Ygrene Energy Fund consortium

By a Reader

Dear Catherine,

I read on Sunday in the Business Section E of the Press Democrat  two articles (only one could I find online and it is not word for word in the printed version) about Ygrene Energy Fund consortium set up by Dennis Hunter. He rents out the Global Legacy Building in Santa Rosa, which houses various start ups like Solar Sonoma County (a non-profit working closely with the City of Santa Rosa and Sonoma County government) and Go-Local (a BALLE group).  Hunter also is being sued for his alleged below market value purchases of assets of Clem Carinalli to reduce his holdings just before the large Sonoma County developer went bankrupt after the mortgage bubble popped.  The consortium includes Barclays Bank of London, military contractor Lockheed-Martin, and a Germany’s Hannover Re reinsurance giant.

With former (since Feb 2011) Sonoma County Treasurer/Tax Collector Rod Dole as Co-Chairman and Dennis Hunter the other Co-Chair, the plan is to set up similar PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) programs such as we have in Sonoma County with SCEIP, set up by Rod Dole when he was our County Treasurer.  Ygrene has already won some exclusive contracts to market retrofits for energy efficiency in business buildings in the Miami area.  Rod Dole’s picture appeared twice in the Press Democrat on Sunday, one under this article, and one under a repeat of a weekday article about him getting the largest pension from Sonoma County as a former public servant . Dole gets $254,625 annually, (more than $21,000 per month). Dole was 35 years with the county, which included 26 years as the chief financial officer.  His experience came with Sonoma County infrastructure, so I wonder if Sonoma County will get a share of his use of that experience?

Lockheed-Martin will provide engineering for larger projects.  It looks like the winding down of the Afghan and Iraq Wars has LM looking for greener pastures.  I remember reading your story of a former employer  Dillon  where the large defense contractors in the 90’s invested in urban communities devastated by readily available crack cocaine, creating another bubble. ? ?Exclusivity and non-local vendors – is that the new Green Deal?

Anonymous in Sonoma County