Campbell to meet with Internet providers

By Vershal Hogan (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Friday, October 30, 2009

FERRIDAY — District 5 Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell will schedule a meeting in Concordia Parish with all of the state’s high-speed Internet providers to find out what can be done to provide high-speed connections to rural areas in the parish.

That promise came after Concordia Parish resident Robert Lee asked Campbell what could be done to get DSL service to the Red Gum area.

“The only problem is when we did this in Ringgold, we had a lot of people who signed a petition to bring it in but not a lot who signed up for it because it’s expensive,” Campbell said.

The meeting with the Internet providers will be before Thanksgiving, Campbell said.

The public service commission’s fifth district has an office in Ferriday, and Campbell was there Thursday to hear concerns from citizens about their utilities.

The public service commission has already gotten a grant that will allow for the mapping of areas that are served and areas that are not served with high-speed Internet access, Campbell’s Executive Assistant Bill Robertson said.

The commission is also applying for grants for the construction of public computing centers with high-speed Internet access in rural areas, and for a public relations campaign to bring the service to rural areas.

The commissioner also spoke at the Ferriday Rotary Club.

Utility prices have started to fall in some areas because of natural gas drilling in the northwestern part of the state, Campbell said.

“Natural gas a year ago was at one time $14 (a cubic foot), and now it’s $4,” he said.

In the past, Campbell has been a big critic of Entergy Corporation, which uses natural gas to generate electricity, he said.

“It wasn’t personal, it was the price of energy was just high,” he said. “On a list of 21 providers in the state, Entergy was the top of the list (for the most expensive energy), and now it’s in the bottom five.”

The gas deposit being drilled in the northwestern part of the state reportedly has enough natural gas to sustain the entire United States for 10 years, he said.

Some changes the public service commission has made recently include a rule prohibiting electrical companies from shuting off service if the temperature falls below 32-degrees Fahrenheit or rises above 100-degrees heat index.

“I am not advocating people not pay their bills, but there are times people can’t pay their bills, and in this case they can call my office and we will intervene on their behalf,” Campbell said.

Another change is to allow the waiver of hook-up fees for battered women looking to move out of their domestic distress.

Many women in situations of domestic violence do not leave because they are financially dependent on the abusive party, Campbell said.

“I wasn’t aware of that, but some women made me aware of it, and I am glad they did,” he said.

Looking to the future, Campbell said he is looking into what it would take to erect wind power generating stations on abandoned oil derricks in the Gulf of Mexico, which he said is the 20th best place in the United States for wind power generation.