Feb. 5--Lydia Walters, communications and human resource manager for Dixie Electric Power Association, spoke to a group of community and business leaders Wednesday at the Laurel Country Club.
Among the topics of discussion were the history of the association, the new Mississippi Power electricity plant being built in Kemper County and pending cap and trade legislation.
Walters said Dixie Electric, which was originally incorporated in 1938, has been watching cap and trade bills in the House and Senate very closely.
"HR 2454 (the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009) has passed the House, but hasn't been picked up in the Senate yet," she said. "There are two other bills in the Senate."
Walters said the legislation being discussed would require the South Mississippi Electric Power Association, where Dixie Electric obtains its power, to use renewable resources for a large percentage of its power.
"Those resources are very limited in Mississippi," she said. "The access is not there. It's just a transfer of wealth."
Walters said the bill "caps" the number of emissions a power company can use, and forces them "trade" credits with other companies if they surpass that number.
"You're basically buying air," she said. "Dixie Electric is lobbying against that bill because we're very concerned. It would simply raise electric costs in Mississippi.
"We're watching the Senate very closely," Walters added. "The thought process in the Senate has changed recently (the election of Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts took away the Democratic Party's voting majority) so it may be that no bill comes forward."
Walters fielded questions from the audience that included the new coal plant being built in Kemper County by Mississippi Power.
Walters noted that she is excited about the plant, which will be one of the first clean coal plants of its type built in the United States.
"Coal is about 50 percent of the generation this country," she said. "We're looking at purchasing about half of the power produced from there. It's very viable because they are digging up the coal on site. There's no transportation costs."
Mike Myrick, project manager with Mississippi Power, who was in the audience, also stressed the importance of the plant.
"China is bringing on a coal plant every month, and they have no emission standards," he said. "Environmentally, we're all better off with clean coal plants."
Myrick also noted that the payback for Mississippi Power ratepayers for the Kemper County plant would be "very short."
"It will actually help hold down and even lower rates," he said. "It will be a base running plant, which means it will run 24/7. The economics of the plant are so good."
Coming Saturday: Tips on reducing your high electric bills
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