Dear Representative: The Izaak Walton League of Iowa and the Sierra Club, Iowa Chapter, are united in their analysis of the Energy Utility De-Regulation bill currently available for debate in the Iowa House and Senate, H.F. 2530 and S.F. 2361. Environmental organizations have advocated for many years reducing energy waste by efficiency measures and greater reliance on cleaner renewable fuel resources to generate electricity. This makes sense for the environment and the consumer. The energy deregulation bill must result in a system that will deliver clean, affordable, reliable electricity for years into the future. Renewable energy in Iowa can be generated from several sources, such as wind, solar and biofuels. Much of these renewable sources can be produced economically in Iowa as part of our energy generation. We believe that an additional 10% of our energy can come from renewable resources over a very few years. This would result in cleaner air, cleaner water, and answer concerns on global warming to a great extent. The additional 10% of generation from renewable resources has been the goal of the Responsible De-Regulation for Iowa (REDI) Coalition in its negotiations with legislators and the industry. We very clearly want this energy generation to be meterable in Iowa, not imported by accounting sleight of hand from some far off generation site. The past history of the energy industry in Iowa does not cause us to feel that they will comply with these environmental objectives. In 1983, as a State Representative, I (Lyle Krewson) helped to pass the Iowa Alternative Energy Production Statute. A utility was required to purchase all electricity produced in its service area by a facility which uses alternative power at the price the utility would avoid if it were to build a new conventional plant. This included solar, wind, waste management, resource recovery, and refuse-derived fuels. In 1984, I helped to add a net metering requirement in which credit is given to customers when they generate more electricity than they use. This avoids the situation where customers generate electricity and sell the extra at one rate but must repurchase the electricity at a higher retail cost. Over the years, the energy industry has made a number of attempts to remove or repeal the renewable energy requirements. We have no reason to believe that under de-regulation as proposed, these companies will be more environmentally aware than under the current regulated system. That is why we advocate the requirements outlined above. The Izaak Walton League of Iowa and the Sierra Club, Iowa Chapter, believe that unless we have legal guarantees on the increased use of environmentally sound generation and the use of renewable resources as well as continued energy efficiency initiatives, then the De-Regulation bills in the Iowa legislature should be defeated. We urge you to vote NO this year. The environmental proposal purported to be signed off onš by the Governor and the industry is not acceptable! Thank you for thinking about this issue. It is vitally important to all Iowans, to our electrical energy security and to our economic future. Roy Overton, M.D. Lyle Krewson Izaak Walton Legue of Iowa Sierra Club Iowa Chapter 622 S.W. 59th Street 6403 Aurora Avenue #3 Des Moines, IA 50312 Des Moines, IA 50322 515/255-1951 515/276-8947 [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask] ____________________________________________ Lyle Krewson 6403 Aurora Avenue #3 Des Moines, IA 50322-2862 [log in to unmask] 515/276-8947 - Phone/Fax ____________________________________________ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For SC email list T-and-C, send: GET TERMS-AND-CONDITIONS.CURRENT to [log in to unmask]