La Plata Electric Association is a co-op, meaning all of us who pay an electricity bill are members and supposedly have a voice in the decisions that are made at the board level.
A ballot was sent out to all members to vote for their representatives on the board. I am sure everyone voted, thinking your representative, having local knowledge and ties to the community, would vote for what is best for our electricity needs. A 40-year contract that has already been signed with Tri-State Generation and Transmission provides that it will provide our co-op with 95 percent of our electricity needs.
Tri-State is heavily invested in coal, and therefore, renewable projects have little chance of getting passed unless the costs are extremely low or below the current cost of generating electricity through coal and other fossil fuels. The rub is that the board is considering a blanket waiver to give Tri-State Generation and Transmission the right to be the primary negotiator of all our renewable energy projects going forward.
Please contact your LPEA board member and voice your opinion in this matter. Let them know that renewables like solar, wind and biomass have a place in our energy line-up and we want our elected local board members to do the work they were voted in to do. You can call LPEA at (970) 247-5786.
Louise van Vonno
Durango
