Tucson Opinion: Vote "no" on Prop 412 and re-start climate talks

For many of us in the climate action world, the 2026 renewal of Tucson Electric Power’s Franchise Agreement has long been marked on our calendar as the pivotal leverage moment for a sustainable Tucson. TEP’s electricity production has historically contributed the lion’s share of Tucson’s carbon dioxide emissions. So it was a surprise call to action when the franchise proposal was accelerated to an election three years ahead of schedule.

Back when TEP became Tucson’s primary supplier of electricity many years ago, coal was cheap and there was no awareness that carbon emissions would lead us to the climate emergency that now threatens the very habitability of Tucson. But since 1988 at least, when James Hansen testified before Congress about carbon emissions and global warming, TEP executives should have, or must have, known the byproducts of their electricity production were causing harm to Tucson. Even now as the climate emergency intensifies, TEP plans to burn coal until 2032 and methane into their foreseeable future. One could make the case that reparations are in order for the damages TEP’s actions have visited on Tucson over these many years.

Proposition 412 continues this legacy and the Tucson community is being asked to approve nearly the same agreement made 23 years ago. The only major change to the old agreement is to require Tucson’s TEP customers to fund the undergrounding of a new high-voltage line which feeds the University of Arizona, satisfying its separate agreement with TEP to receive 100% renewable energy to meet its internal goals. Neither TEP nor the UA are willing to front the cost of undergrounding. Interestingly, the UA-TEP agreement specifically calls for development of their project to be “….in a manner that is beneficial to both UA and TEP and is cost-neutral to TEP’s other customers.” And yet Prop 412 is anything but cost-neutral to TEP’s customers and will add an estimated $45 million to customers’ bills over 10 years.

Even a pretense of a democratic process leading up to the Prop 412 vote has been tragically lacking. TEP and City staff met for a year to craft the current proposal, contorting a “solution” that attempted to address aesthetic concerns of neighborhoods, giving them, the UA and TEP a pass on funding undergrounding that advantages them all. The only public meeting launching TEP’s proposal (with only 24-hour notice) was hosted by TEP on Jan. 18. Surprisingly, less than a week later, on the 24th, the Mayor and Council voted unanimously to forward the proposal to the election. At the meeting’s conclusion, TEP was instructed to prepare and distribute the election information as required by city ordinance. Now voters have a dense document in their mailboxes with no information helping them make an informed decision about what the 26-page proposal means.

If passed, Prop 412 is a baked-in tragedy. Vote “no” and re-start a Community-TEP-UA conversation in support of the Tucson Climate Action and Adaptation Plan. The $400,000 effort by the Mayor and Council to gather input from the whole Tucson community was a laudable process. It has generated a comprehensive and equitable plan that needs immensely more funding. But given current funding, only two new City positions are planned though it has been suggested that a staffing level of 6-8 new positions are needed to respond adequately to the climate emergency.

TEP should reevaluate its relationship to the climate emergency and the well-being of Tucson’s future. UA should make sure cost of undergrounding for their benefit is not passed through to Tucson’s TEP customers.

Faulty towers, corporate blindfolds and a short-circuited democracy will not lead to a sustainable Tucson.