Public Power - January/February 2008 - (Page 36) FOR GOVERNING BOARDS Grass Roots Advocacy: A Powerful Force By William Atkinson of the many benefits of membership in the American Public Power Association is the opportunity to join forces with other like-minded individuals and entities to promote propublic power utility agendas with legislators, regulators and other policymakers. One of the most useful strategies involves grass roots advocacy, which focuses on activities that are done by or at the direction of local individuals or groups to influence legislative issues. “Grass roots advocacy is one of the strengths of public power,” said Joy Ditto, director, legislative affairs, for APPA. She believes it is important for the people in the districts and states to make their points heard on Capitol Hill. “Certainly, we at APPA have personal relationships with the offices on Capitol Hill, but the people in these offices aren’t as moved by our arguments if there isn’t input from constituents,” she said. In other words, success comes from a strong mix of constituent contact as well as lobbyist contact. A lot of people may think, “My congressperson won’t listen to me. I’m just one person.” But touching base with members of Congress even just once or twice a year will have an impact, Ditto said. Each voice is one of many that, together, can have a real impact. “We are in 49 states and have 2,010 public power systems,” she said. “Compared to investor-owned utilities, this is a lot. Granted, the IOUs are bigger, but we have a stronger 36 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2008 One presence in small towns, and members of Congress love to hear from their small-town constituents, such as mayors and other board members.” APPA’s Policymakers Council is an effective voice for public power utilities. The council is composed of local elected officials, such as mayors, city council members, and utility board members. “The council is a strong, driving force in APPA, and members do a lot of our grass roots advo- letters they can send to their members of Congress. While APPA does not track state-specific issues, Tanksley said there are also a lot of opportunities for board members to discuss such issues with their legislators at the state level. “Our affiliates, which include statewide public power associations, focus some of their efforts on federal issues, but focus the vast majority of their efforts on specific state issues,” she said. Climate change is among the key issues APPA is confronting now. “It could be a few years before Congress acts on a bill, but it is a very important topic,” Ditto said. In the meantime, board members can sue. “We want to become very aggressive in the coming year on this issue,” said Ditto. Even if you don’t have a specific issue to address, it is still worthwhile to stay in touch with your members of Congress, Ditto said. “For example, you can communicate simple ‘thank yous’ for their efforts on other issues that have been important to you or other things they have done that you feel are positive.“ Jim Jablonski, executive director of the Public Power Association of New Jersey, has learned that success with grass roots advocacy requires not only the engagement of legislators, but also of the public in general. This point has been driven While Congress is focused on climate change, there is a need to get them focused on the RTO issue. cacy, because they are the local elected officials and have the connections to the communities,” said Sarah Tanksley, APPA’s grass roots coordinator. When council members go to Washington for APPA meetings, they also use that time to meet with their members of Congress. “During these meetings, they advocate for some general public power issues, but they also advocate for some of their own local issues,” said Tanksley. APPA also has some issuespecific working groups, and members can begin participating in these. “Once they join, we keep them abreast of specific issues as they arise, as well as when it makes sense to take some action on these issues,” said Tanksley. APPA also provides action alerts to members and provides sample share with their members of Congress what they are doing in their communities to promote energy efficiency or other programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A related issue is market dysfunction in areas served by regional transmission organizations. “Electricity prices are artificially inflated because of the structure of the market,” said Ditto. How does this relate to climate change? “The money that goes into the pockets of large utilities and other generators, which are actually a small group, could be used by our members and other utilities to get involved in more energy-efficiency projects or other types of greenhouse gas mitigation,“ she said. While Congress is focused on climate change, there is a need to get them focused on the RTO ishome dramatically as it relates to the sometimes misunderstood reasons for the high electricity prices in New Jersey. The everrising cost of electricity is not an issue with the general public in New Jersey, he said. “The New Jersey Basic Generation Service auctions have resulted in extremely high prices, but the resulting high electricity prices have been explained away as simply a result of rising fuel costs.” Jablonski and his colleagues have been surprised at the apparent lack of response from people in New Jersey. “Besides losing business and industry, New Jersey has lost in excess of 200,000 residents in recent years,” he said. He and his colleagues recognize the importance of energizing legislators and regulators to pay attention to what is PUBLIC POWER
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