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Community Series
From the
November 2008 issue of Alabama Living magazine
Wanted: Your Voice
Article by Kay Marshall
One voice can make a difference, especially when joined with other like-minded people. The electric cooperative world needs your voice and needs your involvement so that together our cooperative voice can be heard by those in Washington. It is our goal to encourage and inspire you to take a moment and participate in the Our Energy, Our Future campaign that is sponsored by the National Rural Electric Association (NRECA). All state cooperatives should share in this effort to shed light on ways for our state and local representatives to be more aware of the needs of the electric cooperatives that their constituents use.
Last month we introduced you to the ideal behind Our Energy, Our Future and urged you to take a moment of your day to visit the website www.OurEnergy.Coop. The easy-to-use online form allows you to choose to send an email directly from the website or to copy and paste the information and email it from your own computer. We will include the suggested text and our local contacts, on page 7 of this issue, for those who prefer to mail their letter through the postal service.
Why do we want Tombigbee’s member-owners to participate? That’s an easy question to answer. We want your participation because we want Tombigbee’s VOICE heard.
Although your cooperative is in constant communication with our elected officials they also need to hear from their constituents. As well, each cooperative in Alabama is tracked, statistically, for participation. Currently, Tombigbee falls well below the adverage participation of other cooperatives in the AREA family, and quite frankly... we’d like to see that change too!
According to Glenn English, CEO of NRECA, “The Our Energy, Our Future campaign allows member-owners to join thousands of American consumers who have already sent 546,000 letters and emails to elected officials asking about our nation’s energy and climate policy.”
The OurEnergy.coop website states that:
"There is a challenge before Congress to make sure we have affordable electricity while meeting climate change goals. High costs are already putting electricity prices out of reach for too many. And unless we act soon, within a decade there won’t be enough electric power to meet our needs in the future to run our homes and businesses.
Americans deserve to know the impact any legislation will have on their family budget. By working together we can find the right solutions, the right balance. Our voice as a cooperative is important. Our voice and our actions can send a collective request to elected officials. Our voice can represent our counties, our cities and towns, our communities, and our personal concerns.”
It is easy to make your concerns known, and now is the time to make that effort real. Remember... if you need help, have any questions or would like more information, our staff is happy to provide that for you.
Making your voice heard is easy... here’s how!
There are several ways for you to participate and help us reach our elected officials.
- Use the online form at www.OurEnergy.Coop
- Stop by the cooperative and pick up a card
- Copy the text and contact information here
WHAT TO SAY: Please note that the first part of the letter should contain the text below. You may add to this information as well.
Subject: Our Energy, Our Future: What will it cost to meet our nation’s electricity needs and environmental concerns?
Body of letter: Balancing our nation’s growing electricity needs with environmental concerns will be difficult. Our nation’s demand for electricity is expected to grow 30% by 2030. Any plan put forth by Congress must develop technologies to reduce carbon emissions and at the same time keep electricity affordable.
As my legislator, when you consider energy and environmental legislation I want you to answer these questions for me: What will you do to keep electricity rates affordable? What is our national plan to meet the nation’s growing demand for electric power and what are you doing to support the development of the technology we will need to meet these needs?
Please remember that any legislation you support will affect American consumers’ wallets.
I look forward to your answers and will share them with my friends and neighbors. Thank you.
Sincerely,
YOUR NAME HERE
REQUIRED: Your name, your home address, city, state, and zip code. A telephone number at which you can be, or do not mind being, reached. It is important that you also include your state and your cooperative.
WHO TO CONTACT:
- Congressman Robert Aderholt - 1433 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515
- Senator Jeff Sessions - 335 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510
- Senator Richard Shelby - 110 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510
- Representative Mike Millican - (serving Marion and Winston) - Room 628-F, 11 S. Union Street, Montgomery, AL 36130 OR 995 Country Estates Drive, Hamilton, AL 35570
- Representative William Thigpen, Sr. - (serving Fayette, Lamar and Tuscaloosa) - Room 638-D, 11 S. Union Street, Montgomery, AL 36130 OR 103 1st Avenue N.W. Suite 2, Fayette, AL 35555
Please tell your U.S. Senators and Representative the importance of affordable electricity bills.Elected officials truly appreciate hearing personal stories from their constituents, and your cooperative needs the support you can offer!
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