Members deserve better from MEA

RIVER BEAN/Spectrum

Again I am dismayed with MEA.

This time MEA has told us that &#8220we” are building a coal-fired generator for electricity. This is supposed to be a &#8220co-op.” Where is the &#8220cooperative” decision?

Who decided to go back 50 years and select coal, a nonrenewable resource to power us in 2014 and beyond? We should be paying attention to what carbon footprint we are adding to the global problem of ozone depletion.

Did we members get to choose between options?

We could have selected wind. The Valley is known for its wind. The flags regularly stand out straight at the Palmer post office. The doors at Colony Middle School could easily cut off an arm due to the continual force of the wind if vigilance is not always observed.

We are told by MEA that the wind gusts unpredictably. Do other parts of the world not encounter this challenge, and haven't we gained from technological advances enough to have designed feathered blades to compensate for wind gusts decades ago?

We boast of the second highest tides in the world. Have energy turbines never encountered icebergs before?

We have a great wealth of water cascading from the surrounding mountains. Do we ignore their potential to generate electricity?

Ask Larry DeVilbiss, an MEA board member, about the large pipes he has laid next to Wolverine Creek to generate electricity, if he would like to receive an incentive to put power into the MEA lines.

We live in Alaska, where the sun hardly sets in the summer. Will we not try to capture some of this energy with solar panels?

Wouldn't we all like to spin our meters backward with alternative and renewable resources so that we can help with generating electricity? How about letting &#8220cooperative members” decide, or vote on the energy future?

Why is MEA considered a &#8220cooperative?” Our credit union is, too, because we get to vote on its leadership and direction, and I don't imagine those candidates need to provide hair samples to be checked for drug use.

We have been told that hair samples are necessary because of the potential danger of MEA's work. We also elect (by voting) our state and national leaders. Are not decisions about the war in Iraq, the war against terrorists, drugs, illegal immigrants, nuclear buildup in any country, violence in schools and society, etc. dangerous?

Did we check to see if any IBEW members attended our new governor's ball?

I demand the opportunity to be able to join ranks with my fellow MEA members to vote against putting this coal-burning monster in anybody's back yard. The MEA board has taken the easy way out by selecting an acid-rain producing, fossil fuel and tire (a &#8220renewable resource?”) burning, outdated system of producing electricity instead of taking a beneficial, progressive and sustainable stand on energy production.

MEA is offering to let the &#8220cooperative members” vote on where to put this coal plant, not on whether to put it in our community. No matter where it is put someone will be unhappy with MEA's choice, and I will not be part of an excuse for the MEA leadership to say, &#8220but the majority of the cooperative members ‘voted' to put it in your back yard.”

No matter what, MEA's plan stinks.

River Bean lives in Palmer.