Thursday, October 2, 2008

Fighting Back

Electric co-op sues Sierra Club for trying to stop coal-fired generators

10/1/2008 10:00 AM
By Michelle Massey, Texarkana Bureau


MARSHALL - The East Texas Electric Cooperative claims the actions of the Sierra Club to stop the co-op from constructing coal-fired generators will only result in higher electric bills for rural customers, according to a recent lawsuit.

The ETEC is a not-for-profit rural electric cooperative that provides the generation and transmission of electric services to rural customers in East Texas and Louisiana. ETEC provides electricity to the Sam Rayburn G&T Electric Cooperative, Tex-La Electric Cooperative of Texas Inc. and Northeast Texas Electric Cooperatives.

The co-op participates in a government program enacted by the Rural Electrification Act of 1936, which guarantees government loans to bring electricity to rural Americans. ETEC uses the money for construction and expansion of electric generation facilities, distribution lines and other physical structures necessary to generate and carry electricity. Read More

I have shared other stories about the Sierra Clubs’s goal of stopping all new development of coal fired plants. What you get from the Sierra Club in return is higher electricity costs, which make it especially tough on our rural electric co-ops. However, the Sierra Club finds themselves on the other side of a coal related lawsuit this time. Electricity is something that none of us would look forward to not having. But, if we do not build new generation plants, they will not be able to keep up with demand.

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