posted on behalf of NRECA CEO Glenn English:
Mr.
Michael Roberts
President and CEO
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers
Marina del Rey, CA 90292 Dear Mr. Roberts:
On behalf of the nearly
1,000 consumer-owned electric cooperatives across the U.S. serving more than 34 million
Americans, I urge ICANN to approve the proposal for the new top-level domain ".co-op."
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) endorses the proposal
submitted by the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) and Poptel.
Consumer-owned electric cooperatives provide essential utility services to communities
throughout the nation. Members of these cooperatives know and trust these businesses
because they own and control them. In the rapidly changing electric industry,
consumers are increasingly turning to cooperatives as the trusted alternative to
investor-owned businesses.
The proposed new .co-op top-level domain will help
consumers distinguish these trustworthy cooperatives from other businesses.
Co-ops provide great value to the communities and individuals they serve and they
should be recognized as a distinct sector in e-commerce.
NRECA is a member of NCBA
and consumer-owned electric cooperatives are proud to be part of the cooperative
sector of the economy. We hope that you will approve the use of a new .co-op
suffix to ensure that consumers can choose the cooperatives they trust on the Internet.
Sincerely
yours,
Glenn English
Chief Executive Officer