Members of electric co-ops have flooded the Environmental Protection Agency with comments on EPA’s proposed new regulations of coal-fired power plants.
In a news release, the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives said there were more than 1.1 million comments from co-op members, including more than 300,000 sent from Missouri. The association says if they were printed and stacked, the pile would be over 400 feet high, and would tower over the Statue of Liberty.
“Those comments all had one thing in common,” says Barry Hart, CEO of the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives. “They told EPA in no uncertain terms that they can’t afford the rate increases those regulations would cause.”
The issue involves new regulations proposed by the EPA that would reduce the options for generating affordable electricity by reducing the use of coal for energy production. That is of particular concern to utilities in Missouri, since 80 percent of the electricity comes from coal generation.
Hart noted that when electric rates increase – and the EPA acknowledges they will under their plan – the burden disproportionally falls on rural America and electric cooperative members. That’s because electric cooperatives serve 93 percent of the counties where poverty is persistent. Rural communities in general have been slower to recover from the economic recession.
“Put simply, electric co-op members can’t afford to pay more for electricity,” Hart says. The comments came from people of all walks of life, including farmers, small business owners and senior citizens on fixed incomes.
These comments are typical of the many sent to the EPA from Missourians:
“Most of Missouri’s electricity comes from coal and being a widow living on Social Security, I cannot afford higher rates for my power bill,” a member of White River Valley Electric wrote.
“Your agency is overreaching, doing real harm to average Americans for the sake of your own environmental ideals,” wrote a member from Laclede Electric Cooperative. “I support common sense conservation, and have myself participated in activities to clean up my local natural environment. But the course you are taking will hurt folks who cannot afford the cost you wish to impose on them.”
“As you drive up the cost of electricity via more regulation you drive jobs overseas. Eventually, if we lose our economic might, someone else will decide what is good for us and I don’t think we will like it,” added a Cuivre River Electric member.
“As senior citizens we are on a fixed income and we need reliable electric power for our well being. The proposed regulations, which will have a disastrous impact on power plants using coal, negatively threaten us both financially and health wise. We ask that the EPA, which is at least theoretically supposed to be working for us, reconsider these proposals, which will diminish our quality of life,” said a Callaway Electric member.
A Black River Electric member had this to say: “Hello, I am concerned that you at the EPA have no idea what it takes to make ends meet at home or in business. I run my own company, and I find that I cannot afford to heat or cool my work site or my home as cost effectively as in the past. I have installed all the energy-saving items I can, but every month I have to make tough choices on my energy use. I used to have 4 employees, now I have one, myself. Please stop playing with my future and any chance I have to put something back for savings and retirement.”
Hart thanked the many Missourians who sent comments to the EPA. He said the sheer magnitude of the comments can’t help but make a difference on this issue.
He also pledged to keep fighting for members at the end of the line who rely on affordable and reliable electricity at their homes and businesses. “Those 1.1 million comments from across the country underscore the demand for common sense from the EPA,” Hart says. “But will the EPA listen? American families and businesses continue to struggle and the proposed EPA regulations will only add to their burden.”