Last April, 53 percent of voting La Plata Electric Association co-op members elected two of three candidates who ran on an explicit “renewable energy” program. This clear member interest in renewable energy generated record turnouts for LPEA’s presentations this spring discussing renewable options.
Our LPEA board unanimously approved an initiative to raise the contractual 5 percent limit on locally-produced renewable energy imposed by our coal-energy provider, Tri-State. Yet LPEA’s Tri-State representative, Kohler McInnis, voted against LPEA’s initiative at the Tri-State meeting – a betrayal keenly felt by the coop’s members wanting to invest in renewable energy.
When complaints were raised, board president Montoya published an Aug. 15 letter maligning co-op members who dare speak at LPEA meetings; at the Aug. 16 LPEA meeting he shouted down a member who protested this poor treatment.
We can make a fight of it, by silencing coop members and scuttling alternatives to the 50-years-of-coal contract with Tri-State. But this is too important: our children’s futures and the local economy are at stake.
Do some economics homework: search for “Tony Seba, June 2017” on YouTube. He is a Stanford economics professor, expert in technology “disruption” patterns (what happens when new technologies displace old ones by becoming superior and cheaper).
Watch all 15 minutes to see that right now, renewable energy can lead to local ownership and jobs.
Karen Pontius
Durango
