CHICAGO—In the face of exorbitant fuel costs, the North American Association of Floor Covering Distributors (NAFCD), has joined with 75 other associations to form the Coalition for Affordable American Energy (CAAE) as a way to push the government to take responsible action to fix the country’s energy problems.

“CAAE will add a voice not heard in any concerted way before in the energy debate,” said William Spencer, a member of the CAAE management committee and vice president of government affairs, Associated Builders & Contractors, “that of the thousands of businesses, large or small, which depend upon affordable energy supplies to operate. This is a voice that deserves and needs to be heard on an ongoing basis.”

Maurice Desmarais, NAFCD’s executive director noted, the association “is concerned about energy costs for our member firms and the crushing cost of energy to their businesses and the economy. It is our hope to become part of the solution.”

The formation of CAAE came about from a letter signed by 75 organizations in mid-June sent urging Congress to act on the energy crisis.

CAAE is based in Washington, D.C., and was formed by several associations headed by the National Association of Wholesale Distributors (NAW), which is also a collation of 240 distributor associations throughout North America.

CAAE’s mission is to continually push the Congress and Administration to take decisive, effective and immediate action to greatly increase the development of domestic energy resources in an environmentally sensitive manner, noted Dirk Van Dongen, NAW’s president.

“While the coalition will support initiatives which encourage conservation and the development of renewable and alternative energy sources, our focus will be on increasing domestic oil and gas production since alternative sources will not be able to meet U.S. demand for the next 25 years or more.

“There’s no doubt the issue of very high energy prices is having a tremendous impact on our members, their suppliers, customers, and indeed, the entire economy,” he added. “Unless we do something fundamental to change this situation, we face a crippling drain of over $700 billion per year of wealth transferred overseas.”

NAFCD members involved with CAAE include, Al Maghes of Erickson Supply, Jack Lindenschmidt of ISC Surface, Terry Moorhead of Bennett Supply and Fred Reitz of J.J. Haines.

For more on NAFCD and CAAE, please call 312.321.6836.