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... & why it shouldn't have

LIKE OTHERS, I was an early advocate for leveraging our legacy assets to revive our historic role as an energy hub with global impact. I believe the Council has both an obligation and an opportunity to play a leadership role in the energy-hub effort. But playing that role now requires Council action on the UIL- PGW proposal.

LIKE OTHERS, I was an early advocate for leveraging our legacy assets to revive our historic role as an energy hub with global impact. I believe the Council has both an obligation and an opportunity to play a leadership role in the energy-hub effort. But playing that role now requires Council action on the UIL- PGW proposal.

Today, we have the opportunity to revive our historic relationship with energy. But the world has changed in the 170 or so years since Philadelphia began its relationship with the hydrocarbons of Pennsylvania. Air and water pollution, climate change, national security and vulnerable supply chains all conspire to make the job of sorting out benefits and costs, and who receives those benefits and who pays those costs, much more challenging than ever before.

We have to get over the notion that the way to proceed is to start and stop for dueling consulting reports, which will never tell us the best course to follow. Instead we need to set aside lingering disagreements on PGW precisely because the energy-hub issue is more important. There are two basic reasons why the energy-hub agenda and City Council itself are well-served by proceeding with the proposed sale of PGW to UIL.

First, the prospects for a Philadelphia energy hub are much more threatened by dysfunctional government than by whether PGW is sold or not, to UIL or not. If - after two years, $2.5 million in public money and $20 million in private money from the winning bidder alone - Philadelphia city government cannot complete a decision process, then why would anyone seriously entertain the thought that Philadelphia is capable of being a global energy hub, which is a much more complicated thing than an asset sale?

Second, the immediate proceeds from the proposed sale, which virtually all parties have agreed are maximized in the UIL offer, create Council's best opportunity to influence and lead the energy-hub strategy. The proceeds from the sale can allow Council to represent all residents, especially those left out of the deal-making and vulnerable to its consequences.

I strongly encourage Council to exercise its power to amend the Mayor's proposal to sell PGW to UIL and in particular to redirect some of the proceeds (say, 10 percent) toward programs designed to support the energy-hub strategy. Such investments could include but are not limited to workforce system improvements to prepare Philadelphians to participate in jobs along the energy supply chain; provisions for leveraging PGW's liquid natural gas storage assets to protect residents and businesses from supply and price dislocations; capacity-building at the Philadelphia Energy Authority, created by Council, to improve the City's ability to defend the public interest; and funding for increased monitoring and oversight of costs and benefits of the hub strategy at one of the City's regulatory jewels: Air Management Services, at the Department of Public Health.

Council can significantly affect the proposed sale of PGW to UIL. Furthermore, it can transform this narrow proposal into a larger sustained effort to make the energy hub a reality. Most importantly, it can complete the public process began more than two years ago and demonstrate that Philadelphia City government is up to the challenges of a complex future.