The wave of green advocacy sweeping Colorado’s rural electric associations (REAs), especially in more progressive mountain resort areas like Aspen, Vail and Telluride, didn’t quite make it to Steamboat Springs.
Two traditional-energy incumbents held onto their seats on the board of the Yampa Valley Electric Association over the weekend, turning back challenges from a pair of renewable energy and efficiency advocates.
At the REA’s annual meeting in Hayden Saturday, the Steamboat Pilot reported that Scott McGill defeated Susan Holland, 1,493 votes to 1,089 and Charles Perry turned back Megan Moore-Kemp 1,404 to 1,162.
Moore-Kemp and Holland were running on a combined platform of pursuing more forms of renewable energy as well as offering rebates for energy-efficiency measures.
“I do not believe the association should get into the rebate business,” Perry told the paper, and apparently the majority of co-op members — at least the ones who took the time to vote — agreed with him.
It’s a sentiment that echoes the position of incumbents on the board of the state’s largest REA, Intermountain Rural Electric Association on the Front Range, which saw three incumbents defeat progressive candidates earlier this spring.
Other recent REA board elections have seen green candidates meet with some success, including Holy Cross Energy (Aspen and Vail), San Miguel Power Association (Telluride) and Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association.
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