A Missouri nonprofit group formed to promote alternative and clean energy sources has named an advisory council, including members from the ranks of St. Louis-area religious, labor and community activists.
Jefferson City, Mo.-based Missourians for a Balanced Energy Future (MBEF) said it named a Council of Co-Chairs this week to guide and advise its efforts in supporting a clean and renewable energy portfolio.
One of the nonpartisan group’s first efforts was to endorse state Senate Bill 228, introduced Jan. 22 by Sen. Delbert Scott, R-Lowry City, which would allow utilities to charge customers for power-plant construction before the plants are operational. If passed, the bill would pave the way for construction of a proposed $9 billion second nuclear reactor at AmerenUE’s Callaway plant near Fulton, Mo.
MBEF said the bill would nurture clean and renewable energy development while protecting consumers and mandating accountability. The group plans to review all energy legislation during the 2009 General Assembly.
“The Council of Co-Chairs is united by a common belief that clean and renewable energy will power Missouri’s economic revival,” said Irl Scissors, executive director of MBEF, in a statement.
The organization said it expects members of the new council to advocate for the group’s views on energy issues to citizens around the state and to state leaders.
The MBEF said its Council of Co-Chairs is still being formed, but St. Louis-area members are:
• Pearlie Evans, former district assistant to then U.S. Rep. William Clay Sr.
• Joseph Hunt, general president of the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers.
• Rev. Sammie Jones, pastor, Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church.
• Patrick Kellett, business manager, Plumbers & Pipefitters Local Union 562.
• Robert Kelley, president emeritus, St. Louis Labor Council; principal of The Kelley Group.
• Rev. Earl Nance Jr., pastor, Greater Mount Carmel Missionary Baptist Church.
• Rev. E.G. Shields, pastor, Mount Beulah Baptist Church.
Other members of the MBEF’s Council of Co-Chairs are:
• Former Mo. Rep. Joseph Driskill, Jefferson City, former director, Missouri Department of Economic Development; executive director, Leonard Wood Institute at University of Missouri Technology Park.
• Mike Downing, Jefferson City, executive director, Missouri CORE Partnership.
• Mark Fohey, Fulton, president, Columbia, Jefferson City, and Vicinity Building Trades.
• Peter Hofherr, Jefferson City, former director, Missouri Department of Agriculture; CEO of Saint James Winery.
• Joe Maxwell, Mexico, Mo.; formerly held posts in Missouri as lieutenant governor, state senator and state representative; now attorney in private practice and family farmer in Audrain County.
