Chariots
June 3rd, 2008, 11:53 AM
I recieved this letter from my rural electric Coop this weekend.
Pressure is mounting in Congress to do something about climate change and the outcome will have a direct impact on our cooperative and on you. Cooperatives are not in the debate on whether or not climate change is happening, Congress has moved beyond this.
A bill in the United States Senate, if Passed in its current form, could cause wholesale electric rates to increase by 50 to 100 percent by 2030. A study by the National Association Manufacturers shows the bill could cost the average Missouri household over $2000 more per year for their electricity, and by the year 2030 this number could well reach over $4000 per year. Simply put, no one is talking about these costs to the users of electricity in this case, you, our cooperative members.
Your cooperative needs your help. Cooperatives across our nation are calling on the members to contact their legislators to express their concerns about the availability and cost of electricity in the future. There has been a website established at www.ourenergy.coop where you can have this dialogue with your members of Congress. There are three questions that need to be asked: 1) Experts say that our Nations's growing electricity needs will soon go well beyond what renewables, conservation and efficiency can provide; what is your plan to make sure we have the electricity we will need in the future? 2) What are you doing to fully fund research required to make emissions free electric plants an affordable reality. 3) Balancing electricity needs and environmental goals will be difficult, how much is all this going to increase my electic bill and what will you do to make it affordable?
This website is very user friendly and will walk you through the steps in order to generate the predrafted letter to your members of Congress. If you do not have access to the Internet, or would like us to take care of this for you, please fill out the card on the bottom of this letter, cut it out and return it to the cooperative with your next electric bill payment. This is an extremely important program and we encourage you to start the dialogue with your members of Congress either by getting on the website or returning the card to your cooperative.
It is important that we strike the right balance before any action is taken.
Pressure is mounting in Congress to do something about climate change and the outcome will have a direct impact on our cooperative and on you. Cooperatives are not in the debate on whether or not climate change is happening, Congress has moved beyond this.
A bill in the United States Senate, if Passed in its current form, could cause wholesale electric rates to increase by 50 to 100 percent by 2030. A study by the National Association Manufacturers shows the bill could cost the average Missouri household over $2000 more per year for their electricity, and by the year 2030 this number could well reach over $4000 per year. Simply put, no one is talking about these costs to the users of electricity in this case, you, our cooperative members.
Your cooperative needs your help. Cooperatives across our nation are calling on the members to contact their legislators to express their concerns about the availability and cost of electricity in the future. There has been a website established at www.ourenergy.coop where you can have this dialogue with your members of Congress. There are three questions that need to be asked: 1) Experts say that our Nations's growing electricity needs will soon go well beyond what renewables, conservation and efficiency can provide; what is your plan to make sure we have the electricity we will need in the future? 2) What are you doing to fully fund research required to make emissions free electric plants an affordable reality. 3) Balancing electricity needs and environmental goals will be difficult, how much is all this going to increase my electic bill and what will you do to make it affordable?
This website is very user friendly and will walk you through the steps in order to generate the predrafted letter to your members of Congress. If you do not have access to the Internet, or would like us to take care of this for you, please fill out the card on the bottom of this letter, cut it out and return it to the cooperative with your next electric bill payment. This is an extremely important program and we encourage you to start the dialogue with your members of Congress either by getting on the website or returning the card to your cooperative.
It is important that we strike the right balance before any action is taken.