It is hard to keep a close eye on La Plata Electric Association. It holds board meetings at 9 a.m. on weekdays, ensuring no one with a fulltime job can attend. It doesn’t put its meetings on its website for review by its members. It doesn’t alert its membership to major decisions it is about to make, even when those decisions will seriously undermine our ability to control our local energy economy and make local power.
The latest example of this lack of transparency is coming up for a vote at the June 15 board meeting: Your co-op is seriously considering letting Tri-State, the power provider to LPEA, take away our ability to buy power from local producers like solar and wind farms. At issue is the “blanket agreement,” an idea straight out of the Tri-State boardroom, which gives it the power to prevent our co-op from buying power from a new local source. The agreement would ensure that Tri-State, and only Tri-State, can sell us power at the rates it sets. Good deal for Tri-State, bad deal for us.
The most shocking part is that some of our board members admit to not knowing all the details of the agreement or its consequences. Nevertheless, they are going to vote on it June 15! Don’t let our co-op make an ill-informed decision that will tie our hands for decades. Contact your district representative or go to the meeting (if you can take vacation time to get there) on June 15 at 9 a.m., and tell them vote no on the blanket agreement.
Phillip Supino, chairman Sustainability Alliance of Southwest Colorado
Durango
