I have two friends running for La Plata Electric Association director in District 4, tearing my loyalty since they are both good men.
But I’ll cast my vote for the incumbent, Tim Wheeler, who stands for affordable, locally generated, clean energy. We need Wheeler for his strong, experienced, and informed board leadership to build an affordable, increasingly self-sufficient energy system that generates jobs.
Wheeler has maintained oversight of our electric co-op’s funding by serving as treasurer of the board and as member of the LPEA Finance and Audit Committee. He helped pursue a redress of overcharges by our provider, Tri-State, that stands to return approximately $4 million to our co-op’s coffers, great news for us rate payers. He also served on the LPEA Broadband Committee and as LPEA’s FastTrack subsidiary representative, providing important analysis to the development of our region’s fiber optic capability, so vital to local businesses, job seekers and students.
Wheeler’s opponent wants to stay with our provider, Tri-State, believing that Tri-State’s fossil fuel generation and large greenhouse gas footprint was in the past, stating that, “There is no longer an environmental justification for leaving Tri-State.”
My good friend, here’s the dirty fact: M.J. Bradleys’ carbon emissions benchmarking study in July 2020 ranked Tri-State third highest for carbon emissions per unit of energy of the top 100 domestic producers. Of the energy that Tri-State produces from its own assets, the report states that 90% is from coal and 9% from gas. Tri-State’s goals are much shinier than the reality.
Kirby MacLaurin
Durango
