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Note From : Robert D. (Bobby) Waid, CEO/General Manager
Friday, Apr 17, 2009 4:08pm
Dear
Member,
Almost
daily there is talk about passing federal legislation to curb greenhouse gases.
There is no doubt that coal fired power plants are a large contributor to this.
Natural gas fired power plants also emit carbon dioxide (CO²). Below is the
summary of a bill that was introduced by Representative Henry Waxman of
California, who chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee in the U.S. House of
Representatives.
While everyone wants clean air,
there needs to be a balance between meeting environmental goals and keeping the
cost of power affordable. I have heard several recent reports indicating that
currently discussed legislation could result in the average electric bill rising
by 4 cents or more per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Remember last summer when the cost
of power was over 11 cents per kWh? Imagine it at 15 cents per kWh. Do you
have an extra $50 a month ($600 a year) for your electric bill? That’s about
what the average BEC member would pay for their own electricity if the cost went
up 4 cents per kWh. Also keep in mind that the cost of all the products they
buy will also have to go up because the manufacturers will adjust their prices
to recover higher energy costs, so the actual cost to you will be much higher.
There are some people who want all
coal plants shut down because of CO² emissions. This is the most abundant and
lowest cost fuel source for the generation of electricity. One recent article I
read noted that if the U.S. were to develop enough renewable energy resources to
replace current carbon based resources over the next 10 years, we would need
to duplicate the current amount of US installed wind energy capacity every 31
days for the next 10 years. Growth in the demand for electricity is not
included. This is just not possible.
We need to embrace all types of
generation – coal, natural gas, renewable resources and nuclear. The U.S. needs
to encourage the development of affordable technology to remove the CO² from the
emissions instead of shutting down the plants. We also need to encourage energy
conservation and energy efficiency to reduce the growth in demand.
If you haven’t already done so, I
would strongly encourage you to let your elected officials know you are
concerned about how carbon emission legislation might impact you. You can
easily do this by clicking on this link to the Our Energy Our Future website:
https://www.ourenergy.coop/pages/TakeAction/ContactOfficials.htm
Once you go to this webpage, it will
guide you through the steps to send a prewritten email to your congressional
leaders asking them:
· how will they help us meet the
future demand for electricity;
· how are they going to help us
develop technology to reduce carbon dioxide emissions; and,
· how will they will help keep
electricity affordable?
Robert D. (Bobby) Waid
CEO/General Manager
Bandera Electric Cooperative, Inc. |
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Posted by
Bandera Electric Cooperative, Inc.
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