The late journalist and educator Max Lerner had it right
when he wrote, �Of the many things we have done to democracy in the past,
the worst has been the indignity of taking it for granted.� Readers of
Cooperative Living, however, clearly respect democracy, and the democratic
process!
To say that we were overwhelmed by your response to the
postcard campaign in the May issue would not do justice to the breadth of
your participation, or the depth of your commitment. The postcards were
pre-printed with a message to our members of Congress, asking them to �help
prevent increases in our electric bills� by �keeping the EPA from using the
Clean Air Act (CAA) to regulate carbon dioxide from power plants,� pointing
out that �the Act was never intended to regulate greenhouse gases.�
But many of you went further, taking the time to write
additional comments on the postcards, expressing your concerns about keeping
electric bills affordable as Congress considers climate-change legislation.
And, as of June 3, less than a month after the May
magazine began arriving in the mailboxes of cooperative member-consumers,
the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association reported to us that
17,830 postcards had arrived, with more coming in every day since. It�s the
largest grassroots response we�ve ever seen from folks served by Virginia�s
13 electric cooperatives. And it�s clearly a tribute to your belief in the
value of the democratic process.
As you know, Virginia�s electric cooperatives believe that
our elected representatives in Congress � and not the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) � should set the rules regarding control of
greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide. Our House and Senate
members are accountable to us for their actions; employees at federal
agencies like the EPA are not.
As you read this, the first wave of 17,830 postcards has
been delivered to Senators Jim Webb and Mark Warner, and to Virginia�s 11
House members. The message you delivered through your huge participation
made it clear that they should only consider climate-change legislation that
is:
1) fair to all consumers and regions of the
country;
2) affordable for average consumers; and
3) achievable, able to be accomplished.
If you have not yet taken part in this effort and would
like to, it�s not too late. If you still have your copy of the May issue of
Cooperative Living, all the information you need will be inside it. If you
don�t have it, please contact us (see our masthead at left) and we will send
you the information. Additional information is also available at a special
website set up by our national electric cooperative trade association; that
site�s address is www.ourenergy.coop.
We�ve celebrated for many years in these pages the fact
that an electric cooperative is a business owned by those it serves; indeed,
that it�s a democratic business, owned and controlled by its
member-consumers. And, as such, we at Cooperative Living have always taken
seriously our responsibility to represent fairly, and as fully as is
possible, the breadth of views held by cooperative members on the variety of
issues discussed and topics featured within these pages. It�s only fair to
note that some readers disagree with our position that Congress, not the
EPA, should take the lead on dealing with greenhouse gases and their impact
on climate.
To reflect the views and concerns of these cooperative
member-consumers, the Mailbag section in the June and July issues features
letters that take exception to our position, and to the postcard campaign.
The four letters featured in June, and the one in this month�s issue, are
among 15 reader contacts that we�ve received to date disagreeing with our
views. We thank these folks for sharing their opinions in the best tradition
of the American political process. We encourage all of our readers to let us
know how you feel about our advocacy efforts on your behalf, as well as
about the feature stories, small-town profiles, energy-saving tips, and
slice-of-life columns that we publish in each issue of Cooperative Living.
We will continue to work hard to keep you informed as
Congress considers climate change and energy legislation, and as our federal
elected representatives consider other important issues that affect you and
your electric cooperative. As a not-for-profit utility, ultimately your
cooperative�s only interest is in providing you with electric service that
is as reliable, as affordable and as environmentally responsible as
possible. Again, thanks to each of you who made your voice heard as part of
the democratic process!
