Good for you, Jemez Mountains Electric Cooperative voters. You eliminated some of the old guard who really had no interest in improving or cleaning up your Co-op. Of course now you have new problems.
You have to laugh at ousted Leroy Ortiz’ comment regarding the Co-op bringing broadband to Jemez customers. His opponent, Elias Coriz, ran on a green and broadband platform. Hold your breath and wait for Elias to deliver on that.
But Ortiz thinks Coriz is behind the curve.
“They said they wanted to bring broadband in, but we already did that,” Ortiz said at a June 25 meeting. We don’t know who “they” are. It might be those pesky Co-op members who want the Board to actually do something besides dole out favors, pick up per diem checks and decide who gets to take the next Tri State trip.
And we don’t know where this service is that “we already did.” We’d like to sign up for that service, Leroy. Where do we go? Voting for something and then actually getting the task accomplished are quite different.
The fact the Co-op has been dragged into the late 20th century by its members is the big indicator it’s reactive to needs, not proactive. The local pueblos have probably done more to force the Co-op into growth just by their casino and hotel needs.
But now we have three new members, all promising great things. Don’t be fooled by any of it. Business will continue as usual at the Co-op. We may see some broadband service in a few years. New board member Kenny Borrego would love a piece of that work. It’s what he does for a living.
The federal government will force the Co-op into a growing percentage of green power. That’s a misnomer. There’s very little green about photovoltaic cells and wind farms. The amount of energy used to create them, operate them and maintain them is enormous. It’s nice that we’re not pouring carbon dioxide into the atmosphere but don’t fool yourself into thinking they’re green.
And don’t fool yourelf into thinking we traded up in our three new board members. We just traded.
They can get some respect from members if they meet the Aug. 14 deadline to apply for federal stimulous money to get the broadband project moving. The fact we’re up against that deadline is indicative of the Board’s past glacial movement toward change.