Poudre Valley REA vote renews green debate

By Dan MacArthur
North Forty News

Regardless the outcome of continued challenges to its direction, the Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association's 70th annual meeting will reflect some big changes, at least on the surface.

For years the consumer-owned utility hosted elaborate events on the Colorado State University campus. Hearty meals--more than 1,000 last year--were served to members and their guests followed by an address by a keynote speaker.

This year's shindig beginning at 7:30 a.m. March 28 will instead offer a hot, farm-style breakfast, guest speakers and demonstrations. The meeting also has been moved to the First National Bank Exhibition Halls at The Ranch (Larimer County Fairgrounds and Events Center) at Interstate 25 and Crossroads Boulevard. For the early birds, balloon rides, weather permitting, start at 6:30 a.m.

The member-owners of the largest cooperative provider of power in Colorado will choose candidates to fill four available, three-year terms on the 11-member board of directors. At the same time, they will decide whether to reduce the size of that board to seven members while eliminating and reallocating the two at-large director positions.

Ballots will be mailed to members on March 2 with additional ones available for those voting in person at the annual meeting, according to communications specialist Ric Soulen.

Also, for the first time, PVREA has hired an outside accounting firm to collect and tally the ballots. They should be returned directly to the accounting firm in the envelope provided, not to PVREA.

One thing that hasn't changed is the often-harsh clash of priorities and cultures generally divided by generation and geography.

The primarily rural traditionalists hold that conservation and alternative energy are but part of the portfolio required to meet a rapidly growing demand for electricity that soon will outstrip supply. Toward that end, the current board agreed to extend until 2050 its contract with power supplier Tri-State Generation and Transmission, which plans to build additional coal-fired power plants in western Kansas.

"There's simply no single answer, and electric cooperatives know from experience that it will take a variety of energy resources and new technologies to ensure reliable and affordable electricity in the coming years," chief executive officer Brad Gaskill wrote in PVREA's most recent newsletter.

"We must invest in renewable energy, clean coal technology, nuclear power, an updated transmission grid and improvements in energy efficiency across the board," he maintained.

The typically more urban dissenters assert that the utility must aggressively embrace renewable energy sources. By doing so, they insist future energy demands could be met without building more carbon-producing power plants burning untold tons of coal and costing billions of bucks.

"They're a good bunch of people but they've been in place so long they're asleep at the wheel," said Steve Szabo, one of the founders of the PV Pioneers, an independent, nonprofit organization composed of PVREA customers.

The group is advocating change, insisting that "business-as-usual will no longer save us from the trend of ever-increasing electric bills, or help us to curb our carbon emissions and the pollution of our air and water from coal-burning power plants."

"I don't want another coal plant built," said Szabo, one of the three reform candidates fielded by the Pioneers. "Coal is obsolete. We have to start moving away from that."

Making his third run for the board, Szabo, a Longmont organic farmer retired after 28 years in the telecommunications industry, faces farmer and 15-year board member Ronald Sutherland for a Boulder County seat on the board.

Fellow Pioneer and renewable energy systems designer Roger Alexander of Fort Collins also is making his third run for one of the Larimer County positions. He is competing against Livermore rancher and 26-year PVREA board veteran Ed Hansen.

And Jan Peterson, a Fort Collins architect and Pioneer member, is challenging Loveland farmer and nine-year board member Rick Johnson for another of the Larimer County positions.

Retired Fort Collins accountant and three-year board member Gail Spencer Hole is unopposed in her re-election bid for a Larimer County seat.

The Pioneers have not endeared themselves to incumbents, bluntly stating their intention to oust them for new directors "who will aggressively pursue cost-saving investments in energy efficiency, who will diversify PVREA's energy portfolio, and who will help grow our local economy with wind and solar electric generation."

Following a modest start, the Pioneers have made gains toward their goal, especially after last year's conversion to mail voting. Alexander came within 44 votes of victory while Szabo lost by 225 votes and fellow Pioneer Tim Hurst trailed by 268.

Such pressure, they contend, has led to some substantial changes with PVREA such as paying retail rates for excess electricity customers generate through wind and sun. But much of the rest they describe as window dressing. "We can do more to reduce our dependence on these costly, dirty resources than merely handing out light bulbs and a few appliance rebates of questionable effectiveness," according to the web site pvpioneers.org.

This election could also mark the first move toward restructuring the board and reducing its size. The board currently comprises 11 directors, five from Larimer County, two from Weld, two from Boulder and two at large.

Last fall the board decided to seek authority to eliminate the two at-large seats and reassign them, one to Larimer and the other to Weld County. The move, according to the board, was aimed at reflecting the population distribution within the cooperative and intended to more fairly distribute representation.

The elimination and reallocation would occur in 2010 and 2011 when the terms of the two at-large directors expire.

PVREA was organized 70 years ago during the Depression to bring electricity and economic development to a then far-flung and largely isolated rural region. The member-owned cooperative today serves nearly 36,000 customers across 5,760 square miles with more than 3,800 miles of transmission lines. It extends generally into the mountains and plains surrounding Fort Collins, Loveland and Berthoud--including Livermore, Red Feather Lakes and Virginia Dale.

Brief profiles of the candidates follow.

District 4 Position K - Larimer County

Roger Alexander, a renewable energy systems designer and energy rater and auditor, has been a PVREA member since 2001.

Alexander said he became active after learning that the co-op's electricity provider, Tri-State Generation and Transmission, was asking its member co-ops to extend their exclusive contracts for 50 years so Tri-State could finance new multi-billion-dollar coal-fired power plants in Kansas.

"It became clear very early in the process that neither the PVREA Board nor management shared our view that it is imprudent to invest such a large sum of money in a dirty, destructive and possibly soon to-be-obsolete technology," he stated in his candidate profile.

"We need to start moving toward clean renewable energy sources and serious conservation and efficiency programs to meet our current challenges," Alexander maintained. "Clinging to the past will hinder or eliminate the future possibilities."

Ed Hansen has been a PVREA member for 49 years and director for 26 years, serving in every office. He also has served 12 years as an at-large director and executive committee member representing PVREA on the board of the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association. Tri-State provides electricity to PVREA and 44 other member co-ops in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska and New Mexico.

A rancher, Hansen owns and operates the Circle Ranches in Livermore and is a former board member of the national and Colorado Cattlemen's associations.

Hansen contends that his record and extensive previous experience qualify him to best represent the member owners and make a positive impact on the cooperative.

"To accomplish this I will follow the same philosophy that I have always used, common sense and prudent business judgment, keeping the members' interests first while maintaining sound financial decisions, including investigating alternative renewable energy projects," he stated in his candidate profile.

District 4 Position I - Larimer County

Rick Johnson has been a Poudre Valley REA member since 1969 and a director on its board for nine years, having served as president, vice president and treasurer. He also is a director of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and has earned its board leadership certification. A Loveland-area farmer, Johnson additionally served on the Larimer County Farm Bureau Board and is a director of the Loveland Beet Growers Association.

"Acknowledging our unpredictable economic times, my goal for PVREA is to provide the highest-quality service and safety to our members at the most reasonable price possible," Johnson stated in his candidate profile.

"I will continue to listen to our customers and embrace new technologies to help us meet those goals. Using this vision as my guide, I will dedicate my time and energy to fulfill my director's duties."

Jan Peterson, a PVREA member since 1992, is an architect, planner and small-scale developer specializing in cost-effective sustainable developments.

Peterson said he was motivated to run because of the misinformation campaign by the coal industry to discredit the indisputable fact that carbon emissions are the prime cause of global warming.

"We need to curtail our use of fossil fuels for energy production," he said. "There is no such thing as clean coal."

Additionally, Peterson said, coal is not as cheap as claimed and its costs will only climb as the economically recoverable resource becomes depleted within 20 to 30 years.

"We're on the wrong path in the REA," he said.

"It instead should embrace renewable energy that can immediately and economically meet its needs. This is not pie-in-the-sky, 10-years-down-the-road stuff. It's here right now."

District 4 Position J - Larimer County

Gail Spencer Hole, a PVREA member since 2000, has served as a director for three years. A Fort Collins resident, she is a retired accountant and former owner of a Denver-area tax and accounting firm.

Facing a future of complex issues, Hole stated she wants to continue applying her skills toward ensuring PVREA can meet a growing demand for reasonably priced, reliable electric service while remaining financially sound.

"My first term serving on the board has been as rewarding as it was interesting and educational," Hole stated in her candidate profile. "While completing director classes I gained insight into environmental issues and challenges of increasing electricity demand which confront all electric utilities. My accounting background enables me to understand financial reports, helping provide board direction in maintaining a fiscally strong association while being mindful of member rates."

District 2 Position D - Boulder County

Ronald G. Sutherland has been a PVREA member since 1965 and director for 15 years, serving as president, vice president and treasurer. He also earned board certification from the Rural Electric Cooperative Association. Retired as system test engineer at IBM, Sutherland is a Boulder-area farmer. He also has served as a director on the St. Vrain and Left Hand Water Conservancy Board since 1993 and treasurer of the Left Hand Ditch Co. since 1992.

A user of REA service all his life, Sutherland believes Poudre Valley REA will be confronted with unprecedented challenges meeting new demands placed upon it.

"America and PVREA are facing an energy crisis in the coming years," Sutherland stated. "Meeting growing energy demand and keeping electricity safe, affordable and reliable will take leadership on energy policy. We need both base-load and alternative power sources."

Stephen Szabo, a PVREA member since 2003, is a Navy veteran retired from 28 years in the telecommunications industry focused on network protection and reliability. He now is a sales and event manager and organic farmer near Longmont. Szabo also is a director on the Holland Ditch Company board and the I Have a Dream Foundation.

Szabo said he remains convinced that the current board is out of touch as evidenced by its continued dependence on coal, as well as the "absurd" $177,000 spent on last year's annual meeting.

PVREA, Szabo said, should pressure its power supplier, the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, to abandon its fixation on building another coal-fired plant. He estimated such a facility would cost $6 billion in addition to sky-high operating expenses as coal becomes scarcer and carbon emission standards more stringent.

Beyond the costs, Szabo said, a reliance on coal reduces the utility's reliability by putting all its energy eggs in one basket.