PVREA members have candidates with diverse views

By Dan MacArthur
Fossil Creek Current

More than 35,000 members of the Poudre Valley REA will be asked to select four board members from eight candidates seeking seats. Voting deadline is March 15. Profiles of the candidates follow.

District 1, Position B, At Large

James W. Park, 64, Kersey. PVREA member 40 years. Board member 18 years. Farmer.

Park said he wants to continue applying his deep and extensive understanding of the REA to direct its continuing adaptation to new demands and expectations.

Certified as a credentialed cooperative director, Park said more changes have occurred in the last two to three years than during his entire previous tenure on the board.

"There isn't one form of power generation that doesn't have problems," Park said. "It's been a real chore to come up with a balanced plan."

Everybody's an environmentalist today, Park contended, praising many of the ideas offered by critics. But, he said, they don't understand the interrelationships in a "very complicated system."

While alternative sources certainly have their place, Park said coal is still the cheapest and most reliable way to generate additional power sooner with Tri-State "pretty much maxed out."

Tim Hurst, 35, Fort Collins. PVREA member six years. Energy policy analyst and writer.

Hurst said he is anxious to apply his knowledge of energy policy gained in graduate school to more quickly develop renewable energy to reduce the co-op's dependence on coal-generated power provided by Tri-State.

"I don't think they have the same sense of urgency I have," he said. "If we push ahead with more coal we're going to find ourselves in a difficult situation soon when the feds pass a carbon tax."

Hurst said he envisions lots of small-scale wind, solar and biomass generators providing jobs and reducing the demand for base-load generation. Base load is the amount of electrical generating capacity required to handle the minimum demand.

"I really see an opportunity for member-owners in developing really abundant renewable resources," Hurst said. "We've got a great wind, solar, biomass resource."

District 2, Position C, Boulder County

Robert Lock, 70, Longmont. PVREA member 25 years. Board member three years. Retired plumber and mechanical contractor.

Lock said he believes PVREA will continue to benefit from his experience and knowledge gained through the demanding coursework required to become certified as a credentialed cooperative director - a curriculum he is on the verge of completing.

"I think I'm the right person for the job," Lock said. "There's a lot of learning about it and it takes years to learn."

With an average 10 percent growth in demand annually, Lock said the co-op has no alternative other than relying on coal-fired generation to meet foreseeable demands because "our base load is basically used up."

Single-issue critics contend that conservation and renewable energy will solve everything, according to Lock. "I don't buy that," he said. "It's very foolish."

While renewables and conservation can reduce total energy demand, he said, they do not reduce base-load demands.

Steve Szabo, 61, Longmont. PVREA member five years. Organic grower who retired after 28 years in the telecommunications industry.

Szabo said he wants to promote greater reliability and minimize rate hikes through increased energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources throughout the co-op's service territory.

"I think energy efficiency is the cheapest thing you can buy," Szabo said.

Greater use of renewable energy will reduce the need for building more coal-fired power plants, which he maintained will result in double-digit annual rate increases.

Further, Szabo said, electricity produced through wind and biomass will help keep farmers in business. At the same time he said it will provide more dispersed sources of energy to avoid the single point of failure resulting from reliance on large coal-fired generating plants.

Coal won't be going away anytime soon, Szabo conceded, "but we've got to start reducing our fossil fuel use. It's going to run out."

District 3, Position F, Weld County

Jack Schneider did not respond to an interview request. According to information provided to PVREA, he has been a co-op member 39 years and a board member for six years. An Eaton resident, he is a farmer, rancher and developer.

"As a board member, I must strike a balance between wind, solar, natural gas and coal-fired generation to assure a cleaner, constant and economical supply of electricity," he stated. "I believe with my credentialed cooperative director certification and board experience, I can strike that balance."

District 4, Position H, Larimer County

Dean Anderson, 77, Berthoud. PVREA member 41 years. Board member 21 years. Farmer and rancher.

Anderson said he believes "experience counts quite a bit," and he wants to resist the efforts of green-power advocates who are attempting to "shove it down everybody's throat."

"They think that green power is the answer to everything," he said.

Anderson agreed that wind power does have its place but also its own problems. Wind power, he said, is expensive, unreliable, and cannot be stored for distribution as needed.

"Green power isn't constant. The wind doesn't blow 24 hours a day," he said. "You've got to go back to the base power and that's coal."

Without building more coal-fired power plants to serve the growing Front Range population, "In a few years we could see rolling blackouts," Anderson predicted.

"You have to look at reality," he said. "One of the laws you can't break is the law of supply and demand.

Roger Alexander, 52, Fort Collins. PVREA member seven years. Sales engineer for a solar energy integrator.

Alexander said he wants to apply his passion for pursuing alternative energy and conservation measures to minimize rate increases and dependence on coal.

"Can't is not in my vocabulary," he said.

Nobody is suggesting shutting down coal-fueled generating plants, Alexander said, because wind and solar energy won't meet base-load demands in the short term. But, he said, coal plants will continue to become more costly as they face increasing mandates to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide.

Alexander said he's convinced that alternatives can reduce the need for building more by providing a greater share of the country's need for electricity. Already, he said, renewable energy provides about a quarter of Germany's demand.

"It's the lack of political will that makes that impossible, not the lack of technology," Alexander said. "There's proof it can be done."

Bob Berling, 76, Windsor and Red Feather Lakes. PVREA member for 40 years. Retired after 28-year career at the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation as manager of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project. Now private consulting engineer for international water development projects.

"I have a passion for the member who may not be able to pay the increasing cost," he said, pointing to Poudre Valley's 10 percent rate increase this year.

While "they've done a great job of providing power at a reasonable cost," Berling said, he also believes the REA should encourage development of less-costly sources of electrical generation including coal, hydro and especially nuclear.

"I'd like to see them get an application in for nuclear," he said.

"Wind-generated power is expensive," Berling said. "It just doesn't compete with other sources.

Without additional generating capacity, he said, the choices are clear: "If you can't generate capacity, you have to reduce demand."