CoServ has a responsibility to keep you, our member-owners, informed about industry issues that affect your membership benefits (with low-cost energy being at the top of that list). As decisions hang in the balance on Capitol Hill and in the Texas legislature, affordable energy can be threatened by costs and unreasonable regulatory demands. As citizens of the largest energy-producing state in the nation, Texans must be on our toes. Please contact your federal/state legislators through Our Energy, Our Future – A Dialogue with America at www.ourenergy.coop.

If you are interested in being a part of CoServ’s Legislative Awareness initiative, please contact us at communications@coserv.com with your name, e-mail address, and service address. You will receive a monthly e-mail that provides legislative updates and information about how to participate locally. We may be contacting you personally to touch base with your state legislators in a variety of ways (i.e., attending forums, making phone calls, writing letters, commenting on political blogs, etc.). Please keep an eye out for your issue of Texas Co-op Power magazine each month for more information, and thank you for your participation and support.

February Update 

On The Hill:

 NRECA Blasts Excessive Partisanship on Energy Issues
Directing a forceful charge to the nation’s co-op leaders on Feb. 15, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) CEO Glenn English told them they must demand that elected officials put affordability at the center of their energy policy discussions.

Speaking at the 2010 NRECA Annual Meeting, English said a unified, focused co-op position can help cut through the polarization and political stridency in the nation’s capital that has stalled efforts to produce constructive energy-related legislation.

“Electric cooperatives cannot afford a scorched earth politics. We cannot afford to participate in that kind of political debate. That divides co-ops,” English said.

In blunt language, leaders heard English explain how they can affect a range of public policy challenges that hold economic consequences for co-op members across the country. Foremost among them: the regulation of carbon emissions from stationary sources by the Environmental Protection Agency under the federal Clean Air Act.

English said the apparent failure of Congress to adopt comprehensive climate change legislation makes it more likely that EPA will fill the regulatory void, and he called co-ops leaders to back recently introduced bills that would effectively block the agency from proceeding.

Specifically, he asked co-op members to seek as many cosponsors as possible for a bipartisan measure sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and two bills in the House, one written by Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., and a second authored by Reps. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., Collin Peterson, D-Minn., and Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo.

The details and scope of the bills differ, but all three essentially would inhibit EPA from enacting a greenhouse gas program from stationary sources as part of the Clean Air Act’s permitting process.

While all three bills face major uphill hurdles to become law, English said co-ops can send a message to President Obama by working to round up support for them as part the Our Energy, Our Future program, which encourages a dialogue between co-op members and their elected officials.

State Sues EPA Over Authority to Regulate Greenhouse Gases
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, joined by Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples and Gov. Rick Perry, is challenging the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. The AG’s petition outlines how EPA has ignored major scientific conclusions, and questions the federal government decision to regulate greenhouse gas emissions based on fragile claims. Attorney General Abbott’s legal challenge will focus on the inadequacies of the process EPA followed in triggering Clean Air Act regulation.

Source: NRECA

In Austin:

Texas Primary Election Results
Elections in the Democratic and Republican primaries were held on Tuesday, March 2, to determine who will represent the two parties in the November general elections.

Important issues for electric cooperatives loom on the horizon in Austin and Washington, D.C. Whether it has to do with global warming and carbon emissions, renewable energy, retail customer choice, co-op governance, or any number of other issues, the challenges have never been greater for electric co-ops. Co-ops are also working with supporters in Congress to prevent the federal EPA from using inappropriate regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The most notable election results occurred when Gov. Rick Perry won the Republican primary and moves on to face Democratic hopeful Bill White in November. In other election news, six Texas House members lost re-election bids in battles with primary challengers.

• Sen. Kip Averitt, who announced in January that he was cancelling his campaign due to health concerns, won big over Republican challenger Darren Yancy. In Averitt’s case, a special election could feature replacement nominees from both major parties if Averitt officially withdraws from the contest as he's indicated he'll do.
• Longtime incumbent and co-op supporter Rep. Tommy Merritt of Longview was defeated by David Simpson.
• Rep. Betty Brown of Terrell was narrowly defeated by her former aide, Lance Gooden.
• Sen. Steve Ogden of Bryan easily defeated Ben Bius in the Republican primary with 68 percent of the vote in his re-election bid.
• Co-op supporter Rep. Chuck Hopson of Jacksonville survived his first re-election bid as a Republican after switching parties last fall with more than 60 percent of the vote against two primary challengers.
• State Rep. Delwin Jones of Lubbock, a longtime supporter of electric co-ops, is headed for a primary runoff in April after receiving 39 percent of the vote and will face accountant Charles Perry who received 32 percent of the vote.
• As Speaker Joe Straus of San Antonio lost one key ally with Merritt's defeat and runs the risk of losing another with Jones in a runoff, another top lieutenant on the speaker's team, Rep. Burt Solomons of Carrollton, had a close win over Mike Murphy, winning with 52 percent of the vote.
• Several other House Republicans on Straus' team including State Reps. Todd Smith of Euless, Vicki Truitt of Fort Worth, Edmund Kuempel of Seguin and Rob Eissler of The Woodlands, all won their primary battles. 

A half-dozen House races are going into overtime with runoffs next month. The primary runoff election date is set for Tuesday, April 13. For more information on the upcoming elections and results, visit the Texas Secretary of State Web site.

We've started an archive, click on a the links below to review.
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009

For more information about CoServ and industry news, visit our other Newsroom features: 

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