Chester Bowles, a successful
advertising agency executive and later a member of the administrations of
both Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, once said that �Government is too big
and important to be left to the politicians.� Truer words may never have
been spoken.
The truth of this quote is why electric
cooperatives, over 900 spread across 47 states and serving 40 million
Americans, have recently begun a public awareness campaign dubbed �Our
Energy, Our Future � A Dialogue with America.� It�s an effort by
America�s �and Virginia�s � consumer-owned electric utilities to
make sure that the discussions and debates that Congress holds on energy
issues, and the decisions our elected officials make, do not occur in a
vacuum.
As you know, there are several daunting
energy challenges facing our great nation, challenges that must be
understood by our citizens. Likewise, our elected officials at both the
state and federal levels must also develop a keen understanding of these issues,
in part by listening to the concerns of their constituents, and then by
voting in the best long-term interests of our nation.
Electric cooperative consumers, of
course, own and control their utility, and as such electric cooperatives
have always been committed to providing reliable, affordable power in an
environmentally respon�si�ble manner. In our
nearly 75-year history, though, doing so has rarely, perhaps never, been
more challenging.
These challenges include a laundry list
of newspaper headline material: the rising cost of the fuels used to
generate electricity; the long lead times needed to plan for, receive
permits for, and construct a generating station or the transmission lines
needed to carry its power to delivery points; rising demand for power driven
by population growth and by larger homes with multiple, high-usage
technological wonders like computers and plasma TVs; the need to focus more
effort on conservation of resources; and concerns about climate change.
On this last challenge, Congress is
focusing considerable effort and attention on trying to develop solutions.
Our nation�s 900-plus electric cooperatives are on record as willing to
support a climate bill that is consumer-friendly, while achieving realistic
environmental goals. The bill debated last month by the U.S. Senate, the
Boxer substitute to the Lieberman-Warner bill, did not pass at least partly
because of concerns about its impact on our economy, fear that it might
result in additional energy costs, and the sheer complexity of this massive,
500-page bill.
The issue of climate change clearly
needs to be examined in the context of a larger discussion of energy policy
in general. This nation needs a clearly understood, laser-focused,
broad-based, broadly supported energy policy now more than ever. We hope
that, when Congress continues its deliberations on climate change later this
year and beyond, it will do so as part of a larger attempt to build an
energy road map for our nation that will serve us for decades to come, and
that it will do so by engaging the views of average Americans like you and
me.
And that�s where you come in. A big
part of the �Our Energy, Our Future� campaign revolves around
encouraging electric cooperative consumers like you to make your voice
heard, specifically by asking questions to your three representatives in
Congress: your House member, and your two Senators, John Warner and Jim
Webb.
The first question we�d like you to
ask them is this:
�Experts say that our nation�s
growing electricity needs will soon go well beyond what renewables,
conservation and efficiency can provide; What is your plan to make sure we
have the electricity we�ll need in the future?�
There are two more questions; we�ll
cover them on the editorial page of the next two issues. More information on
climate change, and on the three questions, can be found at a special Web
site created specifically for this educational campaign.
Please go to www.ourenergy.coop and make
your voice heard! The only way to ensure that our electric supply remains
reliable, affordable, and environmentally responsible as we navigate the
difficult maze of challenges that confronts us is by remaining united as
Americans to the common good; by being reasonable people seeking reasonable
solutions to complex problems; and by holding our elected officials
accountable.
I�d like to close with a quote from
another little-known 20th-century American civic leader named Walter Judd,
who was, at various times during his long life, a doctor, a missionary, a
member of Congress, an editor, and a radio commentator. Mr. Judd once said,
�People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority
of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority
of those who make themselves heard and who vote � a very different
thing.�
Please make yourself heard by visiting www.ourenergy.coop.
