Thank you, Duane Highley, for your column (Herald, Apr. 27). Although its title is “Setting the record straight …”, I think that there is another way to look at the situation.
Over 20 years ago, my wife and I started thinking about putting solar on our roof. Our motivation was concern over carbon emissions caused by Tri-State-supplied power. I learned then about the 5% limit on locally generated power that was part of the contract between Tri-State and LPEA.
Several years ago, I attended a LPEA board meeting. Seated ahead of me were men in suits – two or three of the Tri-State administration. As I rose to speak, one of those men turned around to look at me. I commented that Tri-State was looking backward, but they needed to look ahead. Since then Tri-State has changed, but it has been too late and too little,
Mr. Highley. I honor your years of service to electrical coops and your present position as CEO of Tri-State. Changing the direction of that behemoth from reliance on fossil fuels to renewable sources of power must have been difficult. If you had seen the future, as the current board of LPEA has, you would have started the change much earlier. I fear that it is too late now to turn the tide. People in the LPEA service area are concerned about climate chaos and changing our power provider is one action we can take to shrink our carbon footprint.
Richard Grossman
Bayfield
