Waasamowin (or 'Lightning' in the Anishinaabe language) is a group of residents in the central and western UP. We are people who have stressed about our electric bill, who want our electricity to be cleaner, who lose power and lose the ability to use medical equipment or call 911, or who believe our communities deserve choice in how we connect to the grid — or not. We gather as multiracial, working class people who are hopeful for a different energy future and we are organizing friends and neighbors to take action.
We're collecting personal stories to share with members of the State House of Representatives who are part of a task force seeking to learn about energy issues in our community. The name of the task force is the Energy Reliability, Resilience and Accountability Task Force, and the name of the listening tour is the Dependable Energy Listening Tour.
FILL OUT THIS FORM TO SHARE A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. Please complete this form by July 12.
You can also join us at a meeting with these State Representatives, Friday, July 14 in Marquette, 11 am to 1 pm, in Ballroom 1 at the Northern Center on NMU's campus. Fill out this linked form to meet us in Marquette. We're organizing carpooling and ride shares from Houghton and Gogebic Counties.
We will be talking about:
- Income-based affordable energy, with transparency & shutoff protection
- Community solar & no cap on distributed energy
- Power outage compensation & energy reliability
- No utility influence in our democracy