The Federal Emergency Management Agency should improve its disaster response and recovery programs to better help electric cooperatives bounce back from floods, hurricanes and other catastrophes, NRECA told the agency on May 15.
But with the future of the agency uncertain due to recent political decisions and leadership changes, NRECA emphasized that FEMA public assistance programs are crucial to ensure reliable and affordable power for co-op consumer-members in rural America and must be preserved.
President Donald Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have both made statements questioning the future of FEMA, saying that states may be better positioned to handle natural disasters on their own.
Removing access to federal resources from FEMA “would undermine power restoration efforts, negatively affect reliability, and ultimately increase the cost of electricity,” NRECA said in comments filed with the agency. “States play a vital role in disaster response, but they cannot replace FEMA’s essential function in delivering federal assistance.”
However, the association outlined ways that FEMA could improve and speed co-op access to disaster relief funding.
“The federal disaster assistance process needs to be more efficient and effective,” NRECA added. “The current timeline for FEMA reimbursement for co-ops is measured in years, not months. And, in some cases, it takes more than five years for electric co-ops to be reimbursed for disaster costs.”
NRECA filed its comments after a FEMA review council in March asked for feedback on the public’s experiences with the agency during disasters.
NRECA said FEMA should lower its per capita threshold for determining eligibility for public assistance. Co-ops must often build more infrastructure per consumer than utilities serving urban areas. Raising the per capita thresholds “would make it harder for cooperatives to qualify for federal aid, straining their limited resources and slowing disaster recovery,” NRECA stated.
The association also urged FEMA to reduce delays in disbursing public assistance funds and reimburse interest on loans that co-ops and other parties need to recover from disasters until FEMA makes payments.
FEMA should also extend protections to co-ops and other private nonprofits against unreasonable clawing back of public assistance funds and give eligible nonprofits direct access to FEMA resiliency funding programs, NRECA said. Access to those programs would allow co-ops to better strengthen their electric systems and reduce outages during disasters.
Although improvements are needed, “eliminating FEMA would significantly hinder cooperatives’ ability to recover from disasters and keep electric costs affordable,” NRECA asserted.
“Through reform, we can achieve President Trump’s vision of a resilient nation that uses taxpayer dollars efficiently and effectively,” NRECA concluded.
Molly Christian is a staff writer for NRECA.