On the very February day Sen. Evan Bayh stunned Indiana and the political world by saying he was fed up with the partisanship of Congress and would not seek re-election, Glenn English, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, beseeched the nation’s electric co-op leaders to not let that same kind of divisive political rancor enter co-op boardrooms.
Instead, English told co-op leaders gathered in Atlanta, to keep their eyes on the ball — or rather “the bill.” And that is the bill electric co-op consumers pay each month.
“Electric cooperatives cannot afford a scorched-earth policy,” he said, referring the caustic political debates that have divided Congress and various factions of people across the country.
In a 40-minute speech, English said a unified, focused co-op position can help cut through the polarization and political stridency in the nation’s capital that has stalled efforts to produce constructive energy-related legislation to ensure electricity remains affordable.
In blunt language, co-op leaders heard English explain how they and consumers can affect a range of public policy challenges that hold economic consequences for co-op members across the country. Foremost among them: the regulation of carbon emissions from stationary sources by the Environmental Protection Agency under the federal Clean Air Act.
English said the apparent failure of Congress to adopt comprehensive climate change legislation makes it more likely that EPA will fill the regulatory void, and he called co-op leaders to back recently introduced bills that would effectively block the agency from proceeding.
He said if the EPA regulates carbon under the Clean Air Act, it would be, quoting Rep. John Dingell, “a glorious mess.”
English also brought in a clip from “A Christmas Story,” the popular holiday flick about the northern Indiana boy wanting a Red Ryder BB Gun for Christmas. The scene in which one boy “triple dog dares” another to put his tongue to a freezing metal pole epitomizes the position President Barack Obama finds himself in over regulating carbon.
“Folks, we’re about down to the ‘triple dog dare ya’ stage. And if we don’t want the president to stick our tongue to that pole, we’ve got to get him some help.”
English said co-ops must engage their consumers through the “Our Energy, Our Future” campaign to tell the president through Congress not to do it. “Don’t respond to a dare that will damage our economy and raise the electric bills of consumers all across this country.”
English also lashed out at Obama’s proposed fiscal 2011 budget that would reduce the Rural Utilities Service electric loan program by $2.6 billion, yet leave untouched large tax breaks that amount to subsidies for the rest of the electric utility industry.
English noted that in a time of high unemployment and soaring budget deficits, the president’s proposal takes away a program that provides jobs and has put $50 million back into the treasury each of the last several years.
“That’s discriminating against the not-for-profit, consumer-owned electric cooperatives,” he said. “Not only is it not fair, it doesn’t make sense, and it doesn’t pass basic arithmetic. We must oppose this discrimination against our members.”
The low-interest RUS loans help co-ops build and maintain needed power generation and electric distribution facilities.
Other “balls” English said co-op leaders need to keep their eyes on include energy efficiency, the need for new transmission lines necessary to meet renewable standards and railroad reform.
“On the 75th anniversary [of the Rural Electrification Administration], … we have an opportunity to rededicate and recommit ourselves to affordable electric bills for our members,” English concluded. “I can think of no more fitting or better way to celebrate the 75th birthday than to deal with the issue of affordability.”
Other speakers at the meeting and meetings of related co-op groups included political commentator David Gergen and businessman, publisher and former presidential candidate Steve Forbes. Both also talked about Washington’s dysfunction and the kind of bipartisan leadership, innovation and sacrifices needed to pull the country out of its current political and economic morass.
More than 6,000 representatives from cooperative electric utilities across the nation attended the NRECA meeting, Feb. 15-18, at the Georgia World Congress Center, during which they set NRECA’s legislative and organizational agenda for 2010. In addition to considering and acting upon policy resolutions, delegates heard addresses by other key public figures and industry and business experts, received reports from NRECA officials and attended panel sessions on major issues affecting electric cooperatives and their consumer owners.