Our political leaders have difficult issues to address in regards to our economy and environment.  One of their primary concerns is the subject of global warming.  Due to an extensive amount of media coverage, carbon dioxide is claimed to be the primary greenhouse gas that has caused global warming and coal-fired power plants are the main culprit.  This belief has become so popular that any scientist who disagrees with this theory is an outcast to his profession, although there is a lot of room for debate.  Greenhouse gases make up only a tenth of a percent of the total atmosphere and of that, man made greenhouse gas emissions account for only a half of one percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions. 

However, last year almost every plan to build a coal-fired electric generating plant in the United States was canceled due to public and governmental opposition.  Any one of these plants produces massive amounts of highly reliable electricity.  The problem is that replacing this generation with other forms is not cheap or easily done. 

Natural gas plants are one main reason our wholesale fuel charges are now at such high levels.  Building more of these plants increases the demand and therefore the cost of natural gas.  These plants also emit carbon dioxide.  The more natural gas we import, the more reliant we are on foreign sources, which makes the price even more volatile. 

Renewable generation is often mentioned as the fix for our energy shortages.  We certainly need to use renewable sources as much as possible, but the reality is that today this technology cannot provide the amount of energy we need.  The cost is extremely high, the availability of the electricity is unreliable, and the land requirements for comparable facilities are enormous.  For example, a 700 megawatt coal plant requires approximately 700 acres.  To produce 700 megawatts with a solar voltaic system, 9,800 acres of entirely flat land would be required. 

Nuclear power plants are another alternative to solving an impending energy generation shortage.  However there is strong opposition to such plants, construction costs are astronomical, and it now takes ten years to design, permit, and build such a facility.  Unfortunately, until these nuclear plants can be built or other alternatives can be developed, coal remains our most reliable, least expensive option. We have a 250 year supply of it here in the United States.  And while America is restricting the construction of these coal plants here, we are exporting enormous amounts of coal to other countries like China and India.  Obviously, the emissions from their unfiltered plants do not stop at their borders, thus polluting the air we breathe.  Causing our economy to suffer and jeopardizing our power supply is not the answer to this worldwide issue. 

If this trend is allowed to continue and more restrictions are placed on coal-fired and nuclear power plants here in the U.S., one thing is for certain and that is power costs are going to go up dramatically.  It has been estimated that electricity bills could easily double.  In addition, the high costs of natural gas and other alternative energy sources will increase your monthly bill even more.

We certainly want to protect our environment and reduce our dependency on foreign supplies.  However, in the race to go “GREEN” our legislators need to recognize the financial impacts they will create for all of us if they continue to mandate unrealistic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and undoable requirements for percentages of renewable energy.  They could sabotage our entire energy grid as well as our national economy and still not make any measurable difference in the atmosphere.

Your French Broad EMC board of directors is constantly looking for ways to control costs while making sure we can provide our customers with reliable electricity at an affordable price.  We are also letting our legislators know that responsible legislation is needed to ensure that we all can continue to have electricity anytime we need it and it will still be at a price we can afford.  We need your help in this effort.  I want to encourage each of you to let your political representatives know that you want to keep electricity affordable for everyone.  At the same time, we will continue to look for new ways to control our costs without sacrificing our current level of service and fight to keep electricity costs manageable for our members.

Thank You,
Jeff Loven
Email: jeff.loven@frenchbroademc.com


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