_19: I know this is a very high level presentation at this point, and there's much more detail behind it.

SPEAKER_19: When I look at the multi-prong communication and outreach slide, there's a lot of ways that we're presenting information to the public.

SPEAKER_19: I don't see as much how we're listening to the public.

SPEAKER_19: And I know that in each of these meetings, it's a give and take.

SPEAKER_19: But I just want to make sure that we're also offering the public the opportunity to speak and that we're going to listen.

SPEAKER_19: So I just would want to put that out there.

SPEAKER_19: Back up, Crystal.

SPEAKER_19: Come on.

SPEAKER_05: Hello, Crystal Richardson again.

SPEAKER_05: I just wanted to share, yes.

SPEAKER_05: That is the most important part of this process for us.

SPEAKER_05: We're going to be developing consistent questions that we can ask of every group we meet with so that we're getting consistent feedback, as well as some of our larger meetings that you saw.

SPEAKER_05: We're going to be taking wide feedback, packaging every bit of feedback we get back, and bringing that to the board for your review, along with the IRP team so they can utilize that in their development.

SPEAKER_19: Thank you.

SPEAKER_19: The other thing that I would maybe ask at least that we consider is somehow working with the four agency partnership.

SPEAKER_19: So SACRT, SACOG, and the Air Quality Management District to include their input and bring them along on this as well.

SPEAKER_19: Whatever that looks like, if it's staff level, that's fine.

SPEAKER_19: But I think that's important as well.

SPEAKER_10: Heidi?

SPEAKER_04: So in the outreach, are we including, I'm assuming, our new environmental working group as part of this immediate feedback?

SPEAKER_04: Okay, good.

SPEAKER_04: And then the goals of the state and what we're required to do for the IRP are different than our goals, which were just in the paper yesterday talking about how hard it's going to be to hit zero carbon by 2030, because quite frankly, we've had $400 million of grants removed.

SPEAKER_04: We've had FAA say we can't build our windmills the way we wanted to.

SPEAKER_04: We just found that out.

SPEAKER_04: So it's getting, and we just approved last night, a million and a half dollars of increased spending because we have a 25% tariff on copper.

SPEAKER_04: So I mean, these costs are having a huge impact in our ability to do what we hope to do.

SPEAKER_04: And I just want to make it clear to everybody, we are not stopping trying.

SPEAKER_04: When we said we were going to do a moonshot, we said if we miss, we're still going to land amongst the stars, but we're going to give it everything we've got.

SPEAKER_04: But we've hit a lot of headwinds.

SPEAKER_04: And I'm really excited about this, and I hope that we also maybe set up something where the public can see the questions that have been asked and then answered, and so everybody can see everything, and they may not ask the same question over and over again.

SPEAKER_04: Maybe if they also have a way to request that we come to them.

SPEAKER_04: So it may not be just some people on our list, but there's always new groups popping up.

SPEAKER_04: So that's just another suggestion.

SPEAKER_04: Thanks again.

SPEAKER_04: I'm really excited to get into this.

Unknown: Great.

SPEAKER_14: Thanks, Director Samborn.

SPEAKER_14: Good ideas.

Unknown: Brandon, Rob?

SPEAKER_10: Dave's got his mic on.

SPEAKER_18: All right.

SPEAKER_18: So, yeah, thank you very much, Brian.

SPEAKER_18: Amongst the groups that I'd like us to particularly seek out would be some of the environmental justice advocacy groups.

SPEAKER_18: I think that they have an important perspective.

SPEAKER_18: So, you know, if you need me to point you in some directions, I think that would be really important.

SPEAKER_18: So, thanks.

Unknown: Do we have some public comment?

SPEAKER_17: I'll say a few things.

SPEAKER_17: I don't necessarily have it all spelled out.

SPEAKER_17: I'll say this.

SPEAKER_17: Nothing has been set by this board in terms of our integrated resource planner 2030 targets, despite what's been in the media.

SPEAKER_17: Part of that, and we've been saying this for at least six months now, the IRP process is going to help guide us and really help us be data driven and really be strategic with every dollar that we're spending.

SPEAKER_17: We all see the headwinds.

SPEAKER_17: We understand today's politics.

SPEAKER_17: And we're going to have to be very careful about how we align our policy goals.

SPEAKER_17: For me, my commitment to clean energy remains the same, but I have to live in the political reality where one-fifth of our customers are on our low income rate, and we have somewhere between $20 million and $40 million of people behind at any given time.

SPEAKER_17: So, we do have to be sensitive about that and balance that, and that's one of the hard parts about being elected official that we'll get there.

SPEAKER_17: I have some technical questions, and I think that the analysis is going to help with that.

SPEAKER_17: We know we probably have sodium ion batteries coming forth en masse at a considerably lower cost, right?

SPEAKER_17: Like one-quarter of the cost of battery technology today.

SPEAKER_17: One of the things I'll be curious to learn about as we look at the analysis, and E3 is a consultant, and quite honestly, I think they're amongst the best, if not the best, doing this work in the business.

SPEAKER_17: But what are those saturations, right?

SPEAKER_17: If you can build, you know, we're doing mostly four and eight hour battery stay, but if you get up to 12 and 24 hours, what does that look like?

SPEAKER_17: And I've talked about this in our previous 2030 updates.

SPEAKER_17: How did we then deal with the exceptional events where we have fog for three weeks?

SPEAKER_17: Do we do a different type of accounting, but do we say, okay, we're at extremely high carbon reduction levels, but we know once every 20 years, we're going to have some weird weather pattern that we need to deal with and the lights have to stay on.

SPEAKER_17: And so I'll be curious to have to look at this analysis so we can start to get a feel for what the real policy will look like and how we can move forward and how we can do the most possible, given the reality.

SPEAKER_17: My question, Brian, is when do we expect to see some initial data and results that you would share potentially with the board, and then when would that be presented?

SPEAKER_17: Is that that December or February timeframe?

Unknown: Good question, Director Rose.

SPEAKER_14: That'll be the February timeframe.

Unknown: Okay.

SPEAKER_14: Yeah, that's when we'll start sharing some of the scenarios analysis.

SPEAKER_14: In December, we'll give you a preview of the scenarios we want to evaluate, and then in February, we'll come back with the analysis.

SPEAKER_14: Okay.

SPEAKER_17: Because when we went through the 2018 IRP, we spent about nine months on it, and I would question if we get something in mid-February, if we'll be prepared to make any kind of a decision by mid-April board meeting.

SPEAKER_17: Just in reality, I would expect us to have lots of questions, and I know we're committed to the community input as well, and they are definitely highly technical experts in the community that are going to want to and will be happy to accept their feedback on what input should be put in that analysis.

SPEAKER_17: So just FYI, I think the timeframe might need to go out a little bit longer in reality, and we'll say that right up front.

Unknown: And then the only one of the other things I did jot it down is I'm very curious how when we sort of get to the end of this, how are we going to stack up against CPUC, the Public Utilities Commission, and their procurement process and their procurement orders.

SPEAKER_17: I know there's literally tens of thousands of different types of resources that the investor and utilities have been ordered to procure, so I will definitely be curious to keep an eye on how we're comparing to the other utilities in the state as we move forward with that.

SPEAKER_17: And I think my comments I said even back in last month, I suppose, thinking about the gigawatt hours, we've made a lot of progress. We've purchased an enormous amount of renewables.

SPEAKER_17: But really looking at that hour by hour, the 8760, is what really matters and what gigawatts do we have for which hours, and quite honestly, what are their carbon intensity?

SPEAKER_17: I'm hoping that the analysis will really get into that level of detail, probably get into 15 minutes or less intervals.

SPEAKER_17: But I think it will give us a much better idea, where do we really stand in terms of carbon reduction? Where are the times of date challenges and time of year challenges that we really have to deal with?

SPEAKER_17: And the Energy Commission speaker who was here, I guess last month, that's when I had to walk here, in my office, I think that work is also, which is mostly by E3, has given us good guideposts as well about where we probably need to be.

SPEAKER_17: Not only to meet just our own goals, which are aggressive, but the state also continues to have aggressive goals that we will continue to have to meet.

SPEAKER_17: And quite honestly, everything that we purchase or are committed to purchase is still helping us meet those state goals.

SPEAKER_17: I think at this point, pretty much, but we would say no regrets purchases. We would need to buy this stuff anyway to meet the state's mandates in the long run as well.

SPEAKER_17: That's a lot of me talking. I look forward to hearing everybody's comments. Thank you.

SPEAKER_17: Second bite at the apple here. So what I'm particularly interested in is one, that we get the information about the different scenarios and how they balance the affordability, reliability, and our continuing desire to move towards zero carbon.

SPEAKER_18: You know, as quickly as we can with those other constraints in mind. And those are going to be some difficult decisions I anticipate.

SPEAKER_18: So not just that information for us, but I really want the community to have an opportunity to at least have access to those so that when they're sharing their opinions with us, they're better informed as to what the kinds of trade-offs are.

SPEAKER_18: I'm interested in seeing what various members of the community have to say about those trade-offs.

SPEAKER_18: And I think some people are going to be focused on affordability and some people are going to be focused on our zero carbon.

SPEAKER_18: I want to make sure that there's an understanding or at least available information so that people can see that there's some significant trade-offs unless somebody waves a magic wand and we don't have to make any trade-offs.

SPEAKER_18: So hopefully we'll have a very robust body of information being shared with the public in January through March timeframe.

SPEAKER_18: And I also agree with Director Rose that it seems, you know, I understand that the April adoption is, to me it seems like a goal, but it seems kind of rushed given that we need to get that information out there and have a discussion amongst ourselves and also with staff,

SPEAKER_18: but also hearing informed opinions from the public.

SPEAKER_18: So anyway, that's – and I'll end with saying that I still am very committed to moving as rapidly as we can to the 2030 carbon plan,

SPEAKER_18: but I represent an area where it really does make a difference if your bill goes up $5 or $10. So I want to keep that in mind as well. So thank you.

Unknown: Brian, President DeBain raises a good point. Why April for the adoption when it's not due to the CEC until September?

SPEAKER_19: Yeah, I guess one thing we considered was the rate process that kicks off in June, I believe, June or July. So providing some separation between those two processes. You know, both the processes are pretty heavy with public outreach and discussions with you all.

SPEAKER_14: So that was kind of the consideration here with the schedule, major consideration.

SPEAKER_19: And that's a tough reason for me. Thank you.

SPEAKER_19: Well, you have to complete the IRP to know what possible risks.

SPEAKER_10: Yes.

Unknown: Any other comments?

SPEAKER_10: I did want to kind of reiterate what I've heard from the board and what we talked about during the pre-brief is that we need to start communicating costs. So when we say $100 million, when we say $10 million, I'll just reiterate for the public.

Unknown: $10 million is half a percent. $20 million is a percentage. And these projects are hundreds of millions of dollars. We also have set a constraint which does not mean that we can't overturn it, but we have a policy that we have rate increases at the cost of living, essentially inflation.

SPEAKER_10: So I just want to remind the public of that. That doesn't mean that we as a board can't say we're going to increase rates anyways, but there is a process to that.

SPEAKER_10: So I just, as we discuss large load in November, be it data center or some other manufacturing, there's only a few levers. So I would like for us to continually remind people that we don't have a lot of levers.

SPEAKER_10: So that's grants, loans, large load, and rates. Operational efficiency has been done. Thank you, SMUD staff, by the way.

SPEAKER_10: So I think that throughout this process, we just need to remind people that we can't just put it on the backs of ratepayers, that we have very limited options should we continue on this path of not, obviously, we have to meet our mandates.

SPEAKER_10: But if we go above that, there is a cost. So either we generate it with people paying us more or we increase rates. There's not a lot of options.

SPEAKER_10: And I think that's something when speaking to the public, they don't quite always grasp that any new project, unless grants or somebody else pays for it, i.e. large load, there's very few options left, and one is rates.

SPEAKER_10: So I think we just need to keep reminding people in any of our communication what those options are, because it seems that it sometimes does not materialize when people realize it's a pretty straight math equation when it comes to rate increases.

Unknown: Yeah, that's great, great comments, Chair Buie-Thompson. That's correct. As we go through the scenarios analysis, we'll be able to share the potential rate impact. Again, this isn't the rate process, but we'll be able to show average system rates, the deltas between the scenarios we're looking at and just how much more some of these more aggressive cases may be.

SPEAKER_14: And you're right, there are only so many ways we can fund revenue requirement increases, right? So we'll have to be very intentional and real about out looking at those future costs, right? Thank you.

Unknown: Let's see, so that was item number one, thank you. So we do have speakers for item number one. So let's see. So we have three, and I'll call them all so they know to queue just in case they might be outside. So first is Herman. I can't read your last handwriting. Can you say it?

SPEAKER_10: It would be first. David Wright and Christina Alvarez are all here to speak on item number one. So whoever is in the area first, they're probably just in the other room. So we will wait a second. But any of the three for item number one, whoever gets to.

SPEAKER_10: Oh, we can do those. Okay, so we have people online. Or actually, Herman, okay, you're here. We'll take you first for item number one. And you have three minutes.

SPEAKER_10: Thank you, members of the committee. My name is Herman Baraona. All the H's are silent. It's a promise I made to my father. So I'm here to represent the Sacramento Environmental Justice Coalition. We're a network of faith-based institutions, nonprofits, and community organizations that are very interested in figuring out how we get included in these very important conversations like the IRB.

Unknown: We see a lot of contradictions in the way that this is set up. We have plenty of faith-based institutions that would love to hear from you, mainly in Tagalog, Spanish, and other languages. And if we can set for accommodations for that, that would be important.

SPEAKER_12: Just south Sacramento alone, we have six churches that are very interested in hearing about your plan to keep rates low, and of course, to decarbonize by 2030. Very interesting tension. But we are also concerned that the draw from large loads, like from data centers, not only are going to cost you a lot of resources,

SPEAKER_12: but we know that in south Sacramento and north Sacramento, highly impacted communities will see the terrible effects of these major companies. We're worried about the situation in the north highlands, and the drought that will take us. They expand that hyper data center there, and everything else that is being discussed potentially for the Valley.

SPEAKER_12: Our folks in Placer County are also asking us the same questions. What are we going to do about these conditions? So I think the IRB could be a very good tool to get everybody involved in a very meaningful way, not just your usual organizations, but groups that are deeply concerned about the affordability crisis in this whole county.

SPEAKER_12: You have a two point something billion dollar budget. We understand you have to figure that out responsibly. But we also know that a lot of your funding goes to organizations that don't need it. You're essentially subsidizing businesses. So if we can figure that out also, everybody carries the cost. Hopefully it will benefit the rate payers even better. Thank you.

Unknown: Thank you. And then Mr. Wright, David.

Unknown: Good evening, Chair Blue Thompson and the committee and members of the board. I'm representing 350 Sacramento.

SPEAKER_13: We look forward to participating in the IRB public process. We definitely want to be involved very fully. And thank you for that.

SPEAKER_13: It is a disappointment to see what looks like a retreat from the zero carbon plan. I hear you saying that we are going to continue to try as much as we can to get there.

Unknown: But I'm just not feeling the energy like there was. I feel like the emergency part of the climate emergency has been forgotten or dropped back in people's awareness.

SPEAKER_13: I do want to encourage all of us, I don't think the current headwinds are going to last. So we need to be ready to move forward when those headwinds are no longer hitting us.

SPEAKER_13: And I think along those lines, you have a lot of customers who are willing to help shoulder these loads. And maybe we're forgetting that. There's a lot of people who want to put in batteries.

SPEAKER_13: There are a lot of people who want to put in solar. Solar and batteries. That would be perfect for SMUD. Right? So a lot of people are driving electric cars. A lot of those electric cars will be able to be batteries for people.

SPEAKER_13: They won't have to buy a separate battery. And you'll be able to connect those to the grid. So there is a lot of potential.

SPEAKER_13: And let's not forget all of those new up and coming things. Maybe you can find a data center that will have such enormous batteries that it will not have to have generators.

Unknown: And then you could use to help share their battery capabilities when they didn't need them. Anyway, that's pie in the sky, maybe. But maybe it's possible. Thank you.

Unknown: And then we have Christina Alvarez.

Unknown: Hi. Good afternoon or evening.

Unknown: My name is Christina Alvarez, and I'm a community organizer here in Sacramento. I'm Del Paso Boulevard with the Semirando Semillas Day Labor Workers Center, as well as an ally with Third Act and SACIJC, Sacramento Environmental Justice Coalition.

Unknown: And we want to be included in the IRP process. When most workers and families are a paycheck away from homelessness, if there's a chance that anything will have any damage or effect on our air quality or water quality or increased just the urban heat effect, then we are asking to take more time or the necessary time to really look into that and to really listen to that.

SPEAKER_11: And to the people and community that will be directly impacted with the outcome and the development of that process. Thank you.

SPEAKER_10: I'll take the online people I wanted to line up the next three so that they know to come. Trevor, maybe...

Unknown: Gillette? Gillette Ma?

SPEAKER_10: So, Trevor, with Gillette Ma, possibly. Casey...

Unknown: Yeah, these are all... Oh, so should we... Oh, yeah, we still have one more item. Okay. So, was there anybody else in the overflow room for item number one? I forgot, because the rest are all public comment.

SPEAKER_10: Okay. Anybody else? Okay.

SPEAKER_10: Oh, so one person for agenda item one.

SPEAKER_10: Yes.

SPEAKER_08: Okay.

SPEAKER_08: It's 350 Sacramento.

Unknown: Hi. Yeah, my name is Rosie Yacovin. I'm a volunteer with 350 Sacramento.

SPEAKER_06: Looking forward to engaging on this process. Glad to hear the word electrification so many times in a presentation. And yeah, the words climate emergency.

SPEAKER_06: These were part of what brought us to the 2030 goal. And it's still a climate emergency. And that climate emergency is not just threatening, but actually impacting your biggest source of power.

SPEAKER_06: Right? It is actually currently impacting hydroelectric.

Unknown: And so, you know, it is something to think about when you're thinking about the future. We can't just think about 10 years.

Unknown: We're impacting your ability to generate power when we don't have a snowpack. Right? Okay.

SPEAKER_06: So, moving on, it was also great to learn that the about Senate Bill 350 and that we're having a board adopted public process, which was preempted by saying that we're backing off from 2030 publicly before engaging this process.

Unknown: I hope that 2030 is one of the scenarios, at least for comparison as we move forward.

Unknown: And then in terms of engagement, I heard environmental working group and the four whatevers with SACOG and RT, but every entity that has had to file a climate action plan. So that's Sacramento County, city of Sacramento, city of Elk Grove.

SPEAKER_06: They have all referenced how much GHGs, the city, county, etc, etc, are going to be saving with the 2030 plan. So whatever scenario gets adopted here, feels like they need to be engaged as well because it changes their capacity to meet their goals.

Unknown: Yeah, I think that's it. Thank you very much.

Unknown: Thanks. That was the only one online for item 1?

SPEAKER_10: Yes, that was the only one.

SPEAKER_06: Okay, great. So we are moving on to number 2, is to discuss adopting the California Environmental Quality Act CEQA Mitigated Negative Declaration for the Jackson Bulk Substation Project and adopting the Mitigation Monitoring Reporting Program and then Approve the Project.

SPEAKER_10: We have Emily Bikini. She is the Director of Safety, Environmental and Real Estate Services.

Unknown: Great. Thank you for that introduction, Chair Buie-Thompson. My name is Emily Bikini. I am the Director of Safety, Environmental and Real Estate Services.

Unknown: And I'm here tonight to ask you to discuss adopting the California Environmental Quality Act or CEQA Mitigated Negative Declaration for the Jackson Bulk Substation Project along with adopting the Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program and Approving the Project.

SPEAKER_02: So the Jackson Bulk Substation Project is a bulk substation. It's one of our large substation sites. It will be constructed on a 44-acre parcel in eastern Sacramento County, just southeast of the corner of Jackson and Excelsior Roads.

SPEAKER_02: The project also includes about 6 miles of new overhead line, either new or reconstructed overhead line.

SPEAKER_02: And then this project will be used to serve planned development that's proposed along the Jackson corridor. Sacramento County just approved a master plan for a community of 5,900 acres on that north side of Jackson.

SPEAKER_02: So that's what this substation will serve. We also have a soil storage site on this property that we will continue to use. That allows us to temporarily store soil so that we don't have to dispose of it in a landfill and then purchase it for future use.

SPEAKER_02: Anything that's not used for construction will be graded for drainage improvements. We expect the construction of the project will start sometime after 2030 and it will take about three years to construct.

Unknown: We did prepare an initial study, mitigated negative declaration for this project. That was the environmental review document that was prepared.

SPEAKER_02: There were potentially significant impacts on the six environmental resources listed on this slide. The impacts are all construction related.

Unknown: And so we were able to use or apply mitigation measures that would reduce those impacts to a less than significant level. These are our typical mitigation measures like pre-construction surveys,

Unknown: air quality measures like watering down disturbed soils, things that we typically do during our project construction.

Unknown: We followed our regular public review process with a draft initial study, mitigated NEGDEC. We have a 30-day public comment period. This document was published at the beginning of May.

SPEAKER_02: We have the document, the notices of the document posted in the Sacramento Bee and then also mailed to landowners within proximity of the project components.

SPEAKER_02: We have a hard copy of the ISM&D available at our customer service center and also at our East Campus Operations Center and the documents available online at smud.org.

Unknown: We had a virtual public meeting on May 18th and one member of the public attended. And then our final ISM&D was posted on our website on October 5th.

SPEAKER_02: During that public review process, we received five comment letters. The Central Valley Flood Protection Board and the Sacramento area sewer district both commented, but their comments didn't have any, did not address any environmental analysis that we had conducted.

SPEAKER_02: California Department of Fish and Wildlife and Defenders of Wildlife commented on the document. They provided comments on our biological section, our biological resources section.

Unknown: And while these comments didn't change the conclusions that were presented in the ISM&D, we did make some changes to our mitigation measures in the final ISM&D as a reflection of those comments.

SPEAKER_02: Could you be a little more specific about what their concerns were and how we mitigated them?

Unknown: Sure. So there is a Swainson Sock nest on the project site. And so some of their concern was around construction timing and what our strategy was going to be to avoid or minimize impacts on that nest.

SPEAKER_02: So we're helping make sure the Swainson Socks will live on?

SPEAKER_04: Yep. We've got a mitigation strategy in place that will address that.

Unknown: Wilton Rancheria also provided comments on both the biological resources section and the tribal cultural resources section.

Unknown: Again, their comments didn't change the conclusions that we made in the ISM&D, but we did make some changes to the mitigation measure and the sections in response to their comments.

Unknown: On to our tribal consultation process. Wilton Rancheria was the only tribe that requested consultation for this project.

SPEAKER_02: We met with them on multiple occasions and had regular communication with them over email. They were also able to participate in our pedestrian survey of the project site.

Unknown: They provided input on the tribal cultural resources section and the mitigation measure. They provided a lot of context around tribal activities in the area.

Unknown: And then we closed that consultation in late September, but we were not able to reach mutual agreement with them.

Unknown: Reaching mutual agreement is something that typically happens through a CEQA process, but there is also the option that that agreement won't be met.

SPEAKER_02: And the point of disagreement was around our mitigation measure specific to monitoring activities.

SPEAKER_02: So they requested full-time monitoring, and we only planned to have spot-check monitoring.

Unknown: We include mitigation measures for full-time monitoring when there are known tribal cultural resources within our project site or near our project site, or when there's pervasive evidence that those resources could occur.

Unknown: For this site, the information that Wilton Rancheria provided wasn't specific enough, wasn't site specific to...

Unknown: I'm sorry, wasn't site specific around finding those resources in our area.

Unknown: The information that they shared was that the project site was part of a 300-square-mile tribal cultural landscape.

Unknown: They had a tribal village about 10 miles away, and they used the Jackson corridor.

Unknown: That corridor had also been used by Native peoples moving from the valley up into the foothills.

SPEAKER_02: So just...

Unknown: So people understand the difference.

SPEAKER_10: I had asked actually to give the example of a previous project where they were able to pinpoint.

SPEAKER_10: So for the hearing viewing public, 300-square-miles is a quarter or a third of SMUD's territory, just so people understand.

SPEAKER_10: And that we did have full-time monitoring when they were able to be more specific, correct? Do you want to talk about that?

SPEAKER_02: That is absolutely correct.

SPEAKER_02: When we have a tribal consultation process and the tribes share that they have resources in or around that area, then we have full-time monitoring.

SPEAKER_02: When it's something as general as this, then we use spot-check monitoring.

Unknown: I do...

SPEAKER_04: What exactly do you mean by full-time monitoring? Is that somebody standing there while we're doing work?

SPEAKER_04: Yes. So full-time monitoring would be a tribal monitor onsite eight hours a day, five days a week during ground-disturbing activities.

SPEAKER_02: So it's over a period of about 18 months.

Unknown: And do we pay for that? Do they pay for that?

SPEAKER_04: We pay for that.

SPEAKER_04: So that's the only thing? Because, I mean, if they wanted to stand there, I mean, I wouldn't care. It's just that we're paying.

SPEAKER_04: Okay.

Unknown: We do have a process in place that addresses inadvertent discovery protocol.

SPEAKER_02: Because we do know that even though we may not see tribal culture resources on the surface, there's a potential that we find them when we start digging into the soil.

SPEAKER_02: That's true for anywhere in Sacramento County.

SPEAKER_02: To address that risk and to reduce that risk, we have a comprehensive program that includes mandatory training for all the construction crews...

Unknown: I'm sorry, excuse me, monitoring and coordinated response protocols that address that unanticipated discoveries in addition to the spot-check monitoring.

SPEAKER_02: So we're confident that if we're not paying them to be onsite full-time, our people, if they see something, they know what to look for and to stop and to call somebody in.

SPEAKER_04: Exactly.

SPEAKER_02: Okay.

SPEAKER_02: If something was found during construction, they would stop. They would set up a 100-foot buffer, and then we would call an archeologist and a tribal representative to come and inspect the site.

Unknown: Okay. Great.

SPEAKER_04: And then based off the results of that, we would respond according to our inadvertent discovery plan, which could say, okay, there are resources now. We'll increase the monitoring effort.

SPEAKER_02: Or here's how we'll protect this resource in perpetuity from future damage.

Unknown: I wanted to clarify, because during the pre-brief, you mentioned it, so it is a mandatory training for everybody onsite.

SPEAKER_10: And they're held to those requirements based on the training.

SPEAKER_10: So every person that works goes through this mandatory training and is required to report.

SPEAKER_10: We also have the spot-check in. Can you remind me what that spot-check frequency is?

SPEAKER_10: Sure. Spot-checking monitoring is two times a week for half a day.

Unknown: And that's Monday through Friday.

SPEAKER_10: Monday.

SPEAKER_10: They're only working Monday through Friday.

SPEAKER_10: So it's...

SPEAKER_10: It's a full day.

SPEAKER_10: Full day a week split over two days.

SPEAKER_10: Two days.

SPEAKER_10: And that's the paid tribal representative that will come for those two days per week.

Unknown: Absolutely.

SPEAKER_10: Okay. And then Brandon, did you... I think Brandon had a question... Or someone had a question over here.

SPEAKER_10: You're asking a question.

SPEAKER_10: Okay.

Unknown: I was just going to ask a little bit about spot monitoring, but I would assume there would be some strategy, right, when they're potentially grading the site, right?

SPEAKER_17: I would assume that's the highest probability that you would find something.

SPEAKER_17: But otherwise with a substation, right, you trench certain areas, but it's not like you're digging down deep at all times for a year and a half, right?

SPEAKER_17: Right. The year and a half timeline is for the civil construction portion where that earthwork is happening. So, exactly.

SPEAKER_17: So does it make more sense as opposed to saying on average that person is there, you know, twice a week for four hours, that they're there while it's being graded?

SPEAKER_17: For that period of... That week or two period of time, I would guess, I don't know the construction schedule offhand, but... Like, should this be more detailed than that, or is it more detailed?

Unknown: We expect earth moving activities to take place over that 18-month period. So they'll be grading and working in different areas throughout that full period.

SPEAKER_02: I don't have the specifics.

SPEAKER_02: So let me echo you've heard me say this many a time. Let's make sure we're being strategic and flexible and that we don't do what we always do, right?

SPEAKER_17: Because we see that over time here. The staff just does what they always does. It's like, hey, I know they're not going to be grading for a year and a half.

SPEAKER_17: Grading takes place quickly is the reality of it. And then there'll be more work, but let's at least be strategic about it and have some thought put into this as opposed to just doing what we always do.

SPEAKER_17: The other thing I want to say about the training materials is we will work with Wilton Ranchery to have those training materials prepared. So they'll be providing that input.

Unknown: Just to probably reiterate what Brandon was trying to say, I think the minimum would be twice a week, but there are ebbs and flows of peaks and valleys of construction.

SPEAKER_10: So I would highly suggest for those peak periods where you know there's going to be higher possibility that maybe you move for those periods more than the minimum of two days a week.

SPEAKER_10: This might help the tribes feel more comfortable because as Brandon stated, it's not hot and heavy for the 18 months, right?

SPEAKER_10: There's rain, there's weather, there's just a timeline because I did follow up. I was at the air show this weekend with several members of the tribe and just trying to understand.

SPEAKER_10: And they obviously would prefer full time, but it's very costly, especially over 18 months. But something of a happy medium when we know there's higher possibility.

SPEAKER_10: Again, I'm one person, Brandon's another one, would suggest that you look at possibly more monitoring during these windows where there might be a higher possibility.

SPEAKER_10: That may make them feel more comfortable. Granted, I know our training will be good, but these are people who do this consistently. This is what they do.

SPEAKER_10: I know when I'm trained something, I try to absorb as much as possible, but this is their job. So having experts on site more often might be helpful.

SPEAKER_10: It just seems the more we're talking about it, the main part is having them there when we're digging, right? I mean, what's the point of having them there for 18 months, even twice a week?

SPEAKER_04: The main thing is that they're there when the earth is moving. That's when we might find something, and that's only in these windows. So I don't even understand. Yeah. Okay. Well, I think we're all on the same page. Well, you have our feedback.

SPEAKER_04: Thank you. Thank you for that.

Unknown: Continue. Alright, so with that, I'd like to request that the board consider adopting our initial study mitigated negative declaration, adopt the mitigation monitoring and reporting program and approve the project.

Unknown: Is this for consent? Or are we, you should seek what's not. You should seek discussion. This is on discussion for tomorrow night's meeting.

Unknown: Okay.

SPEAKER_19: If we, I think you've heard that there's some concern about when the monitors are on site and spending those hours wisely. If we adopt and approve what you've got now, could you shift that timing within that framework, or do you need to rewrite this thing to include what we've been talking about?

Unknown: What you would be approving tonight would be the spot check monitoring, but staff would agree to go back and look closer at the construction schedule and identify those high risk or those areas of where that more extreme gravity.

SPEAKER_02: More activity. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02: And schedule monitors accordingly.

Unknown: So you have some flexibility within what we would be approving tomorrow night, assuming we do so, to take that direction and run with it?

Unknown: We can always do more than what's in the document.

SPEAKER_02: This is a minimum.

SPEAKER_02: Okay.

Unknown: Yes. Thank you.

SPEAKER_10: Thank you.

Unknown: Speakers on 2 online? I didn't get any cards for item number 2.

SPEAKER_10: I do not see any hands now.

SPEAKER_10: Okay. Okay. So we will have, we have public comment, and I didn't miss, because, sorry, I missed, there wasn't a check box. And so we will start public comment, but I will bring Erika Heramillo.

SPEAKER_10: Who was here to speak on 1, so I apologize.

SPEAKER_10: So you will speak first for public comment.

SPEAKER_10: This one right here.

Unknown: You don't have to touch the mic.

SPEAKER_10: Here, we'll pick you up.

SPEAKER_10: Thank you for coming back and circling back to me.

SPEAKER_09: So my name is Eric, and I was born and raised here in Sacramento County.

SPEAKER_09: I work for Sacramento County currently as a program planner.

SPEAKER_09: I'm doing housing and homelessness stuff.

Unknown: And one of the things about this item, one that you talked about with changing the plan for the 2030 goal, is that, although it's aspirational, setting goals like that actually gets us somewhere.

SPEAKER_09: And I will just say from my own personal lived experience as a program planner, I just recently did a strategic plan for our housing implementation programs and funding for Sacramento County and behavioral health.

Unknown: And had I not done that plan, I wouldn't know how to implement the programs, the goals that we're trying to succeed, the measures.

SPEAKER_09: If I had not actually put something down on paper, I would be walking in blindly.

Unknown: So I think retreating back.

Unknown: And I think the public is very aware that the goals are aspirational for a reason.

SPEAKER_09: There's no expectation that you actually reach that mark by that 2030 date.

SPEAKER_09: My other concern is about the projections with, I believe it was 228% increase in 10 years.

Unknown: You know, numbers are important, but I think for everyday citizens, how did you get there with that number?

SPEAKER_09: You know, are the methods to calculate that are large data centers that are potentially expected to come online in Sacramento County included in those numbers?

SPEAKER_09: I think it's important that the public understands how you got there because right now I think we're all really disappointed with the decision to retreat from that goal.

SPEAKER_09: It actually makes us feel like our board is insecure, might not be the right word, but has fears and is not secure with the decision that they made not that long ago that the public supports and supported and still supports.

Unknown: And also would like you guys to make sure that you include the community organizations that have come today, Sacramento Environmental Justice Coalition, 350 Sacramento, Third Act, Sacramento Area Congregations together and appreciate Dave Tamayo's recommendation to include those community organizations.

SPEAKER_09: I think you're missing all the actual residents that are experiencing these impacts and the potential increases beyond what's already increasing in our utility bills if you guys don't actually get on the ground with everyday residents that are not in neighborhood associations, that are not in the environmental forum, are not in your business advisory committees.

Unknown: So that's all.

SPEAKER_09: Thank you very much and appreciate your guys' time.

Unknown: Okay.

SPEAKER_10: So public comments.

SPEAKER_10: I will call Q people up in three so that they know.

SPEAKER_10: So Trevor Gitma, possibly, Casey Shuff, John Weber, and then Pat Ferris.

SPEAKER_10: So any of those people, any order that you queue up, whoever comes first can speak.

Unknown: I'll have John with first.

Unknown: He's on his way.

SPEAKER_03: Okay.

Unknown: John, you are happy to go.

Unknown: Good evening, Chair, board and committee members.

SPEAKER_01: I believe the board of directors are intelligent and thoughtful.

SPEAKER_01: I've had good experiences with all SMUD employees I have interacted with.

SPEAKER_01: Based on board member comments the last few months, it doesn't seem like the board is aware of what the employees are doing.

SPEAKER_01: We all know that SMUD has an obligation to provide electricity, but it doesn't have an obligation to submit a DOE grant for a data center.

SPEAKER_01: On March 31st, 2026 at 9.28 p.m. at night, an employee sent this email to a developer.

Unknown: Wanted to share that we have successfully submitted our Spark grant concept paper today.

SPEAKER_01: Your help and support were invaluable getting this across the finish line, and we're excited to see what's going to come next.

SPEAKER_01: Please note that I strategically removed references to the new substation and only hinted at onsite generation and battery storage.

SPEAKER_01: My strategy behind this adjustment is to give us needed time to develop those site-specific details more robustly with an eye towards including them in the full app.

SPEAKER_01: Next steps, SMUD team will start rallying the full application next week.

Unknown: On May 18th, 2026 at 6.29 in the evening, an employee sent this email to the developer.

Unknown: Okay, a grand total of what we're able to include in the grant is $122 million.

SPEAKER_01: We pick up points if we're greater than 50% match, so I calculated your match at 51%, $62 million.

SPEAKER_01: I redid your match letter template to reflect this.

SPEAKER_01: Attached is the grant-specific budget.

SPEAKER_01: Embedded in each line item is the projected cost, which, of course, foresees an increase for things like steel and labor rates in the coming years.

SPEAKER_01: Last but not least, my thanks for your flexibility and workability throughout this grant submission process.

SPEAKER_01: We're accomplishing in six weeks the type of application that would otherwise take six months.

Unknown: SMUD has an obligation to provide electricity.

SPEAKER_01: It also has an obligation to its existing rate payers shareholders.

SPEAKER_01: The best way to protect the existing customer is to create a separate tariff for new large load data centers that will ensure they pay up front for all transmission,

SPEAKER_01: distribution, and generation needed for their project.

SPEAKER_01: The creation of this new tariff needs to be totally transparent to the public and crafted with public input.

SPEAKER_01: Thank you.

SPEAKER_01: Thank you.

Unknown: As Trevor here, or Casey Chuff, and then Pat Ferris, if they could queue up, and then Jerry Brinsfield also, and Michelle Anama, if they could make their way.

Unknown: Do I just start talking?

Unknown: No.

Unknown: Okay.

Unknown: My name is Casey Chuff.

Unknown: I'm here today as an owner of this not-for-profit community-owned electric service.

SPEAKER_03: As an owner, my understanding is that this board's responsibility is to protect our interests and wellbeing.

SPEAKER_03: We are here collectively as the public tonight preemptively ahead of the November meeting regarding the large load data centers to show the community is actually here and cares about this topic.

SPEAKER_03: And we will obviously be back in November.

SPEAKER_03: In this case, large load data centers present many unknowns, yet they're pushed on us with little to no input.

SPEAKER_03: There's a data center proposed for Depot Park with an estimated load of 50 megahertz.

SPEAKER_03: This is located in City Council District 6, and I believe that is SMUD rep, Mr. Fishman.

SPEAKER_03: You're currently up for reelection.

SPEAKER_03: In a conversation I had with Dave Tamayo, my own board rep, about this data center, he said, no one lives around Depot Park, so noise won't be a problem.

SPEAKER_03: Well, it's my understanding that large load, you can hear up to 10 miles away.

Unknown: So I live within that 10 miles, and I'm pretty sure Dave does as well.

Unknown: Large load data centers, or this one, is being proposed by Link Logistics.

SPEAKER_03: And the company behind Link Logistics, of course, is Blackstone, a trillion-dollar company who deals in billions of dollars of real estate.

SPEAKER_03: They own 274,000 rental housing units, have hundreds of billions in total real estate assets.

Unknown: After acquiring Home Partners of America in 2021, they're taking on another private residential firm in 2024 for $3.5 billion.

SPEAKER_03: You get the point.

SPEAKER_03: There's a lot of money behind this, and a lot of money behind data centers.

Unknown: So ultimately, we don't know the long-term effects.

SPEAKER_03: They're being pushed on us.

SPEAKER_03: We don't know what will happen.

SPEAKER_03: We know that they use a lot of water.

SPEAKER_03: We know that they use a lot of chemicals.

SPEAKER_03: We know that they're primarily placed in black-brown poor neighborhoods, and those neighborhoods are already under stress.

SPEAKER_03: They're very noisy, and that frequency can impact human and animal health.

SPEAKER_03: They use most of the water indirectly, creating electricity.

SPEAKER_03: What it comes down to also after I've heard your IRP is, y'all need money, and that money is potentially proposed by large load.

SPEAKER_03: So either large load or our rates go up.

SPEAKER_03: I don't think any of that makes sense, but I do want you to hear us as the public, and that we definitely have concerns here, long-term health concerns for our environment.

SPEAKER_03: Thank you.

Unknown: Is Trevor here?

Unknown: Or Pat?

SPEAKER_10: Paris?

SPEAKER_10: Or Jerry?

SPEAKER_10: Bridsfield?

Unknown: Are you one of those?

Unknown: I'm one of those.

Unknown: Okay.

Unknown: Did you want to go?

SPEAKER_10: The other people are not here.

SPEAKER_10: And then, so you're Pat, right.

SPEAKER_10: Okay.

SPEAKER_10: And then to queue up to if Trevor's still here, Michelle, Anama, Megan, Shumway, and Audra, Starett, if they could start making their way.

SPEAKER_10: Okay, Pat.

Unknown: Hello.

SPEAKER_16: I'm Pat Farris, and I had some prepared remarks, and then I heard the really good presentations prior to this.

SPEAKER_16: So I'm going to add Lib.

Unknown: I had the great good fortune to coach several of the leaders in this organization at a time when there was a recognition of developing and emerging leaders as benefiting by such service.

SPEAKER_16: So I know some very well, and I'm really grateful for that.

SPEAKER_16: As a result of that, when I retired nine years ago, I paid attention to SMUD and your process and your decisions, and was thrilled by the 2030 commitment.

SPEAKER_16: I was thrilled partially because since I retired nine years ago, I've been a full-time climate social justice activist.

SPEAKER_16: So the decision that you made that was stellar, that provided leadership throughout the country for other utilities and other public entities, was thrilling to me.

SPEAKER_16: I'm very concerned about any shift in that commitment.

Unknown: I'm a businessman.

SPEAKER_16: I was a businessman in my former life.

SPEAKER_16: I retain that view.

Unknown: I'm a realist.

SPEAKER_16: I'm an idealist, and I have my feet on the ground.

SPEAKER_16: I understand budgets.

Unknown: I also understand that many times we human beings have a short-term review.

Unknown: Ten years may seem like a long time.

SPEAKER_16: I used to do strategic planning with businesses, and we did ten-year strategic plans.

SPEAKER_16: Then I did five-year strategic plans with businesses.

SPEAKER_16: When I retired, we were doing year and a half.

Unknown: During this particular time, looking at ten years is crystal-walling.

SPEAKER_16: When I look at ten years or twenty years, I see climate disasters that are amazing.

Unknown: So when you're doing cost analysis, if you don't consider the cost of not acting as leaders, you're missing the boat.

Unknown: I'm really looking forward to being a part of this IRP process.

Unknown: I'm looking forward to having conversations, and I'm looking forward to providing input

SPEAKER_16: as I learn much more about the details, because that's what I need to do,

SPEAKER_16: to represent the people that I'm concerned about, the lesser-advantaged people,

SPEAKER_16: the people who have a different color than I, the people who have difficult time paying bills,

SPEAKER_16: and the people who will be impacted by the crisis that's coming.

SPEAKER_16: So thank you very much.

Unknown: Thank you.

SPEAKER_10: Do we have Jerry, Trevor, or Michelle here?

SPEAKER_10: You can just raise your hand if you're any of those people.

SPEAKER_10: Okay, so no Jerry, no Trevor or Michelle.

SPEAKER_10: Okay.

SPEAKER_10: How about Megan?

SPEAKER_10: Okay, Megan, come right up.

Unknown: Good evening.

SPEAKER_15: I'm Megan Shumway, and I'm representing the Sacramento Climate Coalition.

Unknown: And we believe that when SMUD promised to work towards the carbon zero goal,

SPEAKER_15: that that was a promise they would keep, despite changes in leadership

Unknown: or difficulties that you encounter in trying to achieve that goal.

Unknown: It's something we don't expect to see diluted in any way in your resolve to meet that goal.

Unknown: You will find that you can meet your trifecta of,

SPEAKER_15: I don't know if you want to call them goals or your outline for making your customers happy,

SPEAKER_15: but you will find that you'll get affordability and sustainability definitely

SPEAKER_15: by making the investments in the newer batteries,

SPEAKER_15: the newer, more efficient batteries, and the virtual power plants.

SPEAKER_15: And I think that you can still meet a lot of your carbon zero goals

SPEAKER_15: and replace all those dirty power plants that are spewing out the carbon that is killing us

SPEAKER_15: in no uncertain terms.

SPEAKER_15: Climate change will kill us if we don't stop admitting carbon.

SPEAKER_15: So we need to keep working towards that goal.

Unknown: I may not be around to see that happen, because I'm old,

SPEAKER_15: but I have grandchildren, and I expect a lot of you younger people will still be around,

SPEAKER_15: maybe having white hair.

SPEAKER_15: By the time you start to feel the worst effects of climate change,

Unknown: we need to keep the goal of zero carbon and do what we can to get there.

SPEAKER_15: And I think we can do it and still maintain efficiency and affordability.

SPEAKER_15: You're not going to get people to electrify if it's not affordable,

SPEAKER_15: and if you don't electrify, they're not going to meet that goal either.

SPEAKER_15: So there's got to be a way, and you are supposed to be people who are the experts on energy.

SPEAKER_15: We depend on you to find the solutions,

Unknown: and we do everything we can to help you by engaging with you and writing to you,

SPEAKER_15: making suggestions, making references to articles we read that maybe you didn't,

Unknown: anything that would help this situation.

SPEAKER_15: We really believe that you need to keep that carbon zero goal front and center

Unknown: and with these data centers, it's the same story.

Unknown: You need to make sure they're not emitting carbon,

SPEAKER_15: and a lot of their backup energy is based on diesel,

Unknown: and we'll actually make our entire situation worse.

Unknown: We have to find ways and plans to make it work.

Unknown: Thank you.

Unknown: Thank you.

SPEAKER_10: Okay.

SPEAKER_10: Are you Audra?

SPEAKER_10: Yes.

SPEAKER_10: Perfect.

SPEAKER_10: And I want to call some other people to start queuing up.

SPEAKER_10: Audra, Devin LeCluse, Sam Kiesner,

SPEAKER_10: and then if Jerry, Trevor, and Michelle are still around.

SPEAKER_07: But Audra, you have three minutes.

SPEAKER_07: Thank you.

SPEAKER_07: My name is Audra Sterrett.

SPEAKER_07: I want to say thank you.

SPEAKER_07: Because of my SMUD service, I don't have the rolling blackouts

SPEAKER_07: and frequent all-day power outages that my parents do in Cameron Park.

SPEAKER_07: Trying to decide where to go in 100-degree weather

SPEAKER_07: and worrying about the refrigerator and freezer storage.

SPEAKER_07: Luckily, they don't have pets to be concerned about

SPEAKER_07: and power outages like we do.

SPEAKER_07: My concern is keeping costs affordable and keeping the power on,

SPEAKER_07: which are also your concerns,

SPEAKER_07: according to the helpful presentation about the IRP today.

SPEAKER_07: I worry about the electric cars being pushed as an answer to our problems

SPEAKER_07: and how much energy they draw.

SPEAKER_07: I'm specifically standing at the moment against large data centers

SPEAKER_07: that could use a large amount of our resources

SPEAKER_07: and the known and unknown health problems that can be caused by the frequency.

SPEAKER_07: Thank you.

Unknown: So we have Devin LeCluse, Sam Kiesner.

SPEAKER_10: If you do have someone online, maybe we can take them.

Unknown: I'll see any hands.

SPEAKER_10: Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_10: I thought we had one person earlier.

SPEAKER_10: Okay.

Unknown: Do you see anybody coming?

SPEAKER_10: Okay.

SPEAKER_10: So last call, I'm going to call Devin LeCluse, Sam Kiesner,

SPEAKER_10: Jerry Brinsfield, Trevor, and Michelle.

SPEAKER_10: Do we have any other cards?

SPEAKER_10: Any other people online?

SPEAKER_08: I do not see any hands of anybody online.

SPEAKER_08: Okay.

SPEAKER_10: So if you weren't able to get your comments in,

SPEAKER_10: they will be included if received in two hours.

SPEAKER_10: Do we have some summary of committee direction items?

SPEAKER_10: I believe we do.

Unknown: Yeah, the only thing I have is that staff will consider ways

SPEAKER_08: to align the monitoring activities on the Jackson-Boulkes substation project

SPEAKER_08: to a time when construction activities are occurring onsite.

Unknown: And then we'll now enter in a closed session

SPEAKER_10: to discuss the following item,

SPEAKER_10: which is conference with our labor negotiators.

SPEAKER_10: Pursuant to section 549576 of the Government Code,

SPEAKER_10: SMUD, designated representative Tiffany Arette,

SPEAKER_10: Employee Relations, and Michelle Dunt,

Unknown: Principal Employee Relations Analyst,

SPEAKER_10: and our employee organization,

SPEAKER_10: Public Safety Officers Association.

Unknown: Thank you.