Association of Missouri Electric Co-ops CEO Barry Hart testified today before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on climate change legislation.

Speaking on behalf of more than two million rural Missouri residents, Hart said the proposed legislation "would significantly increase costs to Missourians just as they are beginning to shed some of the financial challenges imposed by one of the deepest recessions in the last half-century."

Hart cited a joint study commissioned by the Missouri cooperative, investor-owned, and municipal utilities showing that the Waxman-Markey bill would lead to "rate increases averaging between 12 percent and 26 percent starting in 2012 with the potential to reach as much as 50 percent should utilities be forced to switch from coal to natural gas for a significant portion of their fuel."

Hart told the committee that a campaign by his association intended to facilitate public discussion of climate policy generated an overwhelming response:

"Electric cooperative members in Missouri are very concerned about possible rate increases and their impact on their families and businesses as the Senate works to craft climate change policy.

That fact is evidenced by the more than 750,000 messages sent to our elected officials by Missouri electric cooperative members asking them to keep electricity affordable and reliable. We have never seen this level of grassroots involvement on an issue in our cooperatives1 history."

Missouri's co-ops have taken significant steps to reduce their carbon footprint:
"Associated Electric Cooperative was one of the first utilities to join the Chicago Climate Exchange, the world1s first and North America1s only legally binding greenhouse gas emissions tracking program.

"We are partnering with several Missouri utilities to fund a three-year project to study the viability of storing CO2 underground in Missouri's unique geology. In addition, Missouri's electric co-ops are working with two universities to determine whether algae can capture CO2 from power plant flue gas and produce beneficial byproducts like biodiesel. However, those projects will require many years of research before they are commercially viable."

Given the cooperatives' proactive approach -- and the fact that their reliance on coal stems from a time when natural gas and nuclear power were out of favor in Washington Missouri co-op consumers deserve "climate change legislation that would distribute the costs of the legislation fairly and equitably."