Behavior at MEA meeting unacceptable

I am a Matanuska Electric Association cooperative member and have lived in the Mat-Su Valley using MEA services for more than 12 years. I have attended the annual meeting on a number of past occasions and did so this March 1.

I must state that I have never seen an MEA meeting as mob-like as this one. Numerous participants were rude, foul-mouthed and certainly irrelevant. Their comments were constantly out of order, demanding to MEA executives and board members and designed to intimidate opposing views. The comments were contrary to my belief of the quality of MEA executive administration and board. Despite the emotional considerations of future power production, members should not be allowed to bully anyone from the stands. In my opinion, if they have something to say, they are to speak in order at the microphone at the appointed time. I am in favor of having nuisance hecklers removed from meetings or placed in order.

I heard no relevant discussion from these people at the microphone. I heard no reasonable presentation as to how we will manage our power needs into the future, except to maybe transfer the coal plant to someone else’s jurisdiction and let them deal with the potential pollution. It is clear our needs cannot be met by solar, wind or other alternative means, as least not in the next 10 to 20 years.

I would like to know what these rabble-rousers plan to say in 10 years when they flip their light switches and nothing comes on, or the cost is so high that it cannot be reasonably paid for. The treatment of one member, who was speaking to the new design of coal plants, was unacceptable and, in my opinion, he was the only member who spoke that apparently had any knowledge of power production. I expect that future meetings will not allow for this behavior.

Finally, I do not believe the majority of members voted the incoming board members to move in a radical new direction. In general, most of the members I speak with are satisfied with services, the board’s direction and Wayne Carmony’s leadership. If the new board takes the tone of the meeting to indicate otherwise, I would suggest that this is a grave error. The vast majority of MEA users want inexpensive, efficiently produced energy designed to acceptable environmental standards and is consistently available. No more, no less.

Dr. Ernest Koehrer

Palmer