Everyone, and I mean everyone, needs to read this excellent analysis of the Arizona Corporation Commission, its huge importance to renewable energy policy, and the politics surrounding it. It’s by David Roberts, who is one of the best writers there is on environmental and energy issues.

This post will get into some detail, so for those with short attention spans, here’s the take-home: Arizona has unbounded potential for solar and a rapidly growing solar industry, but it’s also got a government recently overrun by corrupt right-wingers. This year, the unbounded potential clashes with the corrupt right-wingery in the form of elections to an extremely important state commission that you’ve never heard of. At stake: whether Arizona will continue its dramatic solar expansion.

Got that? OK, let’s walk through it.

Seriously, read it. Pass it along to everyone you know who is an Arizona voter with little to no knowledge of what the Corp Comm does, which is about 95% of them. Since 90% of Arizonans favor expanding solar energy projects, it’s critical that they know what they’re getting when they vote in this race. It’s a stark choice between trash or solar, folks.