Rural Missouri - February 2022 - 5

Missouri
RURAL
Volume 75 | FEBRUARY 2022 | Number 2
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Rural Missouri (ISSN 0164-8578) (USPS 473000)
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RM | PERSPECTIVES
Reliability: Not for sale
by Caleb Jones | cjones@amec.coop
A
s a teenager growing
up in Moniteau
County the car you
drove certainly was a
status symbol. After spending
countless summers, nights
and weekends cutting wood,
hauling hay and cleaning hog
barns, I got my hands on what
I consider the holy grail of all
cars: a 1964 Pontiac GTO. It
didn't exactly come in showroom
condition. After quite a
few nights of wrenching, my
dream car had a new motor
and was roadworthy.
It turned quite a few heads
whether I was driving it to California
High School or getting a second gear
scratch out on Highway 50. I loved
this car so much that when I left for
college at Mizzou I was scared to take
it with me for fear someone might
dent it in the dorm parking lot.
Instead, I parked it out by the shed
at my dad's farm, where apparently
it turned a lot of heads just sitting
there. Dad lost count of how many
people stopped to ask if the car was
for sale. Eventually he got tired of
saying no and hung a big sign on it
that read: " Not for Sale! "
Believe it or not, I still have that
GTO and I still have to tell people
no. I plan to hang on to it for a good
reason. While it doesn't have all the
fancy gadgets newer cars have, it's
still the most reliable car I've ever
owned. Despite its age, I can't think
of a time when it has left me on the
side of the road.
I think of that GTO every time I
hear Associated Electric Cooperative
CEO David Tudor talk about
power supply. As CEO of our member-owned
generation co-op, David
is tasked with making sure all of you
have reliable electricity. It's a duty
that he doesn't take lightly.
This duty was put to the test a year
ago when Winter Storm Uri brought
bitter cold weather as far south as the
Mexican border. In Texas, at least 210
people died because the electricity
Like the 1964 Pontiac GTO I drove to my senior prom,
the reliability you count on from your electric co-op is
not for sale at any price.
they thought would always be there
vanished. Homes were destroyed by
broken pipes, the state's ag industry
suffered over $600 million in losses
and the entire nation is paying higher
prices for chemicals, paint, fertilizer
and pesticides due to disruptions to
Texas industries.
Nowadays, I'm hearing folks attack
our reliable sources of power that
keep the heat on for electric co-op
members in Missouri. They actually
want to pay co-ops with your taxpayer
dollars to board up and close
their reliable baseload power plants.
I admire their goals, but they are
missing one crucial point: How are we
going to heat our homes without reliable
energy sources? Because the sad
fact is, the technology to replace the
reliability of a large coal or gas plant
does not exist - and there will no
doubt be more winter storms.
Your electric co-ops are committed
to reliable electricity. They have to
focus on new technology, and save
the shutdowns until that technology
is available.
Now that I think about it, maybe I
should dig up that old sign that was
on my GTO and put it out by one of
our plants. " Our reliability is not for
sale " sounds pretty good to me.
Caleb is the executive vice president
and CEO of the Association of Missouri
Electric Cooperatives and a member of
Boone Electric Cooperative.
FEBRUARY 2022 | RURALMISSOURI.COOP 5
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Rural Missouri - February 2022

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