ARLINGTON, Va. — National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) CEO Jim Matheson today issued the following statement on the Trump administration’s executive order on the controversial Waters of the U.S. rule (WOTUS):
“The Waters of the U.S. rule would increase costs for electric co-ops to build and maintain critical infrastructure without meaningful environmental benefits. We thank the administration for hearing our concerns and pulling back this rule. WOTUS needs to be defined in a sensible way that provides clarity without saddling American businesses with huge regulatory burdens and costs.
“Electric cooperatives maintain more than 2.5 million miles of our nation’s distribution lines covering 75 percent of the nation’s landscape. Replacing WOTUS with something more workable will help co-ops carry out important maintenance activities and build new infrastructure.”
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is the national service organization that represents the nation’s more than 900 private, not-for-profit, consumer-owned electric cooperatives, which provide service to 42 million people in 47 states.
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