Letter to Editor | We support Fant, Osterman for OPALCO board

||| FROM SUE BAUER, SANDI FRIEL, NORRIS CARLSON |||

After listening to the recent OPALCO board candidate forum, we found both Rick Fant and Tom Osterman to be compelling choices from an environmental protection perspective.

Mr. Fant spoke from a perspective of open-mindedness when considering upcoming electricity-generation choices that inevitably must be made. It was notable that he recognized that the Lower Snake River Dams may have outlived their usefulness. Fant also had some basic knowledge of the global greenhouse gas emissions dilemma and that high-level parties (e.g. Bonneville Power Administration, “BPA”) are key to organizing the tapering of emissions.

Mr. Osterman was knowledgeable and experienced in the areas of both micro-grid (such as OPALCO’s recent Decatur project) deployment and communication back-up systems both of which are critical considerations for our county.

We wish all candidates had much more to say on the greenhouse gas emission global deadline of 2050 since electric utilities are at the very heart of whether we’ll succeed or not. Likewise we wish we had heard more about conservation of electricity in our collective lifestyles in hopes of bridging the gap between responsible generation and consumption. However we would be happy to see both Mr. Fant and Mr. Osterman on our OPALCO board.