The General Manager of North Central Electric Cooperative took aim at President Obama’s climate change initiative saying proposed EPA regulations for coal plants will force electric bills to increase, adversely impacting the poor, elderly and working people who struggle to pay their electric bills.

General Manager Markus Bryant spoke Tuesday in Wellington at the annual meeting of Lorain-Medina Rural Electric Cooperative (LMRE), the other electric cooperative he oversees. North Central Electric of Attica and LMRE have been operating a management and shared service agreement since 1998. This was Bryant’s first opportunity to publically address President Obama’s climate change address on June 25 at Georgetown University.

During the LMRE business meeting, General Manager Markus Bryant warned members about the harmful effects a recent policy speech by President Obama could have for cooperative members’ electric bills. Among the items in the President’s speech was a call for the EPA to issue rules reducing the amount of carbon dioxide emitted at existing coal-fired power plants, such as the Buckeye Power Cardinal Generating Station in Brilliant, OH, which supplies most of the power for Ohio’s 393,000 cooperative consumers. Over the past decade, more than $1 billion was invested in environmental controls at the cooperatives’ coal-fired facilities and today they are considered among the cleanest in the world.

Bryant said approximately 80 percent of Ohio’s electricity is generated from coal. Across America, about 40 to 50 percent of electricity is generated using coal.

“President Obama’s EPA directive could double or triple our wholesale power rates. And if these rules force more coal-fired power plants to close, then our electric grid reliability will be at risk,” Bryant said.

Bryant said northern Ohio has yet to fully recover from the 2008 recession and Buckeye’s wholesale rate increases have impacted cooperative members. “About 20 percent of our members do not pay their current bill on time. What do you think will happen if EPA carries out the President’s directive? It’s bad enough we have to feel the pain of high gasoline prices at the gas pump. If President Obama gets his way, then we’re going to feel the same kind of pain at the electric plug.”

“All of us have a basic need for affordable energy. We believe President Obama’s ‘War on Coal’ is really a war on the poor, the elderly on fixed incomes and on working people struggling to pay their electric bills.”

Bryant said electric cooperatives across the country will be using every resource available to them to fight the president’s proposal.

“Most importantly, we will confront Congress on this issue,” he said.

Bryant urged members to stay informed and get involved by contacting their elected representatives and by joining ACRE Cooperative Owners for Political Action®, the political action committee for electric cooperative members. North Central has about 300 members involved

“Folks, this is serious. When we ask for your help by joining Cooperative Owners, by writing letters or by making phone calls — we aren’t kidding around,” he said.

North Central serves nearly 9,700 consumers in Seneca, Crawford, Wyandot, Huron, Richland, Hancock, Wood and Sandusky counties.