Nebraska Public Power seats highly contested

Nearly 100 public power director positions are in contention this fall across the state of Nebraska.

All of Nebraska's power is publicly owned and operated.

Nebraska has 153 public power entities. This means the public controls the power generation and distribution and can elect directors to make sure the process runs smoothly.

"(Public power directors are) responsible for making sure that the lights stay on, responsible for how much it costs to get electricity and they're responsible for the type of electricity … and the degree of investment in efficiency programs," said Mary Harding, a member of the Nebraska Public Power District Board of Directors.

In Lincoln, NPPD provides energy to homes and businesses. Governed by an 11-person board of directors, NPPD also has the added task of generating and distributing power to other public power entities across the state.

Two of these 11 members are up for re-election Tuesday. Dennis Rasmussen, the current chairman and 11-year veteran of the board, is being challenged by Paul Liess. Harding, who has been on the board for five years, is being challenged by Glen Schmieding.

Dennis Rasmussen

Every chance he gets, Dennis Rasmussen said he tries to show Nebraskans the value of public power.

"We have probably the fifth or sixth lowest cost of energy to the consumer in the United States," he said. "We've just got to keep everybody aware of how big a deal public power is in Nebraska."

Rasmussen highlighted his 11 years on the NPPD board, saying his time working with energy generation and retail has given him enough experience for another term on the board.

As a board member and chairman, Rasmussen said he and the rest of the board have worked to hold prices down despite an overall increase in the cost of energy.

"We do have, in my opinion, a board that really tries to do the best to keep the price of electricity low," he said. "We have to keep generating as efficiently as we can."

Paul Liess

Paul Liess was a general manager of Twin Valleys Public Power in Cambridge, Neb., for 22 years. He later retired and moved to Lincoln before deciding a few years ago to run for the position of public power director for NPPD.

"I firmly believe that having prior experience in the industry is a big plus," he said. "I know that I can help the people of Nebraska."

Liess said the United States is in a bad situation as far as electricity and energy, and he plans to help the problem if elected to the board.

"I believe … more electricity and the uses thereof are going to be good for the economy of the United States," Liess said. "If we can generate more electricity and then encourage people to use that electricity in their homes and in transportation … if we get that type of transition our economy is going to be a lot better off."

Mary Harding

The nation is going through a period of change for power, and Mary Harding believes it is important to elect someone who can stay on top of the rapidly changing technology.

"In the next couple of years … we're going to face increasing demands for electricity that we've never seen before," Harding said. "There will be a lot of challenges."

In response to these challenges, Harding is focusing on the future of energy.

"I'm very focused on helping create a renewable energy economy," she said. "I want to create cleaner energy that will be economical and create new jobs."

Glen Schmieding

As a former general manager for Norris Public Power District, Glen Schmieding has a lot of friends in the smaller communities' energy industry.

When several of them said that some NPPD board members were not listening well, it helped push Schmieding to run for NPPD director and change things.

He said other issues that prompted him to run for the board include the rising price of energy and the focus on using wind power to alleviate dependency on fossil fuels and foreign energy sources.

"There's more and more of a big push toward wind power and wind generation and that caught my attention," he said. "(Wind power) has its place, but it's just not going to be the total answer."

This is one major difference between Schmieding and his opponent, he said: He feels that Harding wants to invest too much in wind as a total future solution for energy problems.

"She's not totally wrong, but I think she's too narrow-minded," he said. "I'm more of the type of person who says, 'Bring along a whole variety of solutions.'"

Schmieding said he's not opposed to renewable energy but wants to spread out the focus and invest wisely.

For example, rather than investing fully in wind, he would do more research and spread the focus to include nuclear and clean coal technology.

"The little role that I could play as an NPPD director, I'd be happy," he said. "I would like to lend my expertise to those issues."

jennagibson@dailynebraskan.com