Energy bill unfair

The current climate change legislation introduced by Senators Barbara Boxer and John Kerry is extremely unfair to Iowa, and the midwest in particular. In a review of the pending climate change legislation, the Environmental Protection Agency recently published a report that finds because the midwest relies more heavily on affordable, coal-fired generation, the midwest will end up paying more than its fair share to help protect the environment. And California and Massachusetts, where the authors of the bill live and represent, will pay much less because those states are less reliant on coal generation due to their geographic location.

In addition, this legislation contains no cost containment features or ceiling cap provisions. Even more shocking is an economic analysis that estimates the price of gasoline could increase by 77 cents per gallon or an additional $800 per year for a family using 20 gallons of gasoline per week.

Iowa Lakes Electric Cooperative anticipates that electricty rates and other sources of energy will increase substantially due to this federal legislation...ILEC will continue our efforts to Iowa's U.S. senators and congressman about this regional disparity and how the current legislation will negatively impact those in the communities we serve. Recently, Iowa's cooperative member-owners delivered more than 75,000 cards to Senators Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin asking them to ensure that any legislation passed is fair and affordable....

Together, we can help Congress find a balanced energy solution to the concerns about climate change while, at the same time, protecting our environment against unfair legislation and rising energy costs.