Raleigh, N.C. —With the U.S. Senate poised to begin debate on climate change legislation, six electric cooperative representatives from North Carolina personally delivered more than 10,000 postcards from state’s electric cooperative consumer-members to North Carolina’s Senators on Capitol Hill.
The North Carolina representatives joined cooperative colleagues from 27 other states across the nation. North Carolina’s electric cooperative representatives urged Senators Hagan and Burr to work with cooperatives to ensure climate change legislation is fair, affordable and achievable.
“We want to make sure our members’ voices are heard,” said Nelle Hotchkiss, senior vice president of corporate relations for North Carolina Association of Electric Cooperatives. “The thousands of cards are tangible evidence that cooperative consumers are paying attention and have real concerns about this legislation.”
“The response from cooperative members has been overwhelming,” said Glenn English, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. “Boxes on top of boxes on top of boxes of signed post-cards – that is what a genuine grassroots campaign looks like.”
The postcard campaign is part of Our Energy, Our Future™, a national grassroots effort by rural electric cooperatives to engage consumer-members in a conversation with elected officials about how we meet climate change goals while keeping electricity reliable and affordable.
More than a half-a-million postcards, the first wave in an ongoing postcard campaign, were delivered to Senate offices this week. “It’s important for co-ops to have that kind of ongoing dialogue with their elected leaders,” Hotchkiss said.