In response, more than 200 residents of the area packed the Sandusky Community Center on a rainy night January 18 to discuss these cutoffs and the skyrocketing gas bills they have received.

"My bill in December from the Graysville gas system was $345, compared to my average previous winter bill of $55," said Tony Ladu, a local small businessman who called the meeting. "That's more than a 500 percent increase. And that's not unusual. For many of us, the choice is between eating or staying warm."

The Graysville gas system serves 10,000 households in Graysville, Sandusky, Adamsville, and other communities in this area. The utility is run by Graysville mayor Wayne Tuggle and the city council, which acts as a board of directors.

While most large coal mines in these towns have been closed for many years, a couple of smaller pits still operate. Many who live in this area come from long-standing mining families and some still work in the industry. Others commute the short distance to jobs in Birmingham.

Early in the meeting, Ladu turned the floor over to Mayor Tuggle, who had ordered the cutoff in early January of every customer 90 days or more in arrears. Tuggle presented a lengthy justification of his actions, claiming the system would go bankrupt if power wasn't cut off and rates increased. The gas system was forced to take out a $1 million loan to help pay its gas supplier because of slow collections, he said.

"We haven't raised gas prices since 1993," said Tuggle. "Why have gas prices skyrocketed? We just don't know. There isn't a shortage of gas." Tuggle has called for a federal investigation of the increases in natural gas prices from major suppliers.

Local residents, Black and white, lined up at the microphone to address the issue and pose questions to Tuggle. Many different explanations were offered as to the cause of the rate hikes and shutoffs--from price-gouging by energy companies to corruption in the Graysville system.

James McCray, 68, a retired maintenance worker and inspector for Alabama Gas Co., which provides gas to Birmingham and other cities, pointed to existing maintenance problems in the Graysville system as a contributing cause. "I know of small gas leaks that have gone uncorrected for more than three years, " he said. "Do we wait until something blows up and kills somebody?"

McCray decried the cutoff of power to those on fixed incomes. "What's going to happen to the poor and the elderly? Do we just tell them it's too bad?" he asked.

Tuggle said programs exist to help those over 75 years old pay their fuel bills, but offered few specifics. He urged meeting attendees to write to their Congressional representatives to protest the high price of natural gas.

Jimmie Hughes, 45, a postal worker, took the floor to question the accuracy of the gas bills sent out. "A lot of times they don't come out to read the meter, they just estimate," he said. Dominique Cook questioned why Graysville's emergency reserve wasn't utilized. Tuggle had said this supply could only be used in a emergency shutoff of the gas flow to the system. "My bill increased by 300 percent. Isn't this an emergency?" Cook asked.

Two days before the meeting, the Graysville City Council passed a one cent sales tax increase and voted to cut city services to recover an expected $200,000 revenue shortfall this year, mostly stemming from the gas system. The city library, ball field lights, and legal services were cut back. Also closed was the community center.

Jeanne FitzMaurice, a former coal miner and resident of nearby Ensley, called for immediate relief for those with power cut off or with huge gas bills. She pointed to the need for working people "to demand the federal and state government provide immediate relief. No one should have their gas turned off in the dead of winter."

FitzMaurice also argued for the labor movement waging a fight for the nationalization of the energy monopolies. Pointing to the crisis in California--with layoffs, farmers faced with ruin, and skyrocketing utility prices--she said, "The energy companies should be taken out of private hands and run as public utilities for the benefit of working people rather than the wealthy capitalists and bankers." Workers in the energy industry could play a vital role in opening the companies' books and monitoring production.

She pointed out that there was a plentiful supply of power all around them: coal. "Coal can be mined safely and provide jobs--if there's UMWA protection--and the technology exists to burn it cleanly if the power companies would spend the money to purchase the proper equipment." FitzMaurice and others at the meeting distributed a flier urging attendance at a Militant Labor Forum to discuss what working people do to address the energy crisis.

At the meeting's conclusion, Tony Ladu announced that he is forming a community committee to "find someone in government to listen to us."

Jacob Fox is a surface coal miner in Alabama.
 
 
Related articles:
Bosses' 'solution' to power crisis: rate hikes
Big-business forces press for nuclear power  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home