Improving energy efficiency is the fastest way to meet our baseload needs for electricity while saving consumers and businesses money and reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.
Stepping up our efforts on energy efficiency should be a no-brainer, but some utilities feel otherwise and aren’t shy about letting state legislators know.
I received this action alert from Plains Justice today:
Iowa clean energy advocates, your help is urgently needed. Two good pieces of legislation that would lower your energy bills and decrease our reliance on dirty energy are stalled in the statehouse. Unless legislators hear from you now, this money-saving legislation will die before the full House and Senate can vote on it.
House Study Bill 150 and Senate Study Bill 1191 would save you money by requiring Iowa electric and natural gas utilities to invest in strong energy efficiency programs, the cheapest and cleanest way to meet our energy needs. According to current filings before the Iowa Utilities Board, energy efficiency costs only 3 cents per kilowatt hour, while new coal generation can cost more than three times as much. Some current studies put the cost of power from new nuclear plants at 25 to 30 cents per kilowatt hour.
Energy efficiency is common sense, but some utility companies don’t want to bother. They can put more of your hard-earned dollars in their pockets if they build new coal plants and new nuclear plants instead. Call these legislators today and ask them to move the bills forward!
Senator Mike Gronstal (SSB 1191) mike.gronstal@legis.state.ia.us (515) 281-4610
Rep. Pat Murphy (HSB 150) Pat.Murphy@legis.state.ia.us (563) 582-5922
Governor Chet Culver (515) 281-5211 (Please ask the Governor to tell the committee members to move the bills forward.)
Senator Jerry Behn (SSB 1191) jerry.behn@legis.state.ia.us (515) 432-7327
Senator Tom Hancock (SSB 1191) tom.hancock@legis.state.ia.us (563) 876-3219
Senator Tom Rielly (SSB 1191) tom.rielly@legis.state.ia.us (641) 673-5878
Rep. Nathan Reichert (HSB 150) Nathan.Reichert@legis.state.ia.us (515) 281-3221
Rep. Donovan Olson (HSB 150) Donovan.Olson@legis.state.ia.us (515) 432-8163
Rep. Chuck Soderberg (HSB 150) Chuck.Soderberg@legis.state.ia.us (712) 546-6136
Rep. Nick Wagner (HSB 150) nick.wagner@legis.state.ia.us (515) 281-3221
The full text of HSB 150 is available at http://tinyurl.com/Iowa-HSB-150.
The full text of SSB 1191 is available at http://tinyurl.com/Iowa-SSB-1191.
Thank you for helping Iowans save money on our energy bills!
If you live in the districts of any of the above legislators, definitely call. Phone calls are harder to ignore than e-mails. However, many legislators don’t routinely return calls to Iowans who don’t live in their districts. So you might want to e-mail the people on the above list if you are not one of their constituents.