The quick death of the LUS’s so-called “solar tax” spared the city further embarrassment but pointed to larger issues in the municipally owned utility’s approach to energy.

Woody Martin of the Sierra Club’s Delta Chapter and I discussed the tax and the lack of an institutionalized role for citizen/owners to provide input into the operation of the system on my Sunday KPEL program “Where The Alligators Roam.” Martin says efforts to get that conversation going date back to LUS’s head-scratcher of a decision to renew its deal with coal-fired electric generator CLECO in 2012.

Martin, Simon Mahan and others intend to use the solar tax misstep as the platform from which to launch a new push for citizen input into the operation of LUS.

Read more on the issue in this month's ABiz cover story "Here Comes the Sun."

The podcast of the program is out. You can listen to it (and read more) here.

A freelance journalist living in Lafayette, Mike Stagg hosts “Where The Alligators Roam,” a talk show airing on Sundays at 5 p.m. on KPEL 96.5 FM. He’s also a documentarian and researcher and is currently working on a book about the oil and gas industry’s relationship with Louisiana government.