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Xcel Energy - Issue Summary
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XCEL Energy: Increase Renewable Energy Sources,
Protect Indigenous
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Proposal # 2 on the Xcel proxy statement asks Xcel
to adopt a policy of increasing renewable energy sources
as a means to meet future demand and regulation, and
to reduce the risks the company incurs by contracting
with problematic energy providers such as Manitoba Hydro.
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| Xcel currently gets only 4% of its energy from
Manitoba Hydro, but is negotiating to increase purchases from
this company. While hydropower can be a renewable source of
energy, mega-projects such as Manitoba Hydro cause such extensive
ecological and social destruction that they do not qualify as
renewable under the definitions proposed in Minnesota and adopted
in several other states.
Xcel’s new 12-state service territory contains abundant biomass
resources and the best wind energy potential in North America.
Numerous studies conclude that wind is cost-competitive with
traditional fossil-fuel generation and hydro imports. The
Minnesota Department of Commerce reports that wind "is
the fastest growing energy production method in the world,
renewable or otherwise, having a overall growth rate in 1999
of 36%."
Increasing renewable energy sources would allow for greater
market flexibility, improve shareholder value, and reduce
the growing threat to Xcel’s reputation as a result of its
purchasing energy from Manitoba Hydro.
Also, Manitoba Hydro expansion plans (primarily to meet new
Xcel contracts) will greatly compound environmental damages
on Pimicikamak Cree Nation land. The Cree live at the epicenter
of continuing damage. The community’s once thriving economy
has been replaced by 85% unemployment, mass poverty, hopelessness
and despair.
By voting FOR proposal #2, shareholders can encourage Xcel
to increase renewable energy sources, open new markets, improve
the company’s brand name, and show its commitment to the environment
and human rights.
For more information, click on:
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