Updated: May 17, 12 p.m.

New Mexico is in the midst of its worst wildfire season in generations, with backcountry blazes roaring through populated areas, ravaging infrastructure and destroying the homes and businesses of electric cooperative members.

“Drought conditions combined with the heavy winds we’ve been experiencing allowed two large fires to combine, and that’s allowed them to move rapidly toward some of our communities,” said Les Montoya, CEO and general manager of Mora-San Miguel Electric Cooperative.

“At least 3,600 members on our 11,000-meter system have been impacted by outages,” Montoya said on May 12. “There’ve been houses and business destroyed, and portions of our distribution system have burned.”

The co-op has suspended most operations at its Mora, New Mexico, headquarters and shifted staff to its Pecos district offices, 77 miles to the southwest.

“That’s limited and hindered us on being able to deal with our consumers on a daily basis and deal with their concerns as well,” said Montoya, adding that a limited number of staff have been allowed to pass through fire lines to perform essential duties in Mora.

The Hermits Peak Fire began with spot fires ignited under a prescribed burn to reduce dried vegetation on April 6. The cause of the Calf Canyon Fire April 19 is still under investigation, but high winds driving embers from the original fire may have contributed to the second blaze. The two blazes have merged, and as of May 16 they had consumed more than 298,000 acres in Mora, San Miguel and Taos counties, were threatening Colfax County, and were 27% contained.

“Fire officials have told us that at least 400 structures have been damaged or destroyed,” said Montoya.

“For more than two weeks, one of our senior line technicians and I have been operating out of the incident command center to help provide information on our lines to the fire management team,” he added. “We’ve also been available to de-energize our lines for safety reasons when fire crews are working those areas.”

That relationship has allowed co-op personnel to access areas that have cooled down to conduct ground assessments, evaluate damage and examine options for restoring power. “Only 15% to 20% of the co-op’s affected territory has been accessible,” Montoya said.

Portions of the service territory of Espanola-based Jemez Mountains Electric Cooperative to the southwest of Mora San Miguel EC have also been impacted by wildfires. The Cerro Pelado Fire, which has charred over 45,000 acres since April 22, is 62% contained. More than 1,000 firefighters were working in the area, but co-op officials were unclear when they would be able to complete damage surveys and make repairs.

“We have restrictions we have to abide by from the Forest Service, and our line crews have to take extraordinary precautions, especially during power outage restoration,” said Carmen Campbell, manager of Jemez Mountain EC’s Cuba District. “We have our tree trimmers and vegetation management crews in the area to handle trees within our rights of way in the Jemez Springs District, where the Cerro Pelado Fire started in our territory.”

Campbell added that the co-op’s line technicians have also been available to de-energize lines near or along fire lines and take other measures to reduce risks to firefighters.

While the extent of damage to co-op lines and other utility assets may not be fully determined until the fires are controlled and ground and air surveys are conducted, co-op officials have expressed concern for their members’ losses.

“Homesteads have been damaged and, up in the mountains, there are a lot of summer homes, hunting cabins with very few full-time residents where the fire has burned so far,” said Campbell. “Firefighters were successful getting the blaze 11% contained in the Sierra de los Pinos and the Valles Caldera National Preserve area on May 11. That was really fortunate because that would’ve run into hundreds of homes there where people live year-round.”

But some subdivisions and small communities served by co-ops have been gutted by the flames.

“San Miguel and Mora counties are two of the most impoverished counties not only in the state, but in the nation,” said Keven Groenewold, CEO and general manager of the New Mexico Rural Electric Cooperative Association. “Many of the rural homes were handed down through generations and, quite frankly, there’s probably a whole lot of them that weren’t insured.”

The statewide association has been assisting impacted co-ops with locating vendors and contractors who can help with ground and drone damage assessments, restoration supplies and any sustained rebuilding projects that may be necessary.

“The president has issued a federal disaster declaration, so we’re working to turn around FEMA applications quickly,” said Groenewald. “We’ve got to find a qualified vendor to conduct the required damage assessments because the co-ops don’t have those resources. As we learn more about actual damage to poles, lines and other assets, we may need to reach out to the co-op network to address supply chain issues.”

Derrill Holly is a staff writer for NRECA.

A North Dakota electric cooperative is busy this week rebuilding portions of its system to restore power to nearly 9,300 of its members following a springtime blizzard.

“We’ve got more than 1,350 poles down or damaged in Williams County and over 350 poles in Mountrail County down, and crews are still finding more damage as they work on restoration,” said Dale Haugen, general manager of Mountrail-Williams Electric Cooperative. “Our broken pole count keeps going up as roads are cleared and damaged areas become accessible.”

High winds and heavy, wet snow knocked out power to most of the co-op’s system Saturday, but crews began assessing damage and clearing downed poles and lines from roadways as soon as conditions allowed.

“We’ve had more than 120 staff working to support our restoration efforts, and there’s a lot of work being done that our members don’t see,” said Haugen. “Staffers are working day and night, answering calls, feeding employees, dispatching crews to make repairs and creating the best possible plans to restore power and repair damage.”

The co-op warned members through social media posts and messages on its website that they should be prepared for extended outages. Despite the arrival of additional restoration crews from other co-ops in North Dakota, full restoration might not be possible until the end of this week.

“Full repairs could take two to three months,” said Haugen. That doesn’t mean anyone will be without power that long, but once we get our lines up, to restore service, we still will need to come back to complete other tasks needed to completely repair our system.”

But steady progress is being made. Restoration of the co-op’s transmission lines allowed crews to re-energize 90% of the substations on the system early Monday. About 45% of the co-op’s meters are now back in service, and downed poles, power lines and other debris are being removed from roadways so crews can proceed with repairs.

“We’ve got more people in the field, and we are working to restore service safely to as many members as we can as quickly as possible,” said Haugen. “But in some of our most rural areas, we are likely to still have crews working to restore service next week. We will not stop until every member impacted by this storm has their power restored.”

Derrill Holly is a staff writer for NRECA.

Electric cooperatives are locating more power lines, fiber networks and other utility assets underground to expand service and improve reliability, and that’s making it more important than ever for co-op consumer-members to call before they dig.

Nearly 35 million Americans will do some digging on their property this year without making a call to 811 before sticking a spade, trowel or shovel into the ground, according to the Common Ground Alliance.

CGA, an Alexandria, Virginia-based interest group, represents about 1,800 stakeholders, including some electric co-ops, other utilities, pipeline companies and local and state government agencies involved in building, operating, maintaining and regulating underground assets.

“Almost half of U.S. homeowners are putting themselves at risk of utility service interruptions and personal injury by not contacting 811 at least a few days before they dig,” said Sarah Magruder Lyle, CGA president and CEO.

About 22 million miles of pipes, wires, cables, conduits and other systems are buried across the country, and in the 15 years since 811 telephone service became a national clearinghouse for locator service calls, disruptions have fallen by about 50%. The 63 one-call centers operating in the United States field about 20 million call-before-you-dig 811 locator requests per year.

Still, damage to underground systems represents about $30 billion annually in lost productivity or service interruptions, according to CGA data.

For some co-ops, a single cable cut on a distribution feeder can knock out power to as many as 250 members, prompting an hours-long search-and-repair operation costing thousands of dollars.

Last autumn, Mount Pleasant, Iowa-based Access Energy Cooperative had a three-phase primary cable cut that served a golf course residential development. A landscaper planting a tall specimen tree was digging with a five-foot bucket spade mounted on a small tractor.

“Either when the landscaper hit the cable or when the crew tried to re-energize the circuit, the electricity tracked up the tree-spade and caused a small grass fire,” said Kurt Lowenberg, Access Energy’s safety director and assistant operations manager. “Luckily no one was touching the machine at the time, preventing an electrocution.”

Since the early 1980s, all U.S. states and territories have enacted their own 811 locator laws and regulations for digging notifications. But despite ongoing public awareness campaigns, more than 385,000 incidents involving damage or near-misses were reported in 2020.

CGA’s Damage Information Reporting Tool cites failure to notify one-call centers through 811 as the largest single root cause of incidents. Excavator field errors, abandoned subterranean assets and locator errors were also cited.

The period of April through October marks the busiest period for outdoor home improvement projects, which contribute to the bulk of the reported incidents. CGA suggests that nearly three of every five homeowners in the United States will pursue such a project this year, such as planting trees or shrubs, erecting fencing and building patios or decks.

While damage to electric lines accounted for just over 1% of the total incidents in 2020, telecommunications asset damage topped 9%. But service disruption is not the only concern linked to digging without locator clearance.

“The potential risk to people is a legitimate safety concern,” said J.D. Cox, director of safety and loss control for Northcentral Electric Cooperative.

The Olive Branch, Mississippi-based distribution co-op completed more than 20,000 811 locator tickets in 2021 and would have welcomed more had they been received, said Cox. “We’ve got lines in the ground energized at 14,400 volts, and when somebody hits one with a trencher the first thing that I ask is if everybody’s OK.”

Derrill Holly is a staff writer for NRECA.

What would happen if a polar vortex plunged thousands into icy darkness in the Northeast and then, after electric cooperatives in the central U.S. sent mutual aid, a 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit along the New Madrid Fault that stretches from Illinois to Arkansas?

That’s a scenario that emergency, safety and energy coordinators from 22 electric cooperative statewide associations and their state government peers wrestled with in Fractured Freeze, the first tabletop exercise of its kind. The drill was organized by NRECA and the National Association of State Energy Officials.

NRECA CEO Jim Matheson welcomed more than 50 participants, including two U.S. Department of Energy officials, to the exercise recently in Arlington, Virginia.

“This is an excellent example of where folks can put their heads together and better prepare for the future because, let’s face it, your job is not getting any easier,” Matheson said. “At NRECA, we want to find the best way to convene everyone; to find opportunities to facilitate discussion and implementation of ideas.”

Roundtables of co-op and state officials tackled power restoration and recovery from the two make-believe disasters that created harrowing circumstances for mutual aid crews, including shortages in gasoline, accommodations and supplies along with damaged roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure.

“Dual disasters like those in Fractured Freeze may not be that far-fetched as weather and environmental conditions become more extreme,” said Martha Duggan, NRECA senior regulatory affairs director. “This exercise allowed electric co-ops to face two catastrophes in a safe place, polish their strengths and develop bonds with state officials that will be crucial when disaster strikes.”

Ben Bolton, senior energy programs administrator at the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, facilitated the exercise and shared his experience from 11 natural disasters in his home state over the last two years.

“You can’t have a massive outage without it affecting rural co-ops or the state energy office. Both get involved in different ways,” he said. “We need to increase our cooperation. This is a first great step to build that bridge between rural co-ops and state energy offices.”

Co-op participants said Fractured Freeze provided significant benefits:
• New state emergency contacts.
• Opportunities to educate state officials on the co-op model.
• Relationship building with other co-op statewide associations.
• Reinforcement of the need for timely recordkeeping for reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
• New resources and techniques for disaster recovery.

Co-op officials said the exercise gave them a blue-sky chance to fill the void in their state connections.

“It was a good idea for NRECA to have this exercise and invite state officials,” said Rob Land, vice president for risk management and training at the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives. “It helps to develop a working relationship before a disaster strikes.”

Peggy Dantzler, vice president of loss control and training for the Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, echoed the significance of the exercise in establishing these relationships. “Co-ops need a person at the county or state emergency level so communications can happen more accurately and more quickly,” she said.

Co-op leaders also were eager to share with state officials how co-ops operate and coordinate to restore service through mutual aid agreements.

“The exercise really opened up their eyes to how much territory we cover in a state,” said Joe McElroy, safety director at the Michigan Electric Cooperative Association. “They also have a much better idea on how we all work together in the real-life disasters. In that respect, the exercise was worth its weight in gold.”

Even veterans of massive natural disasters found the exercise valuable. Discussions drew new ideas to expedite recovery, like contacting park services when chainsaws are needed or the state tourism department to secure housing for crews. State and public officials also can help identify large empty parking lots for staging and tent cities.

“We exercise our storm muscle quite a bit,” said Addie Armato, CEO of the Association of Louisiana Electric Cooperatives. “When you’re in the heat of it, you’re strictly focused on your industry and your particular needs. This exercise allowed us to come together and have a better understanding of the big picture and not just tunnel vision we have when we get into recovery mode.”

Cathy Cash is a staff writer for NRECA.

A year after a prolonged severe winter storm caused the near-collapse of the Texas power grid and left more than 4 million households without electricity, state lawmakers, regulators and power providers have worked to assess the causes of the outages and harden critical infrastructure. When another cold snap hit the state early this February, those measures were tested in real-time.

Julia Harvey is vice president of government relations and regulatory affairs at Texas Electric Cooperatives, the statewide association that represents 76 co-ops serving more than 4 million members. She recently discussed steps that have been taken over the past year to shore up the energy grid and what still needs to be done.

The widespread outages last year have been largely attributed to failures in the state’s natural gas infrastructure, is that right?

Harvey: Yes. There was some interplay between natural gas assets and the electric utility system that we had not seen to this extent before. When some aspects of the natural gas transmission system were affected by sustained freezing temperatures, multiple electric generation resources were not able to operate at full capacity because their fuel supply was constrained.

The loss of fuel access for electric generation became a multiple-day event. Because so much generation was unavailable and demand was so high, ERCOT [the Electric Reliability Council of Texas], which manages the statewide grid, had to invoke load shedding operational rules to help stabilize the system.

What have you learned in the past year, and what tangible steps have been taken to reduce the chances of such extreme disruptions from happening again?

Harvey: The susceptibility of certain infrastructure to freezing was central to changes in both legislation and Texas Public Utility regulations. More than 4,000 access points on key utility infrastructure have been inspected since September, and enhanced weatherization measures have been implemented to support increased resiliency during extreme weather.

According to ERCOT, on-site inspections have been completed at 302 generation facilities and 22 transmission facilities, and 321 of those sites now meet winterization requirements imposed by the legislature and the PUC. As important as generation weatherization is, a reliable grid can only be achieved when the gas system is also weatherized.

In regard to the [natural] gas system, an additional reform relates to a new critical infrastructure map being created by the PUC and the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the oil and gas industry. This map will reflect current and future operational needs related to the gas supply chain. That allows certain gas transmission assets to be designated as essential so they are prioritized by electric utilities during a load shed event. Gas facilities identified on the map will also be required to weatherize, which will support increased resiliency on the system.

Are you confident that all the relevant state agencies are working together effectively on this issue?

Harvey: Last February’s freeze highlighted the importance of coordination and communication between both the electric and natural gas industries and the regulatory agencies that oversee various aspects of their operations.

The Texas Legislature has now formalized a framework to make that work. It’s a council of oil and gas representatives, the PUC, the railroad commission, and ERCOT that establishes a venue and a forum for communications during emergency events to help ensure that the electricity supply chain operates reliably during emergencies.

How confident are you that co-op voices are being heard as the nature of Texas energy markets and industry oversight evolves?

Harvey: Leading up to the freeze event during the first week of February [2022], the PUC, ERCOT and the new Texas Energy Reliability Council created by the legislature were very good about communicating with all segments of the industry—including cooperatives—regularly and consistently. We feel like we have a seat at the table from the cooperative perspective and our concerns are being heard and addressed. Part of the framework of ERCOT, reaffirmed since the 2021 event, has been the importance of effective communications on market issues, and regulators recognize this.

What challenges remain for the state’s grid?

Harvey: We are fully expecting more changes to be made to the electric system, both to infrastructure and market aspects of the business. Those include the need for weatherization of natural gas components. That’s why advancement and completion of key infrastructure mapping is so important. Portions of those systems need to be weatherized so they can better withstand extreme weather. We also expect additional weatherization requirements to be adopted for electric utility and generation infrastructure.

One of the highest-profile consequences of last year’s event was the run-up on the price of natural gas, which directly affects the price of electricity. Some customers in retail choice areas were directly exposed to those prices. Has that been addressed?

Harvey: In certain retail markets not served by co-ops or public power providers, there is retail choice. During the 2021 freeze, certain providers indexed retail rates to $9,000 per megawatt-hour of electricity, and that led to enormous bills for some consumers. That practice has now been prohibited. The legislature also took steps to ensure that retail choice providers have a higher standard of accountability. Further, the maximum wholesale price has been reduced by the PUC to $5,000, so prices will not rise to the level seen last February.

What do consumers need to know about the changing nature of electric markets and how they can affect reliability?

Harvey: Extreme operating events like the 2021 cold snap underscore the importance of maintaining diversified “all options” generation portfolios that provide service and pricing flexibility.

We support an all-of-the-above energy strategy that allows the evolution of our market design to make sure that with that growth of renewables, that conventional thermal dispatchable generation still has a place in Texas to back that up.

Derrill Holly is a staff writer for NRECA.

Updated: Feb. 8, 9 a.m. ET

Electric cooperative crews in seven states restored service to more than 60,000 meters after last week’s massive winter storm.

Co-ops in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio reported significant outages on their systems, said Sid Sperry, an electric cooperative consultant who specializes in weather-related reliability issues.

“At the peak of the outages, our statewide total topped 15,000,” said Rob Roedel, a spokesman for Arkansas Electric Cooperatives Inc., adding that most of the affected co-ops were able to handle restoration with local personnel and contractors.

“Only C&L Electric Cooperative Corp. headquartered in Star City, Arkansas, needed help, and they received mutual aid assistance from the statewide association and from Petit Jean Electric Cooperative Corp., headquartered in Clinton,” Roedel said.

C& L Electric wrapped up restoration to about 6,300 of its affected members Saturday morning.

In Tennessee, crews worked through the weekend to complete most restoration.

“Damage caused by ice was widespread and create extended power outages,” said Trent Scott, vice president of corporate strategy for the Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association. “We had a total of 24,000 meters out on co-op lines at the height of the event last Thursday.”

Somerville-based Chickasaw Electric Cooperative had about 14,000 of its 21,000 meters out and was down to less than 300 meters out by Sunday morning, wrapping up restoration work Monday afternoon.

Gibson Electric Membership Corp., which serves eight counties in western Tennessee and four in western Kentucky, reported nearly 2,900 of its 39,000 meters out of service last Thursday, but all members who could safely receive power on their property had service restored by Friday evening.

“Ice is extremely challenging for utilities,” said Dan Rodamaker, president and CEO of Trenton, Tennessee-based Gibson EMC, adding that both the co-op’s electrical system and its high-speed internet fiber network were affected. 

“We sincerely appreciate our members’ patience and understanding as we have worked to restore electric and fiber service,” Rodamaker said. 

Kentucky co-ops reported about 8,500 members out, with Henderson-based Kenergy accounting for about half of that. Most restoration work was completed by late Friday.

In Ohio, crews worked to restore power to 28,000 members in seven co-op-served territories. Lancaster-based South Central Power Company had about 21,000 of its more than 122,000 meters out following the storm, and restoration work to about 2,300 members continued Tuesday.

Co-ops in Indiana, Illinois and surrounding states reported scattered outages with most of those restoration projects resolved by local crews.

Derrill Holly is a staff writer for NRECA.

A Hawaiian electric cooperative is upping its conservation game as a pioneer of specialized drones to deploy bird flight diverters on its power lines that span remote and dramatically rugged terrain.

Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative is placing hundreds of advanced diverters along 740 spans of power line throughout the island’s dense tropical rainforests, jagged mountain peaks and steep valleys.

“When complete, we will have installed tens of thousands of diverters using drones,” said Beth Tokioka, communications manager for the Lihue-based co-op.

“Some areas where diverters were needed were in mountainous or forested areas where use of bucket trucks was not possible. Drones were the only way we could access these lines safely. They were an extremely efficient tool for completing these installations.”

Historically, utilities have used helicopters or large bucket trucks for such remote installations, but an upcoming report from NRECA finds that cost and safety factors are driving a trend toward the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for these jobs.

“The use of unmanned aerial vehicles offers a new way to install certain types of overhead marking devices over more traditional approaches,” notes the report, “New Trends in Avian Protection.”

“UAV-supported line marking can reduce costs and increase safety. NRECA recommends cooperatives discuss these options with qualified developers, other utility users, and qualified contractors before pursuing one option or one vendor to best fit the cooperative’s needs and budgets.”

KIUC has been testing different types of technologies and devices to minimize bird strikes for more than a decade. Diverters were first used on a small scale to test their efficacy. About two years ago, the co-op started working with new data on where strikes were most frequently occurring, which allowed for a more strategic installation, Tokioka said.

“This project is also proving to be very effective in our effort to minimize bird strikes with power lines,” she said. “Any cooperatives facing the same challenge with difficult terrain should consider the use of drones as a safe and efficient installation method.”

KIUC is using a combination of passive reflective and LED diverters. Each is effective at keeping specific avian species away, including three species of endangered seabirds and five species of threatened and endangered waterbirds.

“Reflective diverters are small devices that glow in the dark,” said John Cox, KIUC’s transmission and distribution manager. “LED diverters use a small solar panel that charges during the day and produces light that’s visible to birds throughout the evening.”

The co-op plans to continue using drones to install and maintain its diverters.

“KIUC has a responsibility to protect our natural environment,” Tokioka said. “We’re in the process of developing a longer-term Habitat Conservation Plan that will formalize current minimization activities in relation to requirements of the federal and state endangered species regulations.”

Watch a video of the bird diverters being installed.

Cathy Cash is a staff writer for NRECA.

Electric cooperative line crews worked early this week to restore service to more than 100,000 meters in several states following a weekend winter storm that caused widespread damage to power lines and utility poles across parts of the central and Eastern U.S. While work continued in some areas Tuesday, most co-op members had power restored by late Monday.

“The rate at which service is restored has varied based upon hundreds of fallen trees which must be cleared and removed,” said Terri Statham, manager of media relations for Georgia Electric Membership Corp. The statewide association reported about 70,000 co-op-served meters out after snow, ice and high winds blasted across the state.

About 2,900 meters, primarily in northeastern Georgia, were still without power early Tuesday. Restoration work continued across the service territory of Clarkesville-based Habersham EMC, said Statham, adding that parts of the state received as much as eight inches of snow.

Co-ops across the Southeast had prepared for serious service disruptions based on forecasts heading into the weekend. Arrangements were made for mutual aid from states outside the threatened region, and some crews still working in the area following storms earlier this month were repositioned to assist where needed.

In Kentucky, co-op crews and contractors worked Tuesday to restore power to about 6,500 meters. Gray-based Cumberland Valley Electric reported about 3,400 meters out, and Jackson Energy Cooperative, headquartered in McKee, was working through outages affecting about 2,700 meters on its system.

The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina reported about 2,200 outages Tuesday morning. Most of those were on systems serving members in northern, inland areas of the state. Pageland-based Lynches River Electric Cooperative was working to restore service to about 1,300 of its meters, and Pickens-based Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative had nearly 700 meters out.

In North Carolina, co-ops reported 18,400 meters out of service Sunday afternoon, but crews began assessing damage and restoring power as weather conditions improved. High winds pushed outage numbers beyond 20,000, but less than 4,000 meters remained out of service by midday Monday. By dawn Tuesday, about 150 co-op-served meters were without power.

Co-op crews continue to take pandemic mitigation precautions, sequestering crews for lodging and meals. Some statewide associations have reported shortages of contractors due in part to COVID-19 exposures.

Derrill Holly is a staff writer for NRECA.

Updated: Jan. 5, 4 p.m.

Electric cooperative line crews and contractors have been working tirelessly to repair system damage after this week’s winter storm on the East Coast, but days of hard work remain before power is fully restored.

“What we are calling our Mutual Aid Army has joined with REC’s team in the field to make repairs caused by the storm’s devastating damage,” said Casey Hollins, managing director of communications and public relations for Fredericksburg, Virginia-based Rappahannock Electric Cooperative. “Crews and contractors from at least seven different states are arriving to ensure we restore power as quickly and safely as possible.”

REC initially lost service to about 90,000 of its 170,000 meters when heavy snow and high winds swept across its 22-county service territory. About 53,000 of its meters remained stalled Wednesday afternoon, and the co-op is informing members that it could be late this weekend or early next week before restoration work is completed.

More than 70 broken poles are being replaced across REC’s system, and crews expect to find more as they work to resolve 1,300 individual outage events, said Hollins, adding that roads covered with ice and snow or blocked by downed trees continue to slow field operations. Major roads in portions of the co-op’s service territory were impassable for more than a day, and in some areas, crews spent hours cutting and removing downed trees just to reach sites where repairs were needed.

Overall, the storm knocked out power to more than 160,000 meters served by the 15 distribution co-ops that belong to the Virginia, Maryland and Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives. Nine of the 13 co-ops serving Virginia are down to scattered outages, affecting only a few members. But with nearly 69,000 co-op meters in the state still out of service, about 150 lineworkers from North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania are helping Virginia-based crews with restoration and repairs.

Central Virginia Electric Cooperative, headquartered in Arrington, had about 11,500 outages remaining. Crewe-based Southside Electric Cooperative reported about 2,800 meters still out Wednesday afternoon, and Northern Neck Electric Cooperative, headquartered in Warsaw, was working to restore service to about 1,600 meters.

In Maryland, Hughesville-based Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative had about 5,200 meters out of service Wednesday, down from an initial 78,600 outages, with some of those meters hit by multiple service interruptions.

“The majority of outages that we are working now have been caused by heavy snow on limbs and trees, which the crews must remove with chain saws before repairing power lines. We also have a lot of cross arms breaking, as well as poles,” said SMECO spokesman Tom Dennison.

Greenwood-based Delaware Electric Cooperative was pummeled by near-blizzard conditions Sunday night and early Monday, but the co-op wrapped up restoration work to its 7,000 affected meters Tuesday. Crews are now making permanent repairs even as the co-op warns members to expect several inches of additional snow by the weekend, raising the possibility of scattered outages.

And in North Carolina, Statesville-based EnergyUnited had 14,000 meters out of service in the immediate aftermath of the storm but completed restoration work Tuesday.

Derrill Holly is a staff writer for NRECA.

Updated: Dec. 16, 3 p.m. ET

While electric cooperatives in tornado-ravaged states in the South and Midwest were continuing to repair damage from last weekend’s deadly twisters, co-ops in other Midwestern states reported thousands of new power outages Thursday from destructive winds, thunderstorms and tornadoes that swept from the Rockies to the Great Lakes.

In Iowa, about 6,200 co-op consumer-members were without electricity as of Thursday afternoon, said Erin Campbell, communications director for the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives. The co-ops reporting the greatest number of outages were Midland Power Cooperative, which had more than 2,100 members without power, Prairie Energy Cooperative, with about 1,000 outages, and Woodbury County Electric Cooperative, with about 900 outages. The total number of outages was down dramatically Thursday from a peak of 22,500 on Wednesday night.

“From what we are hearing, destruction is truly widespread and the damage to electrical equipment has come from various causes: straight-line winds, tornadic activity, flying debris, and trees, branches and limbs,” Campbell said.

“There are reports of many broken and damaged poles—both distribution poles and transmission poles…Electric cooperatives from unaffected areas in the state are sending resources and crews over to impacted co-ops when requested to assist in the restoration effort. IAEC is assisting with coordinating these mutual aid efforts.”

Meanwhile, cooperative crews, mutual aid workers and contractors made significant progress this week in restoring electricity in six states following the deadly tornadoes that swept through parts of the South and Midwest over the weekend.

Damage to distribution and transmission lines, poles and support structures in some areas is extensive, and several co-op-served communities will face months of rebuilding and recovery from the massive tornadoes and powerful winds that ravaged their communities.

More than 100,000 co-op-served meters were out of service in the immediate aftermath of the weekend tornadoes, but local crews and contractors began assessing damage and making repairs as soon as winds subsided enough for them to work safely.

In hard-hit Kentucky, co-ops faced devastation in the communities they serve as they worked to restore power “surrounded by debris, destruction and an uncertain future for the western Kentucky communities they call home,” the Kentucky Electric Cooperatives said in a statement.

“Our hearts are heavy with the loss of life, homes, businesses and livelihoods in our communities,” said Chris Perry, president and CEO of Kentucky Electric Cooperatives and United Utility Supply Cooperative.

At least 75 people have died in Kentucky as a result of the tornadoes, state officials said Thursday.

“The co-op mission is to improve the quality of life in the communities we serve, and co-op crews are doing what they can to try to help our members recover from this disaster,” Perry said. “I want to personally thank the crews for their incredible response within such a short time.”

More than 500 workers were helping to restore power in western Kentucky. Crews from more than 20 co-ops in several states were assisting line technicians at West Kentucky RECC, Warren RECC, Gibson EMC and Pennyrile Electric, the statewide association said.

More than 80,000 co-op consumer-members in the state lost power Saturday. By Thursday afternoon, that number had dropped to about 5,400. However, the pace of restoration is likely to slow as co-op crews deal with the most heavily damaged areas, the statewide association said.

Kentucky co-op employees were among those who suffered severe damage to their homes. The statewide association has created the nonprofit Kentucky Rural Electric Disaster Fund to help them and the communities they serve.

“Time and time again, Kentucky electric cooperative employees put their personal lives and families on the side to address the needs of their communities and the wider co-op community,” Perry said.

Louisville-based United Utility Supply Cooperative delivered multiple truckloads of materials and supplies to affected co-ops, deploying office staff to join the co-op’s truck drivers and deliver extra loads as needed, said Joe Arnold, vice president of strategic communications for the statewide association.

“Aware of the forecasts for severe weather on Friday night, UUS worked with its transformer vendor, ERMCO, to secure an extra supply of transformers to be able to deliver them where they were most needed after the storms,” Arnold said. “Despite supply chain concerns, UUS has been able to deliver needed supplies to co-ops.” 

In Tennessee, crews from neighboring co-ops worked to help Gibson Electric Membership Corp. restore power to hard-hit areas of northwest Tennessee and southwest Kentucky. The co-op had restored power to all reported outage locations as of Wednesday night.

“Even in the face of tragedy, it is encouraging to see how many rush to provide assistance when neighbors need help,” said David Callis, executive vice president and general manager for the Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association.

Gibson EMC employees were shaken by the devastation.

“It hit home,” Jason Mills, line foreman for Gibson EMC’s Tiptonville office, said in a news release. “The loss of life hurts. That makes this one a little different.”

In Arkansas, 8,000 co-op members were out of power initially, but that number had plummeted to about 25 as of Thursday afternoon, according to the outage map on the website of the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas.

In Missouri, crews worked Monday to repair a high-voltage transmission line connecting two power plants owned by Springfield-based Associated Electric Cooperative to the grid. The G&T lost 17 steel structures, and officials have said long-term repairs will be needed on the line. As of Thursday afternoon, the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives’ outage map showed about 500 co-op members without power.

Co-op crews also repaired outages to several thousand co-op meters in Mississippi and Illinois over the weekend, and power had been completely restored by Tuesday.

Erin Kelly and Derrill Holly are staff writers for NRECA.

As electric cooperatives contend with global supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, they’re working with their suppliers, vendors and logistics providers to meet demand for parts and other key components essential to keeping power flowing.

“We’re facing long lead times for pad-mounted transformers and PVC pipe used for conduits for underground distribution,” said Tim Gibson, purchasing agent for Wauchula, Florida-based Peace River Electric Cooperative. “Digital meter availability has also been a big problem due to the worldwide shortage of microchips, so we’ve projected six-month demand and ordered them for staggered delivery to meet our needs.”

Long lead times for some parts, like polyvinyl chloride pipe and fittings, have been extended due to feed stock shortages or curtailed operations at petrochemical plants in Texas and Louisiana caused by weather or staffing challenges. Pandemic-related concerns and shipping delays have also prompted some warehouse managers to increase reserves on hand by doubling and even tripling up on their inventories.

“We’re routinely looking at the usage history of our customers so we can anticipate their actual demand for 2022 and the following year,” said Bret Curry, sales manager at Arkansas Electric Cooperatives Inc. The Little Rock-based logistics and service arm of the Arkansas statewide association serves as the principal parts and equipment supplier for about 400 utilities, including co-ops in five Mid-South states.

AECI also regularly consults with members of the Electric Utility Distribution Association, which includes nine member-owned logistics suppliers serving member-owned and public power interests. Several members of EUDA are reporting similar concerns across their client bases.

“Long lead times have caused inventory levels to fluctuate greatly—making it very hard to manage stockouts,” said Johnny Andrews, chief operating officer of Texas Electric Cooperatives’ manufacturing and distribution services division.

Among the strategies TEC has employed to address the supply shortage has been meeting demand with reconditioned equipment, like meters and transformers.

“This approach has worked extremely well for TEC due to the support of companies like Emerald Transformer and Allegiant Utility Services, which manufacturers and refurbishes meters,” said Andrews. “Both of these organizations have stock of refurbished equipment, offer product warranties that are similar or better than the original equipment manufacturers and can also refurbish and repair the co-ops’ equipment as well.”

While several EUDA members are advising clients that logistics challenges could linger well into 2023, the end of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season may provide a bit of relief. Storm activity along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts has been less damaging than normal this year, and seasonal reserves of parts and equipment built up since the spring will begin flowing back into inventories in December.

Still, co-ops are being encouraged to work with local developers on major projects to divide larger jobs into several phases, allowing for delivery of essential parts and components over extended periods.

“The key is planning, particularly for large developments or subdivisions slated for construction over the next three to four years,” said AECI’s Curry. “Talk to your builders and developers and tell them just what we’re telling our distribution co-ops. If they tell you they need to build out infrastructure for 100 new homes tomorrow, that’s not likely to be possible in this environment, and there are no hard expectations of that improving anytime soon.”

Derrill Holly is a staff writer for NRECA.

Minnesota electric cooperatives scored a major victory against unlawful fees and requirements from railroad companies, with state regulators basing their unanimous decision on a state right-of-way law written in part by the statewide association.

The Oct. 5 order by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission allowed Connexus Energy to immediately begin replacing old distribution line underneath tracks owned by BNSF Railway and located in a public easement. The commission denied the rail giant’s 52 requirements and a request for a hearing and restricted BNSF to “reasonable and necessary” traffic flagging expenses.

It was the first test of the 2016 railway crossing law by an electric co-op before the PUC after the Minnesota Rural Electric Association led a two-year fight for legislation to curtail railroads’ widespread, costly impediments levied on co-ops for right-of-way work.

“To protect our members from those demands, it became a priority for us,” said Darrick Moe, MREA president. “We work with members on this all the time.”

As part of its ruling against BNSF, the commission also opened a docket to gather information on whether to launch a comprehensive investigation into similar cases involving railroads and co-ops.

This case arose from a conflict between Connexus Energy and BNSF a year ago after the railroad added requirements to its agreement for co-op work at a crossing in Coon Rapids, a northern suburb of Minneapolis, and tacked on a $2,500 fee for two days of flagging. BNSF further insisted the co-op buy more insurance and that a rail employee be onsite for construction to occur.

“We are lean organizations,” said Nick Loehlein, vice president of electric operations at the Ramsey-based co-op. “The obstructions and delays really impact our ability to serve our members. But cooperatives need to stand tall.”

After months of negotiations came to an impasse, Connexus took its case to the PUC.

The statute, upheld by a state court in 2018, clarified that railroads may charge a flat $1,250 fee for crossing work in a private right-of-way but no fees in a public space. The law limits requirements to those involving safe operations of the rail line.

Connexus credits the win at the PUC “to the cooperative spirit” that included the support of the MREA and telephone co-ops.

Cathy Cash is a staff writer for NRECA.

Typically, when a state is hit with a natural disaster and the power grid is impacted, utilities will work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to rebuild to where the grid was before the event. Lately though, electric co-ops have been working to secure federal reimbursements for restorations that go further to harden their system and create more resilience. Learn more from Mike Heinen, general manager of Jeff Davis Electric Co-op in southwest Louisiana, and Martha Duggan, NRECA’s senior regulatory issues director.

Listen to the episode below:

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A large osprey nest atop a platform-fitted power pole built by Vermont Electric Cooperative is a beloved landmark for drivers on Lake Champlain’s Missisquoi Bay Bridge. So, when the nest crashed to the ground recently with three baby birds inside, members and VEC crews flew into action.

A co-op family discovered the fallen nest on their daily drive home and alerted a local wildlife rescue group, which reached the VEC control center during its off hours.

Osprey nestlings risk abandonment and death if they’re separated from their parents for too long.

“When I called VEC, I told them that if we can get that nest up by the next morning, there would be a chance the parents could continue to care for the fledglings,” said Carol Winfield, president of the Vermont Wildlife Rehabilitation Association and a co-op member. “VEC really rallied.”

Brian Sylvester, system operator, and Isaac Gillen, operations supervisor for the Johnson-based co-op, agreed to have a crew at the site the next day to rehabilitate and raise the plat¬form and nest.

“They were fantastic,” said Winfield. “They got a new platform up and rebuilt the nest and even added a stick for a perch.”

By 11:30 a.m., a VEC bucket truck was lifting a lineworker and Winfield’s daughter, Clara, with two of the young ospreys up to the raptors’ new home. The third nestling suffered injuries and required extra care.

“Just a couple minutes after the babies were put back in the nest and the VEC cherry picker dropped down, the mama was back,” Winfield said. “From start to finish, the whole process was less than 18 hours.”

Watching on the ground with Winfield was VEC member Jenn Fenn, who first noticed the nest had fallen.

“My kids are serious bird enthusiasts, so when we travel to and from day care, we keep an eye on the ospreys,” she said. “I’m so thankful to VEC for their help in getting these fledglings back in their nest.”

VEC built the platform and five others around the Champlain Island area years ago to encourage the raptors to nest away from the co-op’s 46-kilovolt line.

After the recent incident, the platforms will be checked more frequently for deterioration during the ospreys’ migration period, said Andrea Cohen, VEC’s government affairs and member relations manager.

“We all love these birds,” she said. “Over the years, members have been seeing our trucks and workers out there rehabbing these platforms. When our members called, our team was ready to jump in with the local volunteers, so this story has a good ending.”

Cathy Cash is a staff writer for NRECA.

California’s Dixie Fire has burned nearly 1 million acres since mid-July, and an electric cooperative serving portions of the territory scorched or threatened by the massive wildfire is working hard to keep electricity flowing to its members.

“Our area is under a state of emergency, as declared by our governor, and for the last seven weeks, we have been operating on our backup power supply,” said Emily Compton, community relations manager for Plumas-Sierra Rural Electric Cooperative. “We’ve had to add emergency generation to our system in the form of 2-megawatt generators at two of our substations.”

The Portola-based distribution co-op in northeast California has been on backup power since July 21 and kept mobile generation running with regular deliveries of diesel fuel that drivers hauled up sometimes smoky roads to reach its substations.

The co-op, which serves about 8,000 meters in the brushy and forested mountain region northwest of Reno, Nevada, has faced ongoing transmission challenges since the fire began July 14. One investor-owned utility’s transmission line serving its system from the west was destroyed by the flames, and a second connected to its system from the east lacks the capacity to meet its total demand. Two transmission feeds from Pacific Gas and Electric are currently out of service because of the fire.

Another blaze, the Beckwourth Complex Fire, burned more than 105,000 acres, and the co-op’s line crews and contract personnel actively fought that fire to protect one of the co-op’s substations from the flames.

Damage in some areas is still being assessed, but the two fires have burned more than 135 of the co-op’s distribution poles, 23 of its transmission poles and more than 17 miles of its fiber network, which supports both co-op communications and its broadband subsidiary, Plumas-Sierra Telecommunications. As much as 5,000 feet of conductor have been lost, and much of the hardware and materials needed to make repairs have also been destroyed.

“The amount of damage and the speed at which the fires spread were stunning,” said Robert Marshall, the co-op’s general manager, adding that some co-op crews had to be evacuated as they were repairing the system.

Just as many co-ops actively plan for hurricanes, flooding and ice storms, Plumas-Sierra REC includes fire mitigation and alternative generation in its strategic planning.

The co-op participated in development of the $21 million High-Sierra Cogeneration plant to add 6 MW of capacity to its system and commissioned a 2.5 MW solar array, in operation at the Sierra Army Depot in Herlong, California, since 2018. Marshall supports development of more biomass generation to help reduce the amount of available fuel on the forest floor.

“These improvements and the emergency generators have allowed us to provide power with only a few short outages,” said Compton, adding that members have been alerted to expect service disruptions between 9 p.m. and midnight when mobile generators are shut off so they can be refueled and serviced safely.

Crews have been riding the lines when outages occur to ensure that tree limbs or other debris don’t add to the fire risks once lines are re-energized.

“Those regular patrols allow us to visually inspect our system for anything that could potentially contribute to the fire threat,” said Compton.

System control and data acquisition team members have stepped up voltage stability monitoring to ensure system reliability from backup generation sources. And member services and communications team members have used the co-op’s website, social media channels and phone contacts to stress conservation among members to reduce the possibility of rolling blackouts.

Senior operations personnel continue to work with the Northern California Power Agency on backup power initiatives across the region, said Marshall.

“In the long run, we need an investment by the federal government on the fire management and prevention side to prevent this from happening again,” he said.

Derrill Holly is a staff writer for NRECA.

As Hurricane Ida knocked out power to more than 1 million consumers in two states, it also tore down telephone lines, disrupted cellphone service and ruined wireless data transmission services in southwest Louisiana.

An electric cooperative that faced similar communications problems after Hurricane Laura struck last September has stepped up to help another Louisiana co-op and the statewide association maintain contact with members, contractors and other co-ops. They are answering phones as hurricane recovery takes place more than 200 miles away.

“Last year, our phone lines were down, so Central Electric Membership Corp. out of North Carolina offered their services to us because they had been through the same scenario,” said Kay Fox, vice president of marketing and member services at Beauregard Electric Cooperative. “We wanted to pay it forward and do something for our sister co-ops in the state of Louisiana, so that’s what we’ve done.”

Communications have been a challenge for South Louisiana Electric Cooperative Association in Houma and for the Association of Louisiana Electric Cooperatives in Baton Rouge. Landline and cellular telephone service have been out or sporadic since the hurricane made landfall Sunday.

“Our IT department coordinated with SLECA’s and got their phones rerouted to our member services department,” said Fox. “I briefed my people and provided them with a fact sheet of basic member services information they’d need to productively handle calls from SLECA’s members. For the routine calls, we’re filling out spreadsheets and relaying them back to SLECA twice a day.”

While BECI’s 20 customer service reps can’t offer a timetable for SLECA’s power restoration, they are answering basic questions and, more importantly, taking in detailed information to help meet the needs of members displaced by the hurricane.

Since BECI began fielding calls Tuesday, SLECA members whose homes have been heavily damaged or destroyed have called to have their service suspended. They’ve also reported poles and power lines down, which could pose serious hazards in the aftermath of Ida.

“When we get calls about downed lines, I email SLECA right away,” said Fox. “Joe Ticheli, their CEO, and their operations chief, Ben Adams, have given us a list of the information they need, so we are providing them the details that can help them handle the problems.”

SLECA has also provided BECI with basic information they would be offering themselves if their offices were able to field calls.

“Our customer service reps have enough details to discuss the damage to SLECA’s system,” said Fox. “We can tell callers that more than 500 lineworkers are on the ground in their area working to restore power safely and let them know it could take several weeks to fully restore power.”

And the only modification BECI had to do to its own telephone intake system was designate a number for callers to press in order to direct their calls to a SLECA queue. BECI calls are being handled normally.

BECI is also supporting the work of the Association of Louisiana Electric Cooperatives, which has been forced to relocate from its Baton Rouge offices because of storm damage in their area.

“We’re serving as a backup call center for contractors and field crews that are available to help with restoration wherever they are needed in Louisiana,” said Fox.

“This has been a big help for crews that may not be on our co-ops’ list for their emergency work plans. I got a call yesterday from a contractor who said ‘I have 38 men, 13 bucket trucks,’ and then they named off different track machines and things like that, and said ‘we’re available if you need us.’ I’m directing all those calls to the statewide office.”

Derrill Holly is a staff writer for NRECA.

Read More:
Hurricane Ida: Tracking the Co-op Response

The Federal Emergency Management Agency must fix policies and regulations that create financial hardships for electric cooperatives and their communities struggling to recover from natural disasters, NRECA said in comments recently filed at the agency.

The comments were submitted in response to FEMA’s request for information following a White House executive order on racial equity and federal support for underserved communities. They outline several areas of significant concern:

• FEMA’s policy change on emergency work.
• Slow disbursement of emergency funds.
• Inability to provide nonprofits direct access to certain disaster funds.
• Failure to implement provisions of the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 to deliver aid.

FEMA should increase its focus on the most economically challenged areas after floods, hurricanes, ice storms and other catastrophes, said Martha Duggan, NRECA senior director of regulatory affairs.

Instead, FEMA’s move to redefine “emergency work” as opposed to “permanent work” for utilities may result in an additional $12.5 million in storm expenses for electric cooperatives slammed by Hurricane Laura last August, she said.

“In the wake of a disaster, electric cooperatives strive to restore their systems without raising rates to people who are already economically stressed pre-disaster,” said Duggan.

“Raising rates after a disaster simply exacerbates poverty in these communities. But raising rates is exactly what electric cooperatives will have to do absent fair, efficient, consistent and adequate FEMA reimbursement processes.”

More than 250 distribution co-ops and NRECA-member public power districts serve an estimated 4.2 million people in 92% of the nation’s “persistent poverty counties” as identified by the U.S. Treasury Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.

“Delays in financial assistance force electric cooperatives to borrow substantial amounts of money to bridge the time between disaster impacts and FEMA payment,” Duggan said. “The interest on these loans becomes a cost to the consumer-owners of the electric cooperatives who may be suffering tremendous financial setbacks themselves after the disaster.”

NRECA is encouraging FEMA to reimburse the interest on these loans as an eligible cost incurred after a disaster hits an electric co-op’s system, she said.

Earlier this year, NRECA provided input to FEMA in opposition to a proposed rule for cost assistance estimates in the disaster declaration process for its public assistance program. That proposal has been roundly criticized by other stakeholders, including state and local governments.

Cathy Cash is a staff writer for NRECA.

The best way to preserve the struggling monarch butterfly is through voluntary conservation efforts rather than government regulation, a Minnesota electric cooperative CEO told a House panel Thursday.

“Our goal is to protect this iconic species for posterity,” said Justin Jahnz, CEO of East Central Energy, in testimony before the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife. “Collaboration is key; restrictions are not.”

After creating a unique “monarch waystation” on its property, East Central Energy became the first rural electric cooperative to receive a certificate of inclusion from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service into the Monarch Butterfly Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances.

As part of the CCAA, dozens of energy companies and state transportation departments are developing monarch-friendly practices on millions of acres. Their voluntary actions could prevent the need to list the monarch under the federal Endangered Species Act. Applicants that are approved won’t face penalties if they unintentionally harm a monarch.

The monarch population has declined by about 90% since the 1990s. The species is famous for its spectacular fall migration, which takes the butterflies from as far north as Canada to central Mexico, where most spend the winter.

East Central Energy set aside two 2-acre plots for habitat for the monarchs and other pollinators at its Braham headquarters two years ago.

“We have some walking trails around the perimeter, and the area is enjoyed by employees on their breaks,” Jahnz said. “Our next steps will be sitting areas, ID tags for unique species and signage for public awareness. We have published videos on how to identify the native plants…and plan to have seed collection days for employees to start their own habitat projects at home.”

“The area will also serve to be an accurate demonstration of the type of ecosystem we are trying to achieve on our 25,000 acres of land—including over 5,000 miles of maintained right of way—property that belongs to our members,” he said.

The 63,000-member co-op has implemented other conservation measures, including creating ecological diversity through its vegetation management plan and installing pollinator habitat instead of manicured lawns at its substations.

Immediate, emergency protections for the monarch under the Endangered Species Act “would be devastating” because it would close enrollment in the voluntary conservation agreement, Jahnz said. The Fish and Wildlife Service announced last December that listing the monarch as threatened or endangered was warranted, but the agency delayed action due to other, higher-priority species in more urgent peril. It plans to review the butterfly’s status in fiscal 2024.

“If more entities were to enroll in the CCAA, we are hopeful that we can recover the monarch population and avoid a listing decision in the future,” Jahnz said.

“ECE believes that through collaboration, education, and awareness, electric cooperatives can begin to focus on a future where pollinator habitat is synonymous with utility vegetation management. In that future, healthy ecosystems can exist under every power line, and work as nature intended while also providing safe and reliable electricity and protecting the bottom line.”

Erin Kelly is a staff writer for NRECA.

Ever gone to a party with 3 million people?

Well, now you can.

With musical performances, cooking demos and conservation workshops, the online 2021 Pollinator Power Party more than doubled attendance from 2020, its inaugural year when some 1.5 million participants logged on for the virtual festivities.

And electric cooperatives are playing no small part in the event’s success.

“Dairyland Power and Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. are two electric co-ops actively participating…and the annual party is now the world’s largest party for pollinators,” said Jessica Fox, senior technical executive at the Electric Power Research Institute.

The gathering got its start when EPRI’s Power-in-Pollinators Initiative joined with the nonprofit Pollinator Partnership to commemorate the 2020 National Pollinator Week. This year’s celebration ran from June 21 to 25, but guests are still trickling in virtually to see the event resources.

NRECA, Dairyland, based in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and AECC, headquartered in Little Rock, were original sponsors of the party and backed its internationally recognized 2020 documentary, Power for Pollinators, which has won a dozen film awards.

This year, Dairyland contributed a 14-minute video showcasing the generation and transmission co-op’s broad conservation activities, which include converting a co-op-owned bluff populated with timber rattlesnakes and invasive plants into pollinator-friendly native prairie.

AECC built and is hosting the party website and running a pollinator social media campaign that has received more than 9,000 engagements to date.

“It is estimated that one in every three bites of food we eat are dependent on pollination and, unfortunately, pollinator species are experiencing grave population declines across the globe,” said Rob Roedel, the G&T’s corporate communications director. “AECC recognizes this great reliance on pollinator and ecological well-being and acknowledges it is everyone’s responsibility to support them.”

Fox said the party just wouldn’t be the same without the focus and expertise of electric co-ops.

“Co-ops are unique in their community engagement and business structure compared to other electric power providers,” she said. “Even large companies can learn a lot from what co-ops are doing for pollinators.”

Cathy Cash is a staff writer for NRECA.

Updated: July 12, 2021

Elsa, the first named tropical weather system to make landfall in the United States this year, knocked out power to thousands of electric cooperative members in Florida last week. But service was quickly restored with help from other co-ops and contractors.

“We sincerely appreciate the mutual aid we receive from co-ops within Florida and nationwide—that plays a key role in each co-op’s restoration plan,” said Mike Bjorklund, general manager of the Florida Electric Cooperatives Association.

Bjorklund praised the skill and speed of co-op crews who began outage repairs as winds subsided and restoration work could be undertaken safely. He also thanked co-op members and commercial-industrial account holders for their patience and support in the aftermath of the storm.

“Their individual storm prep is essential to recovery from any storm,” Bjorklund said.

Elsa formed in the central Atlantic and reached hurricane strength with sustained winds of 75 mph before pushing through the Windward Islands on July 2. After peaking at 85 mph, the system lost some strength over Cuba and entered the Gulf of Mexico on July 5 as a powerful tropical storm.

Packing highest-sustained winds of 65 mph, the storm moved ashore north of Steinhatchee on July 7, pounding communities served by Tri-County Electric Cooperative and knocking out power to nearly 5,400 of the co-op’s 18,000 meters.

“The height of the storm came through midday, and we were able to work through the storm. Power was restored to the majority of TCEC members by midnight,” said John Tuten, the Madison-based distribution co-op’s vice president of operations. Work was wrapped up before dawn July 9.

“The support from our neighboring co-ops, West Florida Electric Cooperative, Escambia River Electric Cooperative and CHELCO, made the difference in our restoration times,” said Tuten.

“We are grateful for their hard work, safety efforts and dedication to our members like they were their own.”

Co-op help and contractors also allowed Live Oak-based Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative to work through outages affecting over 12,700 of its meters, said CEO Mike McWaters.

Ninety people, including lineworkers, vegetation management and support personnel, helped with restoration efforts, said McWaters. “At times like this, it’s good to have friends who are willing to lend a hand.”

Co-ops and other utilities intensified their seasonal preparations as meteorologists warned the storm’s track would carry it inland through the Florida Panhandle and parallel to the Eastern Seaboard.

Georgia Electric Membership Corp. reported about 435 outages among the state’s co-ops Thursday morning, primarily in southeastern coastal counties. The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina reported outages affecting about 3,000 meters Thursday, but crews handled most repairs with local personnel.

Elsa maintained tropical storm status as it pushed through the Mid-Atlantic region into New England, dumping heavy rain over coastal areas and causing flash flooding, but storm-related outages in co-op-served areas were not severe enough to require major restoration efforts.

Early tropical weather activity in the Atlantic Basin has prompted researchers at Colorado State University’s Tropical Weather and Climate Research Center to revise their seasonal hurricane forecast of 18 named storms slightly upward, to 20.

“We anticipate an above-normal probability for major hurricanes making landfall along the continental United States coastline and in the Caribbean,” said Phil Klotzbach, lead researcher.

Derrill Holly is a staff writer for NRECA.

For state wildlife biologists, building roosting lines to support a bevy of mourning doves in a remote and rugged wildlife area was a daunting challenge, technically and financially.

To Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative, helping out the state was just being a good neighbor.

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources called on the Pickens-based co-op this spring to install roosting lines as a way of creating new dove habitat fields in the Tall Pines Wildlife Management Area. Mourning doves need roosts to serve as a resting place and lookout for predators; biologists need them to count the resident dove population to set annual hunting limits.

The co-op in April sent a contract crew to the wildlife area to build two roosting areas using inactive power line strung across 30-foot poles. One roost is three spans totaling 1,400 feet of line along four poles, and the other spans 500 feet between two poles.

“We really appreciate everything that Blue Ridge did to make these power line structures happen,” said Tammy Wactor Waldrop, a state wildlife biologist. “A contract crew for Blue Ridge worked all day to put these lines up. SCDNR does not have the equipment or expertise to do this, and it would have been very expensive. This just goes to show you how community-oriented Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative is.”

The co-op has lent a hand to the natural resources department on other projects. When the agency built an observation tower on Sassafras Mountain, the highest point in South Carolina, Blue Ridge Electric trimmed trees help promote local tourism and to provide the community with better views to Tennessee and North Carolina.

“We try to help them out when we can,” said Sam McMillan, the co-op’s vice president of operations. “We have a good relationship and support DNR and support wildlife. That supports the community.”

The department established the dove fields last year as the only ones open for public hunting in Greenville County. McMillan noted that the crew that trekked to the dove fields in the wildlife area 30 miles away from town enjoyed the change of pace. The habitat improvements also benefit a variety of other birds and wildlife in the area.   

“We were just helping them do a little project,” he said. “We were just being a good neighbor, that’s it.”

Cathy Cash is a staff writer for NRECA.

Electric cooperatives, which serve some of the most remote and economically disadvantaged communities in the country, will have a new challenge this summer: postal rate increases well above inflation.

Effective Aug. 29, the U.S. Postal Service will increase rates for nonprofit marketing mail by an average of 7.8%. Until recently, the agency had been required by law to tie increases to inflation, which has been about 1.5% to 2% in recent years. 

But a new Postal Regulatory Commission ruling will allow the USPS to deploy a new pricing formula that is far more onerous to nonprofit groups, according to a report by the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers (ANM).

Increases include 5.7% for first-class letters, 10.4% for flats (including magazines) and 8.6% for parcels.

The new rates will hurt the bottom lines of electric co-ops, which use the Postal Service for critical functions like billing, distributing director election materials and meeting notices, and mailing their widely read statewide magazines to members. Some state laws require mailed notices for certain communications, and a lack of adequate internet service in many co-op territories means that moving billing and other outreach to online-only is not an option.

“Rural communities that rely on the postal service will be especially hurt by these rate hikes,” said Bobby Hamill, NRECA’s government relations director on this issue. “A mailing cost increase well above inflation really puts co-ops and their low-income members in a bind.”

NRECA joined ANM in February 2020 in urging the Postal Regulatory Commission to reconsider its inflation-rate ruling and has advocated strenuously for USPS not to use its full rate authority. They argued that the Postal Service is now in a much better financial position because of a windfall of COVID-19 relief funds and that future shortfalls ought to be addressed with structural changes rather than rate hikes, Hamill said.

“USPS is at a point where it is no longer necessary to impose these postal increases, especially on not-for-profit entities,” he said.

Co-ops and statewide associations across the country are concerned about what this jump in postal costs will mean for their budgets and their members.

“We want postal rate-makers to know the importance of written communication to electric co-op members,” said Lou Green, executive vice president of the Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, based in Cayce.

“It’s vital that communication remains affordable for millions of member-owners. In our state, South Carolina Living magazine is an irreplaceable link between members and their co-ops.”

The Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives said the increase raises its rates by about 8% in addition to the consumer price index increase by USPS in January.

“The USPS appears to be targeting rural areas with unprecedented increases well beyond anything we’ve seen in the past,” said Valerie Cheatham, vice president of communications at the Springfield-based AIEC.

“We do everything we can to keep the rates of our statewide magazine affordable and it’s increases like this that negatively affect us and our readers.”

Cathy Cash is a staff writer for NRECA.

Nearly 60,000 western wildfires destroyed more than 10 million acres in 2020, making it one of the worst seasons ever. As another begins, battled-tested electric cooperatives are readying strategies to prepare and mitigate damage.

“It comes down to prevention and protecting our members,” said Dave Markham, president and CEO of Central Electric Cooperative in Redmond, Oregon.

Unlike tornados that devastate in single short spurts or hurricanes that may be predicted weeks in advance, wildfires can spark at any time and often go unnoticed until dangerously out of control. These fires gain strength and size as they consume woody debris and other fuel in their path and can spread destruction for weeks or even months.

In northern Colorado’s drought-plagued mountains, Poudre Valley REA experienced its greatest devastation ever from wildfires in 2020: 400 distribution poles and 20 miles of power line were destroyed, and a substation was severely damaged.

As what came to be known as the Cameron Peak Fire began to spread in August 2020, the co-op worked simultaneously to support first responders, protect infrastructure and restore electricity.

“Preparing for the fire and restoration was challenging due to the fire’s unpredictable nature,” said John Bowerfind, chief operating officer at the Fort Collins, Colorado-based co-op.

“We created and followed our plan while remaining flexible, with the ability to pivot and change course as the fire conditions changed.”

That meant lots of communication with fire authorities and members about when an area would be repaired and re-energized. The co-op used social media, livestreamed events and local media coverage to share the latest developments.

The blaze began about 15 miles from the Red Feather Lakes community served by PVREA. It roared into the co-op’s service area in waves, appearing to recede then raging back in short bursts when the weather turned drier and windy. The wildfire was not fully contained until December.

Fire incident command called for the largest public safety power shutoffs PVREA had ever experienced. Because the co-op had asked suppliers in advance to have materials readily available, damaged segments were repaired and lines were re-energized quickly.

“Every natural disaster is different—our response plan provides a starting point and must remain flexible,” said Bowerfind. “We were planning for the restoration and rebuilding efforts before facilities were destroyed by the fire.”

In Oregon, more than 1.5 million acres burned in 2020, making it one of the most destructive wildfire seasons in the state’s history. Flames along the Cascade Range whipped by 70 mph gales threatened CEC territory, but the co-op was spared when winds diminished.

“We dodged a potential catastrophe,” said Markham. “But we realize it is getting drier and hotter and there are more dead and dying trees.”

With more than half of CEC’s service territory across federal lands, Markham has testified before Congress on how delays in approvals for right-of-way upgrades, maintenance and improvements can have serious consequences. It took over a year to receive approval from the U.S. Forest Service to replace 131 aging power poles and remove encroaching vegetation along a 13-mile overhead power line route on federal land, he said.

“We are in a significant drought,” he said. “Going into summer, this is the time of year we will get lightning storms.”

CEC’s wildfire plan covers inspection and maintenance, operational practices, situational and conditional awareness, and response and recovery. Brad Wilson, who as director of operations and engineering heads the co-op’s wildfire mitigation efforts in the field, calls the plan “a living document.”

“While we will annually review the plan and update as needed, events in real-time may require some flexibility in its execution,” he said.

Listen to an August 2020 podcast episode on co-ops and wildfire mitigation:

Cathy Cash is a staff writer at NRECA.

Researchers at Colorado State University are predicting a more active hurricane season than normal this year for the Atlantic Basin with 17 named storms, including eight reaching hurricane strength and four developing into major hurricanes. But the early forecast falls short of last year’s unusually active season.

The researchers predict about 80 named-storm days for the Atlantic season, compared to just under 60 for an average year. They rate the probability of landfall along the U.S. coastline at about 130%, based upon 38 years of data.

Hundreds of electric cooperatives serve members within 400 miles of the U.S. coastline, from Texas to Florida along the Gulf of Mexico and between Florida and Maine along the Atlantic coast.

Climatologists with the university’s Tropical Meteorology Project, in their earliest preseason forecast ever, on April 8 cited projected atmospheric patterns as factors that could lead to increased storm formation.

The Atlantic hurricane season officially begins June 1 and continues through Nov. 30. Storm development is affected by a combination of ocean temperatures and atmospheric wind patterns.

La Niña conditions—when surface water in the equatorial Pacific becomes warmer than average and east winds are weaker than normal—may transition to neutral by this summer, wrote Phil Klotzbach, a principal researcher in the university’s department of atmospheric science. He added that the odds of a significant El Niño seem unlikely.

 “Sea surface temperatures averaged across the tropical Atlantic are currently near average, while subtropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures are warmer than normal,” wrote Klotzbach.

The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season was unusually active with 30 named storms, including 13 that developed to hurricane strength with sustained winds topping 74 mph. Of that number, six reached major hurricane status of Category 3 or higher, with winds topping 115 mph.

For the 2021 season, researchers warn of an “above-average probability for major hurricanes making landfall along the continental United States coastline and in the Caribbean.”

“Coastal residents are reminded that it only takes one hurricane making landfall to make it an active season for them,” Klotzbach wrote.

Colorado State forecasters will begin issuing their monthly updates in June, before increasing to biweekly updates in August. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center will issue its 2021 hurricane season forecast in May.

Derrill Holly is a staff writer at NRECA.

Seasonal tree-trimming of rights of way helps prevent power outages, and crews can be ruthless about staying on schedule. But an Arkansas Electric Cooperatives Inc. team recently took a little time for extra care and kindness to protect an unusual pet.

Senior foreman Chastin McLain and mechanized trimmer operator Rodney Etheridge were working a job for Intercounty Electric Cooperative not far from the distribution co-op’s Licking, Missouri, headquarters.

At 44 feet long and nearly 11 feet high locked down, their 12-ton aerial trimmer and transport trailer can’t just park anywhere. So, Maj. Josh Campbell, a ranking officer with the Missouri State Park Rangers, gave them full access to his property to get their work done.

During the visit, Campbell’s hand-raised duck took an interest in McLain and Etheridge, following them around the property and quacking loudly at their heels as they worked. When the men finished up, the duck stayed close by as they loaded the rig on its trailer and prepared to drive off in their crew truck.

“Instead of kicking at the duck or just leaving the duck to fend for itself, they did something above and beyond,” said Campbell, who witnessed the incident on video from one of his security cameras. “The passenger picked the duck up and relocated it to the yard before they pulled away.”

Campbell, impressed with the kindness, wrote a letter to AECI heaping praise on the pair.

“To find an employee who will go above and beyond when no one is looking is almost unheard of,” wrote Campbell, who says the Missouri mallard is more than just a family pet. “For one, no one was looking and, for two, most don’t take the time to recognize great effort if they do see it.”

Taking a little extra time was not a problem for the crew, and the payoff was pulling back onto the road knowing that the duck was safe at home.

“We were trying be mindful of their pet,” said foreman McLain. “We were trying to be extra safe.”

“My neighbors have had ducks that wander onto our property, so I have had quite a bit of practice at handling them,” said Etheridge. “When we were leaving the jobsite, I held the duck until Chastin backed up and we left.”

Details of the tree crew’s actions spread to AECI’s senior management and were shared in the employee newsletter.  

“We always appreciate it when our crews go above and beyond and do the small extra things that illustrate the values of all of our employees,” said Joe Richie, AECI’s director of utility services.

Derrill Holly is a staff writer at NRECA.

Electric cooperatives in the Appalachian region are still restoring power after back-to-back winter storms that were particularly tough on lines and poles serving members in rugged backcountry terrain.

“It has been many years since Tennessee experienced a winter storm of this severity,” said David Callis, executive vice president and general manager of the Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association. “The amount of ice, followed by days of frigid temperatures, created difficult conditions for both co-op consumers and the crews who worked almost nonstop to restore power.”

The Valentine’s Day storm was followed by additional snow and ice events, pelting co-ops serving members on the Cumberland Plateau, said Trent Scott, the statewide association’s vice president of corporate strategy.

“Early outage figures surpassed 60,000 statewide.” said Scott. “Throughout the week, the weight of ice and snow continued to bring down trees and damage equipment that, in many cases, had already been repaired.”

About 500 members, primarily in mountainous areas of southeastern Tennessee near the North Carolina state line, remained without power Monday.

During the ice events, at least 17% of Duck River Electric Membership Corp.’s 74,000 meters were knocked out repeatedly as trees continued falling into rights of-way and freeze-and-thaw cycles sent branches whipsawing across power lines.

“In total, 172 linemen and 58 tree trimming contractors were on our system working 16-hour days to get members restored,” said Scott Spence, president and CEO of the Shelbyville, Tennessee-based co-op. “Despite dangerous road conditions, falling trees and below-freezing temperatures, they worked tirelessly to ensure the needs of DREMC members were put first.”

Co-ops in mountainous areas of Kentucky experienced similar problems. More than 11,000 co-op-served meters remained out of service Monday as crews continued restoration work in many areas only accessible on foot or with tracked vehicles.

“We had three storms that came through, and, unfortunately, the same portions of eastern and southeastern Kentucky got hammered each time,” said Joe Arnold, vice president of strategic communications for the Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives.

Grayson Rural Electric Cooperative Corp. was hardest hit. The mountains, valleys and ravines traversing its territory are heavily forested, so it could take at least another week to complete repairs.

“Only about half of the electric infrastructure is accessible by road. The rest of it takes either hiking, ATVs, drones, or some other means of access,” said Arnold.

“This is the time we have to remind members that that last mile is the most difficult to serve,” Arnold said. “If you are in the most remote areas, restoration of your power could take the longest and be the most difficult.”

In Virginia, most distribution co-ops serving the Blue Ridge region completed restoration work over the weekend, but repairs continued in parts of the service territory of Crewe-based Southside Electric.

“These are the worst icing events they’ve seen in a quarter of a century,” said Steven Johnson, director of member and public relations for the Virginia, Delaware, and Maryland Association of Electric Cooperatives. “Restoration there, in some cases, is going to take up to two weeks.”

With six members per mile of line, crews have had to trek several miles into mountainous, off-road areas, hauling in equipment on tracked vehicles to get power restored to just a few homes or businesses.

“They had to bring in specialized equipment from Pennsylvania just to get a new pole through all the mud and over creeks,” said Johnson. “More than 900 people, including co-op personnel, contractors and extra crews from investor-owned utilities, have been assisting in Southside’s territory.”

In southeastern Ohio, Buckeye Rural Electric Cooperative is also still repairing ice storm damage.

“We’ve got five track machines that are basically like a small line truck and digger trucks on bulldozer treads,” said Kent Eldridge, vice president of member services at the Rio Grande-based distribution co-op.

“We’ve got 130 people assigned to restoration work in the field when we normally have 14 staff to handle our line work and vegetation management,” said Eldridge, adding that full restoration could take another six days. “The Ohio National Guard is also helping us clear debris so we can reach some parts of our service territory where members are still without power.”

Derrill Holly is a staff writer at NRECA.

Updated: Feb. 19, 5:00 p.m. ET

Warmer weather and access to reliable generation combined with determined efforts of utility crews helped restore power to millions of consumers, including electric cooperative members in several states.

“There’s enough generation capacity online to meet consumers’ demand here in Texas now, and we don’t have to worry about interrupted power anymore,” said Will Holford, manager of public affairs for Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative.

The Bastrop-based distribution co-op was among dozens of Texas co-ops subject to emergency measures put in place by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. ERCOT manages the electric grid for 26 million Texans served by co-ops and investor-owned and municipal utilities.

As frigid winter temperatures pushed through much of the state Sunday, demand for electricity outstripped available generation, and emergency measures led to a combination of extended service interruptions and rolling blackouts.

“We had relatively few weather-related outages on our distribution system,” said Holford. “From early Monday morning through Tuesday afternoon, our members were experiencing ‘power on’ intervals of 10 to 15 minutes and managed outages of up to 45 minutes.”

Bluebonnet’s crews continued making repairs to damaged lines, and member services representatives, working from home under the co-op’s pandemic mitigation plan, fielded calls even as they faced the same disruptions as the co-op’s members.

“We did all we could to keep members informed. Our call center lines were staffed, and we used our website and all our social media channels to keep them up-to-date,” said Holford.

Severe winter weather has affected much of the country this week, with widespread power outages reported in parts of the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, the South and the Mid-Atlantic regions.

After completing restoration work in their own territories, five Arkansas co-ops, including the statewide association’s construction division, pulled out Friday to help co-ops in Mississippi repair damage to power lines and other equipment.

Lorman-based Southwest Electric Power Association is working to restore service to more than 16,000 of its 25,000 meters. Yazoo City-based Yazoo Valley EPA reported more than 7,500 of its 10,300 meters out of service late Wednesday and was continuing repairs to restore power to about 2,000 meters Friday.

“We’ve still got 49,000 meters out, down from 110,000 statewide early Thursday,” said Ron Stewart, senior vice president of communications at the Electric Cooperatives of Mississippi.

“Central Electric Power Association based in Carthage still has about 12,000 meters out,” said Stewart. “We’re also getting help from Alabama crews in the service territory of Southern Pine Electric, based in Taylorsville, where 9,000 meters are still out.”

In Kentucky, more than 1,000 line technicians, tree-trimmers and mutual aid workers were expected to be busy this weekend working to repair damage affecting about 40,000 co-op-served meters.

Mutual aid crews from Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama and Indiana have about 325 co-op and contract personnel committed to restoration work in Kentucky.

Kentucky-based United Utility Supply Cooperative prepositioned poles, crossarms and other essential hardware in the state in preparation for this week’s severe weather. Vendors and other members of the co-op-focused Electric Utility Distribution Association have been alerted to provide additional materials if needed.

“The scope and scale of the damage suggests a prolonged outage,” said Chris Perry, president and CEO of Kentucky Electric Cooperatives, adding that power restoration would take several days. “Our cooperatives greatly appreciate the understanding of co-op consumer-members. Know we are working as quickly as we safely can.”

Derrill Holly is a staff writer at NRECA.

A Michigan electric cooperative’s employees are rolling up their sleeves to get inoculated against the coronavirus and helping to defeat the pandemic by supporting vaccine distribution in their service territory.

Cassopolis-based Midwest Energy & Communications recently held a vaccine clinic for employees and will host a drive-in site for its regional health department.

“We’re working with the Van Buren/Cass District Health Department to help Michigan meet its pandemic vaccination goals,” said Patty Nowlin, MEC’s vice president of corporate communications.

Nearly half of the co-op’s 130 staff received their first shots of the Moderna vaccine Jan. 15. A second round of vaccines is set for Feb. 12. 

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer drafted an executive order as guidance for the state’s COVID-19 response plan last May. It outlined operational changes and resource allocations for first responders, including health care providers and public safety personnel.  Certain utility workers, including some electric co-op employees, were placed in an essential category and designated for inclusion among the next groups eligible to receive vaccines.

By the time COVID-19 vaccinations began nationwide in December, the co-op had months of ongoing interaction with local public health officials.

“The local health department reached out to us several months ago,” said Nowlin. “Michigan has a statewide vaccination goal to get 50,000 shots in arms every day. To try to achieve that goal, they modified the plan to begin inoculating the first and second categories of eligible individuals at the same time.”

When the local health district notified co-op officials that vaccines would be available, a voluntary participation program was opened for MEC employees. The co-op immediately began a staff awareness campaign, providing publicly available information to help staff decide whether to participate.

“I know a lot of people are very afraid; it’s so unknown. But I also know there are a lot of people who want to be part of the solution,” said Nowlin. “We have to step forward and start doing something proactively to return to some sense of normalcy, and the experts say vaccines are a step toward that goal.”

Once vaccines are available to help meet the needs of the general population, the co-op plans to host drive-in clinics in the vehicle bays, said Nowlin, adding that public health officials will supply and administer the medication.  “We’ve got extensive parking just outside of the vehicle bays where people can sit for their 15 minutes, so they can be monitored after they’re vaccinated.”

Read More:

FERC Urges CDC to Give Key Electric Utility Workers Early Access to COVID-19 Vaccine

Once nearly extinct, the red-cockaded woodpecker is making a comeback, but Central Electric Power Cooperative will continue its proven conservation efforts as it navigates a new power line through federal forestland the bird calls home.

The generation and transmission co-op headquartered in Columbia, South Carolina, is prioritizing preservation of the woodpecker’s habitat in its plans for a transmission route through Francis Marion National Forest. The co-op says it will continue its efforts even if federal protections for the bird are eased.

“Our focus is to ensure the ongoing maintenance standards adopted are sound, balance what the electric utility is required to do for maintenance and to preserve and enhance the population of the species,” said Mark Svrcek, Central’s senior vice president of member solutions and operations support.

With population numbers on the rise, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed to “downlist” the federally protected woodpecker from “endangered” to “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act.

USFWS also is proposing a “4(d) rule” to ban activities that could result in accidental bird deaths. They include operating vehicles, mechanical equipment, lights at night and other human activities in habitat areas during the bird’s breeding season. Exceptions may be granted for required maintenancefor the safe operations of existing infrastructure, such as rights of way.

Central is studying three potential corridors for the 115-kilovolt power line that will serve the area adjacent to the McClellanville community in Berkeley Electric Cooperative’s service area. The G&T has been working with multiple stakeholders including the USFWS, the U.S. Forest Service and the Rural Utilities Service, which will ultimately decide the line’s route.

By being proactive, Central hopes that potential risks and mitigation options will be identified early to protect the bird and avoid project delays.

“Engagement with federal agencies is critical,” Svrcek said. “Understand their management plan, their restrictions, and engage on the front end on new projects to avoid surprises.”

Elsewhere in its territory, including the Sumter National Forest, the G&T has practiced targeted, less disruptive mechanical mowing in existing rights of way.  They also have conducted species studies and reconnaissance for possible habitat and been flexible with new development to avoid sensitive areas.

“For new construction, we practice silviculture to benefit the species,” said Tommy Jackson, supervisor of environmental services for Central. “We only remove the vegetation that will interfere with the operation of the transmission line. All other low-growing vegetation are mowed and allowed to grow.”

Teams also do fieldwork to isolate potential woodpecker habitat. “We can identify that pine growth early on and avoid it, period,” he said. “We intend to treat the threatened and endangered species the same.”

Central has worked with former forest service official and species expert Ralph Costa, who said he sees the co-op’s preparations for the new line as “a flagship on how a co-op deals with a species on the public land.”

Decades of habitat loss from forest overgrowth and hurricanes nearly wiped out red-cockaded woodpeckers, who get their name from the pinch of scarlet that males sport on their black cap.

While other woodpeckers drill nests into dead trees, the red-cockaded species is unique in its preference for live longleaf pines found in the coastal Southeast. The nesting process can take up to six years.

Today, artificial cavities installed in thousands of pines across the region, including in the Francis Marion National Forest, are enabling a growth spurt for the species.

USFWS is accepting public comment on its proposed downlisting of the red-cockaded woodpecker until Dec. 7. A final decision may come as early as the end of next year.

Cathy Cash is a staff writer at NRECA.

Updated: Nov. 2, 4 p.m.

Electric cooperatives in Oklahoma are making good progress rebuilding their systems following a rare early-season ice storm on Oct. 25 that knocked out power to more than 76,000 co-op members, mainly in the state’s western and central regions.

With the help of warm temperatures and a large number of mutual assistance crews from in-state and out-of-state, co-ops have reduced outages as of midday Monday down to around 9,500.

Officials at Oklahoma’s Electric Cooperatives said at least 13 distribution co-ops were impacted by the storm, suffering damages estimated to be in the multimillion-dollar range. 

“Ice storms create havoc in our industry, and no one expected a storm of this magnitude this early in the fall season,” said OAEC General Manager Chris Meyers. “We appreciate all linemen who left the comfort of their homes to assist the hardest-hit electric cooperatives in adverse conditions. Their commitment to help others truly underscores the strength of the cooperative spirit.”

Assistance arrived from 16 co-ops based in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Affected co-ops with remaining outages expect to be fully restored by Thursday, with the exception of CKEnergy Electric Cooperative, which was particularly hard-hit and is predicting outages to last several more days.

“We have been hit hard by this historic ice storm, but our crews and mutual aid assistance crews are no strangers to this type of strenuous work,” said CKenergy CEO Clint Pack. “While this will be a long-term outage for many of our members, we will not rest until every member has power restored.”

Western Farmers Electric Cooperative, the power supplier for 17 co-ops, said current assessments have found 173 downed or damaged transmission structures, with that total expected to rise as aerial inspections continue. 

All told, the storm halted some 384,000 meters in the state, including at co-ops, municipals and investor-owned utilities. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt issued an emergency declaration for 47 Oklahoma counties.

Anna Politano is editor of Oklahoma Living magazine and Scot Hoffman is editor of NRECA News.

Louisiana’s electric cooperatives were still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Laura when Hurricane Delta slammed into the state on Oct. 9, dealing another blow to co-op members already coping with damaged or destroyed homes.

Once again, Jeff Davis Electric Cooperative in Jennings and Beauregard Electric Cooperative Inc. in Deridder were hit hardest, losing 100% power for the second time in about six weeks. But, with help from hundreds of co-op lineworkers from a dozen other states organized by the Association of Louisiana Electric Cooperatives, they restored power to many of their consumer-members in less than a week.

“Electricity is life,” said Mike Heinen, general manager of Jeff Davis EC, a small co-op with 11,000 meters and 49 employees. “No matter how exhausted we all are, you can’t say ‘no, I’m not going to do it today.’ If we don’t do our jobs, our members can’t get back up.”

Jeff Davis EC, which had restored power to about 75% of its system when Delta hit, was back up to about 50% power on Oct. 14 and to nearly 80% power by Oct. 18. Beauregard EC, which has 42,800 meters, completed its restoration work by Oct. 16.

“The good news is Delta wasn’t near as bad as Laura,” said Beauregard EC General Manager Kevin Turner. “We’re coming back a whole lot quicker.”

During Laura, about 4,000 of Beauregard’s power poles were knocked to the ground. In contrast, Delta brought down only about 50. However, Delta soaked parts of the service territory with 10 to 17 inches of water, requiring the co-op to use airboats and off-road vehicles to reach flooded areas where repairs were needed, Turner said.

“That slowed us down some,” he said. “It’s taken a few days longer this time to get the water to drain all out.”

Heinen estimates his co-op will be putting its system back together through December. Jeff Davis EC lost nearly 100 miles of transmission line during Laura and had just started rebuilding it when Delta hit. Fortunately, the rebuilt lines survived the second hurricane, he said.

“The most important thing is that nobody got hurt,” Heinen said. “Everything else can be replaced.”

Each co-op has had help from about 700 lineworkers who rushed in from co-ops in other states to help their Louisiana colleagues restore power after Delta. After Laura, about 1,200 out-of-state lineworkers came to help Beauregard EC and about 750 came to help Jeff Davis EC.

“You cannot do it without help from your brother and sister co-ops,” Heinen said. “Not this time. Not this big.”

But welcoming the out-of-state crews has been more complicated this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Turner said.

“It’s like working with one hand tied behind your back with COVID,” he said.

More tents were required for visiting lineworkers to ensure social distancing—only 300 people could be housed in tents meant for 600. The co-op also had to find parking places for up to 1,200 trucks instead of 400 during Laura because crew members can’t ride in the same truck.

“You’ve got to fuel all those extra bucket trucks and diggers,” Turner said. “And fuel was already in short supply during the storm.”

Local co-op employees put in 16-hour days getting things ready for the visiting crews and working with them to restore power. A total of 18 employees from both co-ops lost their homes in Laura or Delta.

“But they all showed up here the next day,” Turner said. “It’s kind of in everybody’s DNA around here to keep working ‘til we get the power back on.”

Heinen said a young lineworker came to him one evening, tired after a day spent restoring power to a substation.

“When the lights came on, a family came out on their porch and cheered and thanked him,” he said. “That lineworker told me, ‘Now I know why I’m here.’”

In some cases, the crews are restoring lines to empty lots where homes have been flattened by the hurricanes, Heinen said.

“But those folks will be back,” he said. “This is their land. This is their home.”

Erin Kelly is a staff writer at NRECA.

Tropical Storm Beta is expected to slow or stall efforts by electric cooperative crews this week to restore power to co-op members after Hurricane Laura slammed into their service territory late last month.

“In the midst of this recovery, we have another storm headed for the region, and in an abundance of caution, we’re moving all of our people and equipment out of harm’s way,” said Mike Heinen, general manager of Jeff Davis Electric Cooperative. “We’ve made the decision to dismantle the man camp and move it from Lake Charles, Louisiana, to Lafayette.”

That means about 750 lineworkers, vegetation management personnel and support staff will leave Lake Charles’s Chennault International Airport on Tuesday and drive 60 miles east to the Cajundome Convention Center.

“While Tropical Storm Beta is not expected to be a major wind event, floodwaters are already rising,” said Heinen. “We cannot risk crew safety or the safety of the specialized equipment they use to restore power. We have to keep them safe.”

The convention center is further east than Beta’s projected track and is 20 feet higher than the airport property. It’s also less subject to structural damage from the storm’s gale-force winds in excess of 40 mph.

“The Cajundome is large enough to be able to support everybody who needs to go there, plus all of the equipment on wheels can be moved there and parked until the storm passes,” said Heinen.

Jeff Davis EC officials began discussing the plan with senior leadership from the Association of Louisiana Electric Cooperatives on Friday. They also reached out to Lafayette-based Southwest Louisiana Electric Membership Corp. to assist with the arrangements with Cajundome management. Plans for the move were firmed up over the weekend, and all the gear for the existing encampment will be disassembled and stored beginning Tuesday.

“We have a lot of work left to do that takes more than just a couple of weeks,” said Heinen. Nearly half of the co-op’s 11,000 meters are still out of service as repairs to both distribution and transmission systems continue.

“With weeks or months of work remaining, there was no way I could see releasing so many skilled personnel,” said Heinen. “They will stand down with pay and be in a position to quickly return to the field Friday once our severe weather passes.”

Beauregard Electric Cooperative has not suspended its restoration work, but crews concluding their mutual aid commitments will depart this week and fresh crews will postpone their arrival in the co-op’s territory until after Beta’s threatening conditions subside. Power to nearly 80% of the Deridder-based distribution co-op’s meters has been restored.

“Beauregard EC has been monitoring Beta and has made preparations to relocate crews if necessary,” said Kevin Turner, the co-op’s general manager.  “With any type of storm, we ensure our linemen refrain from working in winds more than 40 mph, lightning or any other hazardous situations.”

Beauregard will house some of its mutual aid crews and contractors at the Cajundome temporarily, and some will be sheltered at other locations.

ALEC remains in contact with other electric co-op statewide associations involved in coordination of interstate mutual aid.

“With so much debris still laying around from Hurricane Laura, it is too dangerous for us to leave personnel inside a tent city,” said Aarron Graham, ALEC’s director of loss control. “It is hard to predict how strong the winds will be for Tropical Storm Beta, but any debris could easily become flying deadly projectiles. We can’t have our out-of-state crews living in harm’s way.”

Derrill Holly is a staff writer at NRECA.

More Hurricane Laura Coverage:

Co-op Communities Show Appreciation for Lineworkers in Aftermath of Hurricane Laura

Unique Challenges: Rebuilding Transmission Following Major Storms

In Hurricane Aftermath, Pregnant Co-op Employees Press On as Due Dates Approach

Q&A: Louisiana Co-op Leader Gives Firsthand Perspective on Hurricane Laura Recovery

Hurricane Laura: Tracking the Co-op Response

Roman Gillen is the CEO of Consumers Power Inc., a 23,000-meter distribution cooperative based in Philomath, Oregon. The co-op’s territory has seen devastation from the region’s ongoing Beachie Creek and Lionshead wildfires, which have torched nearly 400,000 acres and destroyed or damaged some 850 homes.

After touring the region and the ongoing restoration work this week, he wrote an emotional email Thursday to the CPI board detailing what he’d witnessed and the heroic work of the line crews.

Below is that note in its entirety.

CPI Board:

Power is restored to Detroit, Idanha, and Marion Forks as of 7:30 last night. This is nothing short of a miracle performed by our own crews combined with those of Midstate Electric Co-op, Oregon Trail Electric Co-op, Hood River Electric Co-op, and Salem Electric Co-op.

I spent the day yesterday in the area with Billy Terry, visiting crews, contractors, support personnel, emergency responders, etc. The damage is unspeakable. A lot of the area is just smoking ruins. I know you’ve seen it with your own eyes from pictures. Being in the middle of it takes it to a whole different level. Small flames were still licking the hillside as we passed Detroit dam and the smoke was so thick that I couldn’t see the electric lines along the road as we came into town. Billy said that the air was much better, but I didn’t believe him, not really, although I know he was telling me the truth.

But I want to tell you what I really saw yesterday. I saw a brand new electric system—tall, straight poles with straight, properly sagged wire between them— and all of it sprang up virtually overnight. I saw a lot of proud but tired faces that have spent days and many nights breathing that polluted air as they labored up incredibly steep, treacherous hillsides carrying their equipment and lugging the materials they need to work their magic and that worries me a great deal. Many of them have not seen their families for a couple of weeks, including some with newborn children and another who’s getting married this weekend, yet not one word of complaint has reached my desk, neither from our employees nor those who volunteered to help us. I marveled at how clean all of the linemen (and I mean all of them) looked in such a grimy environment. I heard expressions of gratitude from the emergency management people who live in the area for the organized, professional, cooperative, efficient, and effective process that the combined electric cooperative crews established as they worked quickly to restore power throughout the affected area. Just as important, not a single injury was sustained during this dangerous mission.

Special mention needs to be made of our contract tree crews and underground construction crews. Working with these folks for years really paid off in our time of great need. To a person, every employee poured their energy and skill into the restoration effort as if they were working for our members like our own employees, which of course they were. They did whatever we needed them to do and whatever we asked:  pull wire, lug materials, run errands, etc. They were a critical part to the success of our mission and I am every bit as proud of them.

The work we have done this week clearly demonstrates the power of the cooperative network, and it is an amazing power that enables us to achieve the impossible. We have brought to the people of these fire ravaged areas a big, bright ray of hope. We are now busy getting ready to respond to dozens of requests (demands) for power as we and they face months and years of rebuilding. For now, everyone is looking forward to a much-deserved, long overdue reunion with their families, topping it off with a much-anticipated wedding. What a great end to a terrible but wonderful week.

Sincerely,

Roman

Massive storms can ravage the electric grid, leaving tens of thousands of utility meters stalled until distribution systems are repaired. But the damage caused to transmission systems can present far different challenges for the people who restore power.

That’s why more than two weeks after Hurricane Laura made landfall on the Louisiana coast, two electric cooperatives are still telling members they may not have power fully restored for weeks.

The investor-owned utilities that control transmission assets in western Louisiana began damage assessments and the process of rebuilding their systems within hours after Laura came ashore on Aug. 27 near Cameron. 

While the Louisiana distribution co-ops are not involved in rebuilding the regional transmission system, two generation and transmission cooperatives have had recent experiences with widespread damage, prompting emergency system reconstruction well beyond the scope of routine storm repairs.

When a derecho swept across the Midwest on Aug. 10, Central Iowa Power Cooperative reported outages affecting 58,000 homes and businesses. The storm’s 130-mph winds cut a path of destruction across the state estimated at 70 miles wide and 200 miles long.

“We found miles of line strewn over highways and pole after pole blocking roads,” said Dan Burns, vice president of utility operations for the Cedar Rapids-based G&T. “You couldn’t get trucks in to begin rebuilding the lines, so the first thing we had to do was clear all of that out.”

About 600 of CIPCO’s transmission structures were knocked down, said Burns. “We had damaged infrastructure in 11 counties, and more than 100 of our member co-ops’ distribution substations were offline.”

The damage was comparable to losses experienced by Andalusia, Alabama-based PowerSouth Energy Cooperative during Hurricane Michael. The G&T lost 264 transmission structures after Michael made landfall as a Category 5 storm on the Florida Panhandle in 2018.

“Michael came through the Panama City area, and the devastation was complete,” said Gary Smith, PowerSouth’s president and CEO. “The path of destruction was about 60 miles wide, centered right at Tyndall Air Force Base, and extended about 120 miles deep.”

Specialized Help

The electric power grid is a sophisticated system of complex parts, deployed and installed over many decades.

The basic parts include generation assets like power plants, solar arrays and wind farms; transmission systems that carry high-voltage electricity along conductors supported by tall poles, steel towers or wood-framed structures; and distribution systems that include substations that reduce and divide high-voltage electricity into lower-voltage amounts to safely distribute power to homes, farms and businesses.  

Each element of the grid requires personnel with specific skills. Those involved in building, repairing and maintaining them have their own work procedures, as well as specialized tools, vehicles and equipment.

That can become particularly challenging when major disruptions prompt emergency rebuilds. The pool of available workers who can safely and quickly respond to a transmission provider’s needs is relatively small compared to those trained to help a distribution operator.

“Our guys work on high-voltage lines, and they do it a certain way,” said Smith. “There are not a lot of co-ops in our region of the country that build and maintain their own transmission, so we got help from Cooperative Energy, a G&T out of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and we used contractors.”

PowerSouth divided personnel so that a representative of the G&T, familiar with its systems and procedures, was paired with each contract or mutual aid crew.

With 20% of PowerSouth’s transmission system down, it quickly became clear that damaged segments could be rebuilt faster than they could be repaired.

“With a normal storm, like a tornado, you can straighten structures, replace cross arms and straighten and rehang conductor and keep moving,” said Smith. “This was all destroyed, so we just rolled it up and put everything back new. That made it a total rebuild.”

CIPCO was in a position to harness more mutual aid when the derecho tore through Iowa, so when preliminary damage assessments turned up widespread problems, CEO William Cherrier contacted his counterparts at four other G&Ts to begin coordinating a collective response.

Iowa’s Corn Belt Power Cooperative and Northwest Iowa Power Cooperative, Northeast Missouri Electric Power Cooperative and Wisconsin’s Dairyland Power Cooperative were happy to help.

“We had not called for mutual aid help before, and we were wondering exactly how that worked as far as having agreements and such, but that turned out to be the easiest part of the entire event,” Burns said. “We just called them and said we need help, and they came, with crews, trucks and any materials they had on hand. By the time they got here, we knew where we needed them most. But the hours required for an emergency rebuild when everybody’s power is out can be tough on crews. They worked 16 to 17 hours a day for 12 days in a row, which is far more intense than a normal rebuild.”

Managing Movements and Many Parts

Big projects always require a lot of planning, and when that’s undertaken in response to major system failures, engineers and logistics planners look for ways to quickly meet the challenges.

“The first three days are complete chaos, and then things start coming together,” recalled Smith, describing the rebuild required after Hurricane Michael.  “There are photos and mapping data gathered from helicopter and drone flyovers to analyze, parts inventories to compile and review, basecamp locations to plot, and lodging and meal services to arrange.”

“You are always prepared for the smaller repair jobs, but you are never fully prepared when systems have to be totally rebuilt,” said Smith.

To expedite restoration, work plans are plotted to allow reconnection to less damaged sections of the grid that often restore service to the most densely populated areas.

“When your crews and contractors get stretched out, they’re moving quickly and putting up a number of structures simultaneously,” said Smith. “You’ll have two or three crews on the same line working on structures. When they get finished, they’ll leapfrog, often moving right behind the crews laying out the matting and cribbing needed to support heavy equipment in wet cross-country areas.”

Keeping those crews moving requires a supply chain designed to work with military precision.  That means starting with what’s on hand and then identifying sources that can guarantee fast resupply and delivery to temporary yards often set up at 50-mile intervals.

“We had some planned rebuild projects that were just about to begin construction, and so we robbed a lot of that material,” said Burns, recalling the first few days following Iowa’s derecho.

CIPCO’s vendor management team contacted suppliers, who shipped more poles, insulators and other components. But, at times, there never seemed to be enough.

“We ran short on most materials, because our needs were 10 times greater than the inventory we had,” said Burns. “On a normal planned rebuild, you know from the plan and profile designs the exact quantities needed of each pole class and length. In an emergency response situation, you need to expedite delivery of poles, and you can’t always be specific. You often shoot from the hip just to keep the rebuild going.”

CIPCO restored transmission service to all distribution substations within 12 days of the derecho, but crews will be involved in follow-up work for months. 

Emergency rebuilds present ongoing maintenance challenges that can impact operations for years. New parts and poles are comingled with assets deployed decades ago, and all the changes and updates must be noted and confirmed in the transmission asset database. More visual inspections than would take place under a scheduled rebuild may also be needed.

“We decided to defer some things in order to get power back on as quickly as possible,” said Burns. “For example, we put up the poles, insulators and conductor, but we decided to defer the pole grounds until a later date. That sped up restoration time considerably. Now that the system is back to normal, we can go back and install them without interrupting service to members.”

Just as every storm presents unique challenges, emergency rebuilds are seldom routine.

“You cannot comprehend the devastation and the chaos,” said Smith. “I’ve been CEO 21 years and, for me, Michael was the worst storm we have seen, and you’re never prepared for your worst storm.”

Derrill Holly is a staff writer at NRECA.

When Hurricane Laura rumbled ashore as a Category 4 storm last week, more than a half-million electric utility connections were knocked offline, and at least 20% of the affected meters are served by electric cooperatives.  

Restoration work began immediately, but about 67,000 co-op members remained out of service Tuesday.  NRECA talked with Jeffrey Arnold, CEO of the Association of Louisiana Electric Cooperatives, about the extent of damage, the massive restoration efforts under way, and the challenges facing co-ops, their staffs and their members as their communities begin the tasks of rebuilding.  

What do co-op outages look like for your member systems, and getting beyond the numbers, what can you tell us about the impact on the co-op-served community?

Arnold: At this time, basically all transmission towers are down, and the current recovery is going to be long. Co-op teams are mostly focused on our distribution networks and substations, making sure they are ready to receive power as soon as our transmission partners can provide it to those substations. Unfortunately, we cannot give co-op members an estimate of time other than “weeks” at this moment because of the number of transmission poles and towers that are down and the time and effort it will take to rebuild the power grid.  We know this is particularly frustrating for members who are eager to repair and rebuild their homes and businesses.

How rough are conditions right now in the affected communities?

Arnold: Hopefully, many of our members evacuated, and if they do not have power, they’re just coming back to do cleanup and going back to wherever their evacuation centers are.  The state of Louisiana does have multiple evacuation centers open, and many co-op members have family and friends that they can reside with. Recovery in our communities is going to be a marathon, not a sprint. We’re doing what we can to get the power back on, and we’re asking members to follow the governmental recommendations on staying out of the affected areas.

How critical have lessons learned from past events, including Hurricane Rita back in 2005, been in dealing with restoration and recovery?

Arnold: Lessons learned from previous storms that we’ve encountered have made a huge difference. I think that most people heeded the warnings specifically in this area due to memories of Rita. What’s been a real concern among people intent to remain in their homes and continue operation of their businesses is the improper use of generators. Unfortunately, that’s killing people.

Damage assessments in co-op-served areas are still ongoing, especially in the territory of Jeff Davis Electric Cooperative, where we not only had the hurricane wind effects but we also had major flooding and storm surge that left high water from the Gulf of Mexico all the way up to Lake Charles.

But due to pre-planning and our mutual aid partners from co-ops around the country, we have been able to bring over 620 men and women to work and support restoration on co-op lines. So as soon as the transmission lines are able to provide the power, we’ll turn the lights and air conditioning back on and people will be able to use power to help with cleanup.

COVID-19 concerns have had a broad impact on how individual systems operate and how the co-op network responds to major outage events. How is that being addressed?

Arnold: At both of our most seriously affected co-ops, Jeff Davis EC and Beauregard EC, we have tent cities that hold up to up 500 people for each tent. We’re keeping maximum capacity in those tents down to 250 people, and we’re regularly reminding the people to practice social distancing. That’s particularly important when they’re not with their crews from back home.

We’re also urging them to stay masked as much as possible to mitigate potential exposures and to follow their own cooperative’s policies when it comes to COVID-19-related issues.

Of course, all of this requires higher costs, more tents, more and larger locations for deployment.  Not only do we need to house everyone, but meals are being served individually instead of by buffet lines. We are packaging the meals and handing them out in boxes and maintaining social distancing through scheduling and distribution methods.

Restrooms and showers are cleaned after each use whenever possible.

Those changes naturally impact the efficiency of moving people around. Add in the added time of managing the flow of parts and material distribution and fueling, and that is naturally going to prolong our total recovery timeline. 

We’re working well with our partners, particularly with the COVID-19 concerns and mitigation measures in place.

What can you tell us about the cooperation from your local co-op-served communities, parishes and state agencies in the aftermath of the storm?

Arnold: We’ve actually done very well. We discuss fuel issues and there really have not been any problems. We are getting the things that we need.  Our contractors in the tent cities are bringing in supplies and staff and feeding our crews and conducting housekeeping and doing everything that we need for them to do.

Working with our emergency operations center and the state has been great. Officials have been very responsive. We have had assessments done from military helicopters down in Jeff Davis EC’s territory. Choppers were the only way to access flooded areas, with water levels receding slowly.

Unfortunately, the assessment showed severe damage, catastrophic damage, on the transmission system, They have over 1,000 poles broken or down within that area that was patrolled.  

What would you like to share at this point with those who might face similar challenges in the future?  

Arnold: We’ll all get together after this restoration effort is completed and review the overall impacts of COVID-19 mitigation strategies and procedures. This could be particularly important whenever we face future major mutual aid efforts following large disruptive events.

There’s not enough good things I can say about the level of support that’s been provided as we continue to deal with Hurricane Laura’s destruction. If we could put 500 people in a tent, we’d have them in there, but we’re following safety procedures and recommendations from public health experts. We are doing our best to take care of the crews who have come down to help us. Know that when you need us, we’ll be there.

Co-ops are staffed by people who live in the communities they serve. What do we know about the personal impact on co-op employees and their families?

Arnold: We know that there are at least 30 families of co-op staffers who have been extremely affected by Hurricane Laura. They’ve lost or suffered serious damage to their houses, and the Association of Louisiana Electric Cooperatives has already established a fund to assist them with their recovery and help address their long-term issues.

For now, our co-ops have been able to put those families up in hotels to help keep them safe and comfortable while their spouses go about the business of getting power back on. That’s the thing about the electric cooperative family, and it’s universal.

We’re used to hurricanes, but this is the worst storm that we’ve seen in Louisiana, and hopefully will be the worst we ever see in our lifetimes.

This is the first time we’ve had a hurricane reach Claiborne Electric Cooperative, in northern Louisiana near the Arkansas state line, as a Category 1 storm. That small co-op has seen an amazing amount of damage to its system. And, like Jeff Davis and Beauregard, they have transmission issues. While they should be ready to receive power in short order, they’re at the mercy of transmission providers who still don’t know when they’ll complete restoration of their systems.

The Association of Louisiana Electric Cooperatives is accepting donations to assist the co-op employees who have suffered losses and major damage to their homes due to Hurricane Laura. Contact ALEC at 225-293-3450 or send donations to: ALEC Hurricane Relief Fund, care of ALEC, 10725 Airline Highway, Baton Rouge, LA 70816-4213

Read More:

• Hurricane Laura: Tracking the Co-op Response
• Social Media Roundup: See the Co-ops Response to the Storm

Wildfires have caused massive destruction in Western states and across the country during recent summers. Electric cooperatives reduce fire risk by maintaining rights of way and keeping equipment up to date, but their efforts are often complicated by the need to coordinate with multiple government agencies that oversee federal lands.

In the latest episode of Along Those Lines, we talk to NRECA Regulatory Issues Director Janelle Lemen, Dave Markham, CEO of Central Electric Cooperative in Oregon, and the U.S. Forest Service’s Jim Menakis about how these partnerships work and how they plan to make them better.

Listen to the episode below:

You can also listen and subscribe to Along Those Lines on your preferred podcast service:
Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | YouTube

Related Content:

Co-op CEO to Congress: Wildfire Risk Made Worse by Slow Federal Action

Find out more about NRECA’s podcast. Questions or suggestions? Email us at AlongThoseLines@nreca.coop.

Updated: Aug. 5, 2020

Electric cooperatives from Virginia’s Tidewater to New England are busy restoring power to thousands of consumer-members who lost electricity as Tropical Storm Isaias lumbered toward Canada.

“This was a very significant storm, but our crews were well prepared and went to work as soon as it was safe to do so,” said Alan Scruggs, vice president for safety and training services at the Virginia, Maryland & Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives.

The storm swept inland across Virginia from North Carolina on Tuesday, knocking out electricity to nearly 79,000 meters serving co-op members in the Chesapeake Bay region.

Rainfall amounts of up to 6 inches caused localized flooding and was heavy enough to weaken tree root systems. Winds gusting to 75 mph toppled trees and tossed splintered branches into power lines.

Delaware Electric Cooperative lost more than 30,000 meters, said Lauren Irby, manager of public relations and community outreach for the Greenwood, Delaware, distribution co-op. She described Isaias as “the worst storm we’ve seen in recent memory.”

Co-op crews and contractors reported at least 370 broken poles and trees tangled in power lines across the co-op’s service territory. Restoration work was stalled several times as tornadoes spawned by the storm ripped through some areas.

The Denton, Maryland-based Choptank Electric Cooperative reported more than 18,000 meters out once the storm passed. Co-op officials said damage was so widespread that its outage map “looks a lot like a Candy Crush board.”

Hughesville-based Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative reported hundreds of outages across its system, affecting more than 40,000 meters Tuesday. Repairs continued in many parts of southern Maryland on Wednesday.

“SMECO has more than 230 lineworkers making repairs where trees have fallen and brought down power lines,” said co-op spokesperson Tom Dennison, adding that more crews were expected to join repair efforts Wednesday and Thursday if needed.

Of SMECO’s 24 substation feeders knocked out by Isaias, nine still needed repairs Tuesday evening.

“Our restoration efforts have been hampered by extensive flooding throughout the area that has closed roads, and in some cases, washed out roads completely,” Dennison added.

Damage from Isaias extended well inland across Virginia.

Crews from Fredericksburg-based Rappahannock Electric Cooperative helped personnel from Tasley-based A&N Electric Cooperative restore power to thousands of its members.

Warsaw-based Northern Neck Electric Cooperative reported about 5,900 members without power once the storm pushed north up the Potomac River, but just over 400 members were without service by early Wednesday.

New Jersey’s only electric co-op, Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative, reported 43 major outages affecting numerous meters on its system as Isaias pushed through. Nearly 3,900 of the Sussex-based co-op’s members temporarily lost service. The co-op’s crews, contractors and mutual aid personnel were out making repairs and clearing lines to restore service to about 3,300 meters Wednesday.

The fast-moving storm system still packed tropical storm-force winds as it punched through New England. New Hampshire Electric Cooperative reported more than 37,000 meters out Tuesday night, but crews were working restoration assignments as weather conditions improved. About 21,000 of the Plymouth-based co-op had their power restored by daybreak Wednesday.

“Restoration and assessment efforts are continuing this morning,” said Seth Wheeler, the co-op’s communications administrator, adding that tree damage through some forested rights of way is restricting access to some areas, and many roads in the state remain clogged with debris.

New Hampshire EC crews continue to work on repairs and are also expecting help from neighboring utilities.

Derrill Holly is a staff writer at NRECA.

Electric cooperatives across the South have already seen massive storm damage across their systems, and the 2020 hurricane season is just now getting started. When outages are  too much for one co-op to handle, neighboring co-ops from within their state and across state lines are quick to lend a helping hand to get power back up and running quickly and safely.

Martha Duggan, who oversees NRECA’s state and national coordination initiatives, and Michael Kelley, safety and loss director at the Alabama Rural Electric Association of Cooperatives, talk us through how co-op mutual aid is coordinated and what it looks like on the ground, even with the added challenges of a global pandemic.

You can also listen and subscribe to Along Those Lines on your preferred podcast service:
Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | YouTube

Related Content:

Michael Photo Gallery: Scenes from Co-ops’ Storm Response

Find out more about NRECA’s podcast. Questions or suggestions? Email us at AlongThoseLines@nreca.coop.

Members of a Florida electric cooperative are making masks to help protect first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic, and they’ve included employees of Peace River Electric Cooperative among the recipients.

In the early days of pandemic response, residents of a condominium complex talked in their community park about the shortage of masks and began making and sharing them.

“As COVID-19 spread throughout America, we realized the greater need outside our park,” said Sandy Hanson, a co-op member.

Twenty-three women who live in the condo community in Zolfo Springs eventually got involved and began producing masks at a faster pace.

“They all helped wherever they could or were needed by cutting fabric, ironing and pinning straps, sewing the masks and taking items from house-to-house while we practiced our social distancing,” Hanson said.

In less than 10 weeks, they’ve made and distributed more than 4,400 masks. Recipients have included local sheriff’s deputies, fire and emergency management personnel, local delivery drivers and the PRECO staff.

“This kind of support from our members really makes a difference,” said Daniel Moore, the Wauchula-based co-op’s safety coordinator. “They donated about 100 masks directly to PRECO.  We greatly appreciate their commitment to include us among the people in their community that could use the help.”

The masks went to the co-op’s lineworkers, member services representatives assigned to drive-thru payment duty, warehouse staff and control room employees.

“Having extra masks available will certainly be of help as we begin to look at bringing more of our regular services back to our offices,” said Moore.

The condo volunteers have also sent masks to New York City hospitals, the Cleveland Clinic and Coast Guard and Navy personnel in California and Hawaii.

“The ladies have been very generous, and we appreciate their commitment to our community and others,” said Moore.

Derrill Holly is a staff writer at NRECA.

Related Content:

Read More on the electric co-op response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Updated: March 27, 2020

The $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill passed by Congress will bring help to electric cooperatives and their consumer-members by offering millions in aid for families struggling to pay their utility bills and billions in grants for small businesses.

At the same time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture took action to provide greater flexibility and certainty for co-ops that rely on the Rural Utilities Service for loans and other financial assistance.

NRECA urged Congress and the Trump administration to include aid for co-ops as part of federal relief efforts aimed at boosting the struggling U.S. economy in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. CEO Jim Matheson wrote letters to congressional leaders and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue asking for specific measures to help co-ops and their consumer-members.

The Senate passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act on Wednesday, and the House approved it Friday by voice vote. Congress is expected to pass more relief legislation in the weeks ahead.

Here are some of the key provisions for co-ops in the nearly 900-page bill:

• Adds $900 million for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps low-income and moderate-income consumers pay their utility bills.
• Adds $100 million for grants through the USDA RUS ReConnect broadband program and $25 million for the RUS Distance Learning and Telemedicine grant program to expand investments in telemedicine and distance-learning services in rural areas.
• Adds $45 billion for the disaster relief fund administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Co-ops often rely on these funds to restore power after storms and other emergencies.
• Creates a $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program that provides federal government loan forgiveness (under Small Business Administration Section 7(a) loans) for small businesses to pay up to eight weeks of basic expenses, including electric, telephone and internet bills.
• Creates a $10 billion SBA program to provide grants of up to $10,000 to small businesses to pay their workers and pay rent or mortgages, among other uses. Co-ops with fewer than 500 employees may be eligible for this grant program if they plan to apply for SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loans. Certain restrictions on those loans have now been waived.

The legislation does not include a federal moratorium on disconnecting consumers who fail to pay their utility bills. Some states have already imposed moratoriums, while others have asked utilities to voluntarily suspend disconnections during the coronavirus emergency. Many co-ops have already stopped disconnections and deferred bill payments for members who are experiencing financial hardships.

Earlier in March, President Trump signed legislation that would expand emergency family and medical leave and paid sick leave for co-ops and other small businesses with fewer than 500 employees. The CARES Act clarifies payment limitations for those programs. It also waives the 10% early distribution penalty for employees who withdraw up to $100,000 from their 401(k) retirement savings or from their Individual Retirement Accounts.

The USDA also announced this week that it is providing relief for borrowers through its RUS program. The department extended for 60 days the deadline for telecommunications and electric program borrowers and grantees to submit their annual audits, which normally are due by April 30. It also waived borrower covenant requirements for loan agreement financial ratios for the entire 2020 calendar year.

The agency is waiving all financial reporting requirements associated with existing RUS loan and grant covenants through June 30. USDA also will help electric program borrowers gain access to funds more quickly at current low interest rates by considering extensions of loan terms on a case-by-case basis.  

“For over 80 years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and America’s electric cooperatives have partnered—not just to keep the lights on—but to promote the overall well-being of all rural America,” Matheson wrote to Perdue. “In this extraordinary and challenging time, when those communities are threatened, our partnership is more important than ever.”

Erin Kelly is a staff writer at NRECA.

Read more on the electric co-op response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

See NRECA’s COVID-19 hub on cooperative.com for key resources for co-ops, including guidance on business continuity planning and communication, as well as event schedule changes.

Recognizing that small fire departments are often strapped for resources, Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative and Federated Rural Electric Insurance Exchange are turning to virtual reality technology to bolster training opportunities.

Their production of 360-degree, high-definition videos on electrical safety, viewable online or on VR headsets, grew out of a larger OTEC initiative to leverage VR to improve the regional economy in the four counties it serves.

“We’ve realized it can be difficult to reach rural, volunteer-only fire departments that are often the first ones on the scene,” said Lea Gettle, manager of administration and strategic services at the Baker City, Oregon, co-op. “The videos provide an opportunity to learn on their own schedule and in a more memorable way than PowerPoint presentations or written pamphlets.”

The smaller the community, the more likely it relies on all-volunteer fire departments, according to 2017 data from the National Fire Protection Association. All-volunteer fire squads serve about 45% of communities with populations of 5,000-9,999, 74% of communities with populations of 2,500-4,999, and nearly 93% of communities of fewer than 2,500.

While the Baker City Fire Department offers refresher training courses, a high-tech option would “enable more trainees to access a better learning platform” at a time of higher 911 call volume over the past few years, said Fire Chief John Clark.

“People are used to interactive technology, and the 3-D aspect makes it more realistic,” said Clark, who oversees a crew of 26, including 10 volunteers.

Downed power line safety is the topic of the first VR course, and the fire department has been heavily involved in production. “The video goes over what to do and what not to do when a car hits a power pole and the do’s and don’ts for bystanders,” said Clark. “We had to set up the scene and make it as live as we could.”

Other videos cover topics such as electrical hazards on farms and electric vehicle fires.

The technology puts “you right in the middle of the action,” said Corey Parr, vice president of safety and loss prevention at Federated. “You can look over the whole facility and better see the hazards. We really had strong interest in the farm and ag community and I can see other applications in the near future [focusing on] removing trees off lines, day-to-day line work, troubleshooting situations.”

And there’s no doubt the technology will allow faster and cheaper delivery of safety training. Clark will post the content on the Oregon Fire Chiefs Association website so that “first responders in other parts of the state will be able to access training on this important subject.”

As the technology improves, even more first responders will have access, said Parr. “[The] 360 technology is an immediate hit. If created the right way, you won’t even need the goggles.”

Victoria A. Rocha is a staff writer at NRECA.

A Minnesota electric cooperative is making its renewable energy projects even more environmentally friendly by adding a pollinator garden that officials say will benefit wildlife for years to come.

Wright-Hennepin Cooperative Electric Association has three solar arrays at its headquarters and recently began conversion of a buffer along a portion of its service drive to pollinator habitat.

“This is a demonstration project, covering about 1.25 acres, along the edge of two of the solar arrays,” said Andrea Unger, marketing and member service director for the Rockford-based co-op. “It’s a steep hill and we see this as an opportunity to put it to productive use. This is a great chance to do something better with the land.”

The vegetation being planted on the site includes varieties common to Minnesota’s northern prairie landscape before development, which makes it suitable for bees, butterflies, birds and other wildlife native or migratory to the area, Unger said.

“Members and local community leaders frequently visit our grounds to see our solar arrays,” said Wright-Hennepin CEO Tim Sullivan.  “Like other co-ops across the country, this is one more way we’re showcasing a tangible commitment to environmental stewardship.” 

The co-op has been working with a landscaping firm that’s been involved with naturalization projects on Great River Energy’s main campus in Maple Grove, Minnesota. Contractors began site preparations earlier this autumn before the existing turf grass and vegetation entered dormancy, and they plan to return in early spring to begin plantings on the site.

“Contractors will work with us on weed control and cultivation for a few years to ensure that the plantings get established,” said Unger. “After a few years, we expect the site to be virtually maintenance-free.”

Read More:

Arkansas Co-ops Greening Up the Grid With Sustainable Habitat Projects

Decision on Federal Protection for Monarch Butterfly Pushed to December 2020

Co-op Plantings Host Monarch Butterfly Migrations

Derrill Holly is a staff writer at NRECA.

They call her “the snail lady.”

And Sara Hamilton takes it as a compliment.

The nickname, she says, recognizes the work that Florida Keys Electric Cooperative Association does to conserve tree snails, a vulnerable yet vital species.

“U.S. Fish and Wildlife and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission look to us as experts,” said Hamilton, FKEC’s environmental affairs manager. “They … truly think that without some of our work and data, the population would not be doing as well in the Keys as it is.”

The co-op, with offices in Tavernier and Marathon, has relocated some 85,000 tree snails from 11 miles of right of way going back to 1994. They include the state-protected Florida tree snail and the Stock Island tree snail, which is listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. 

A highly invasive predator, the New Guinea flatworm, may make the co-op’s conservation efforts more important than ever.

“Several populations in Miami-Dade County area have been decimated,” said Hamilton. “If the flatworm takes off, we can’t predict what may happen.”

With a spiral tower shell, the tree snails thrive on lichen and fungi attached to pigeon plums, wild tamarind and other smooth-bark trees. The Florida tree snail’s shell comes in 59 color varieties, while the Stock Island species’ shell is basically brown and white.

They grow to just under 3 inches over an eight-year lifespan that begins as pea-size eggs buried in leaf litter at the bottom of trees. Their excrement plays a critical role in replenishing soil nutrients on the hard-rock island.

Each winter, the co-op carefully trims trees in the right of way flanked by Old State Road 905 and the Dagney Johnson State Botanical Park. Hamilton and crews search every branch and triple-check every cutting for the tiny animals.

The snails are inactive during these non-humid weeks and seal themselves to branches. Hamilton places these “hibernating” snails in thermal coolers in her car until the warmth “wakes them up.” Then she relocates them to trees 20 to 100 yards from the right of way. With a spritz of water on the bark, the snail reattaches to its new home for the season.

Over the past several years, the co-op crews helped USFWS locate three new populations of the Stock Island tree snail.

“U.S. Fish and Wildlife really appreciates that our crew goes above and beyond,” said Hamilton. “They know our work. They call me the snail lady.”

What does she recommend for other co-ops with potentially threatened species in their service territory?

“Being a good community partner is my No. 1 advice,” said Hamilton. “These agencies see what FKEC does and appreciate it. They come to value and acknowledge our work and how we value these critters.”

With a widespread wildfire now 95% contained after three weeks, crews from the Matanuska Electric Association are busy helping their members get the power they’ll need to repair their homes in south-central Alaska.

As the fire grew to more than 3,000 acres, more than 2,000 residents in the immediate area evacuated from their homes, according to the Alaska Wildland Fire Information Office.

Co-op crews worked closely with more than 500 firefighters over the past few weeks, and damage to co-op lines in some areas was substantial. Matanuska EA lost at least 30 poles on its system and is still rebuilding lines. Co-op crews have also assisted firefighters with tree and debris removal.

“Power was initially out to more than 450 members, and that number grew to more than 500 members as lines were de-energized to assist responding fire crews and to mitigate any hazards,” said Jennifer Castro, the Palmer-based co-op’s public relations manager.

The blaze claimed 52 homes, parts of three businesses and more than 80 other structures, and co-op members are now trying to rebuild before colder weather sets in.

“We have been able to re-energize our primary line and restore power to members in a progressive manner,” said Castro. Restoration has been a slow process due to safety concerns, she said.

As evacuees have been cleared to return to their property, some have discovered that their damaged homes must be repaired before electricity can be safely restored.  But the co-op is moving quickly to restore service once these repairs are complete.

“MEA is covering all costs of infrastructure replacement up to the member’s meter base and typical temporary service and reconnection fees will not be charged,” said Castro. At least 50 homes may need major repairs or reconstruction.

“During this crisis, it was inspiring for our cooperative to join a community of professionals and volunteers pulling together to help our members,” said Matanuska EA CEO Tony Izzo. “From the initial response from our line and clearing crews to the longer-term restoration assistance from our engineering and member service staff, it’s been a true team effort.”

ARLINGTON, Va. – National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Jim Matheson issued the following statement on the Endangered Species Act (ESA) rulemaking package from the Interior and Commerce departments. The rulemakings clarify criteria used to designate critical habitat, distinguish how threatened species are regulated and will generally make agency consultations more efficient:

“Today’s announcement is an important step toward modernizing endangered species protection, including making permitting for infrastructure more efficient while protecting our nation’s threatened and endangered species. These improvements will ensure that limited agency and co-op resources are focused on better species conservation by allowing protections to be tailored to the needs of each species. Co-ops are committed to protecting the nation’s natural resources, while providing responsible, reliable, and affordable power to America’s rural communities.”

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is the national trade association representing more than 900 local electric cooperatives. From growing suburbs to remote farming communities, electric co-ops serve as engines of economic development for 42 million Americans across 56 percent of the nation’s landscape. As local businesses built by the consumers they serve, electric cooperatives have meaningful ties to rural America and invest $12 billion annually in their communities.

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Updated: June 4, 2019

Electric cooperatives serving members along some of the nation’s most important rivers are facing some of the worst flooding in more than a quarter-century. 

Co-op crews in at least six states have been working to minimize damage to their systems even as they remain committed to restoring service to flood-ravaged communities as quickly as possible.

Arkansas River

“People remember 1993 as a record year for flooding along the Arkansas River, and this is very close to that,” said Sid Sperry, director of public relations, communications and research for the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives.

A series of severe storms that spawned high winds, tornadoes and heavy rain continued throughout May, and National Weather Service forecasters have warned that conditions are ripe to sustain that pattern through at least early June.

Precautionary disconnections have been underway for weeks in low-lying areas where waterways have yet to crest, even as crews completed repairs needed after high winds and tornadoes ripped through some areas.

“While repairs to windstorm-damaged areas often begin as soon as conditions improve, flooding can last days or weeks,” said Sperry. “Once floodwaters subside, transformers and other equipment have to be repaired, and in many instances members have to hire licensed electricians to check their systems before service can be restored.”

That’s the situation facing hundreds of members of co-ops in parts of northeastern Oklahoma, where flooding in the Arkansas River watershed is now in its third week.

“Three of our co-ops serving members in the Tulsa metropolitan area and surrounding counties are dealing with the aftermath of flash flooding and major historic flooding along the Arkansas River,” said Sperry. 

High water has been even more severe in parts of Arkansas, where Little Rock-based generation and transmission cooperative Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. shut down some hydroelectric facilities and one baseload power station for several days. 

The Thomas B. Fitzhugh plant near Ozark, Arkansas, was built to withstand flooding and has been returned to service. The Arkansas River has crested near two of the G&T’s hydro facilities, but high water has isolated a third. Those sites will be placed back into operation once river conditions improve and engineers ensure they are operational.

Three Arkansas distribution co-ops have de-energized hundreds of meters due to high water in flood-prone areas, said Roedel. “We’re also actually looking at some areas for additional precautionary disconnects that are beyond normal flood-prone areas because of the historic water levels.”

Missouri River

In Missouri, Boone Electric Cooperative pulled its line crews from overdue seasonal construction and system work to help sandbag communities west and south of its headquarters.

“Our communities keep a close eye on the river, particularly our farmers with fields along the river,” said Todd Culley, general manager and CEO of Columbia, Missouri-based Boone EC.

“We got a call last week and they said, ‘we need some help, and we think we need it pretty quick,’ so we responded.”

While the larger rivers get much of the attention, smaller tributaries are also swollen beyond their banks following weeks of wet weather.

“Our co-ops have been pulling meters in flood areas for months, but it has gotten much worse over the last week,” said Jim McCarty, editor of Rural Missouri magazine and a spokesman for the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives.

Some areas that were devastated by the 1993 flooding benefited from government buyouts, which eliminated much of the development in areas now inundated by high water, said McCarty.  “After the flood of 1993, many [co-op] facilities were moved to higher ground, so that has helped.” 

Mississippi River

Rainy weather and a delayed spring thaw have led to flooding in the Upper Midwest and high water levels along parts of the Mississippi, according to officials from several electric cooperative statewide associations.

“Illinois co-ops are monitoring the Mississippi River level closely and some have de-energized lines to a few members,” said Valerie Cheatham, vice president of communications for the Illinois Association of Electric Cooperatives.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could announce mandatory evacuations in some co-op-served communities this week, leading to more precautionary disconnections in low-lying areas, Cheatham said. “Since the flood of 1993, our co-ops have far less members living in the bottom areas of the river.”

Co-ops serving members farther south in Mississippi and Louisiana will continue watching the river for the next few weeks.

Derrill Holly is a staff writer at NRECA.

The monarch butterfly is in trouble. With its numbers in decline for decades and its habitat rapidly disappearing, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is set to rule soon on whether it should be protected under the Endangered Species Act.

The monarch’s unique lifecycle and migration pattern bring it to locations throughout electric co-op territory. Co-ops across the country know this and have been doing their part to try and save this iconic species.

In the latest episode of Along Those Lines, we’re joined by Janelle Lemen and Stephanie Crawford, both from NRECA’s regulatory division, and Brad Foss, environmental impact manager at Dairyland Power Cooperative in Wisconsin. They explain what’s making it difficult for monarchs to thrive, what an Endangered Species Act listing would mean, and what steps co-ops have been proactively taking to conserve the monarch.

Editor’s Note: On May 24, 2019, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it has postponed its decision on the status of the monarch butterfly until Dec. 15, 2020.

Listen to the episode below:

You can also listen and subscribe to Along Those Lines on your preferred podcast service:
Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | YouTube

Related Content:
• RE Magazine: The Butterfly Effect
• New Federal Conservation Agreement on Monarchs Would Credit Co-op Action
• Got Milkweed? Pollinator Week Is a Time to Shine for Co-op Preservation Efforts
• Co-op Pollinator Success Begins With Education

Find out more about NRECA’s podcast. Questions or suggestions? Email us at AlongThoseLines@nreca.coop.

As we spend the month of April recognizing the efforts of lineworkers, the latest episode of Along Those Lines zeroes in on safety and what it takes to ensure that crews don’t come into contact with live lines.

Heath Martin, who’s now the safety director at Northfork Electric Cooperative in Oklahoma, shares the harrowing story of a mistake early in his career as a lineworker that could have cost him his life—and the lessons he took away from the incident.  

We’re also joined by Bud Branham, NRECA’s safety director, and Corey Parr, who runs the safety and loss control program at Federated Rural Electric Insurance Exchange, to discuss the hazards of the work that line crews do and good practices for staying safe.

Listen to the episode below:

You can also listen and subscribe to Along Those Lines on your preferred podcast service:
Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | YouTube

Related Content:
• Oklahoma Living Magazine: Safety Miracles
• Cooperative.com: Commitment to Zero Contacts Initiative Targets Lineworker Injuries and Fatalities

Find out more about NRECA’s podcast. Questions or suggestions? Email us at AlongThoseLines@nreca.coop.

ARLINGTON, Va. – NRECA CEO Jim Matheson today issued the following statement after President Trump announced a new infrastructure executive order that will expedite the permitting process for power line right of way maintenance on federal lands.

“Today’s announcement paves the way for electric co-ops to enhance system reliability and reduce wildfire risk by improving access to maintain and upgrade electric systems located on federal lands,” Matheson said. “Permitting delays often pose long-term safety and reliability challenges for electric co-ops that need approval to conduct vegetation management and power line maintenance on federal lands.  By reducing bureaucratic red tape, today’s announcement helps prevent permitting delays and promotes the safety and reliability of our power supply.”

The new infrastructure executive order includes language directing the secretaries of Interior, Agriculture, and Commerce to collaborate on the development of a master agreement that expedites renewals to federal land rights of way to enable maintenance and vegetation management.

Electric cooperatives constantly work to improve system reliability, including on federal land. But federal permitting delays pose serious restrictions. For example, Benton Rural Electric Association (BREA) in Prosser, Washington had a Special Use Permit that allowed them right of way access through federal land to prevent danger trees from contacting the co-ops’ power lines. Despite submitting an application for renewal in August 2015, BREA’s permit expired that December. USFS officials took 15 months to review the renewal application and propose that the co-op pay for an expensive new environmental assessment. Benton REA is currently operating under a temporary permit but is still seeking a resolution for the long-term permit issue.

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is the national trade association representing more than 900 local electric cooperatives. From growing suburbs to remote farming communities, electric co-ops serve as engines of economic development for 42 million Americans across 56 percent of the nation’s landscape. As local businesses built by the consumers they serve, electric cooperatives have meaningful ties to rural America and invest $12 billion annually in their communities.

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When Craighead Electric Cooperative staffers look at rural rights-of-way, they see big potential for wildlife habitat in addition to poles and wires, and they’re partnering with environmentalists and outdoor recreation enthusiasts to make that happen.

This spring, Craighead EC is working with volunteers from Quail Forever to help transform rights-of-way, the grounds around its substations and other facilities into low-maintenance habitat.  Instead of turf grass, they’re planting native grasses, wildflowers, forage and cover plants suitable for quail, pollinators and other wildlife.

“The organization is particularly interested in establishing habitat around renewable energy developments,” said Monty Williams, vice president of marketing and communications for the Jonesboro, Arkansas-based distribution co-op. That has prompted an alliance involving Craighead EC, Today’s Power, an enterprise subsidiary of Arkansas Electric Cooperative Inc., and local Quail Forever volunteers.

Craighead EC’s 11-acre Solar One project near Brookland, which includes a one-megawatt photovoltaic array, was planted with a selected seed blend in early March.

The plant species used will top out at 2 or 3 feet high, providing cover and producing blooms and seeds from spring through autumn for foraging wildlife.

“We’re using native grass species like little bluestem and sideoats gramma along with a mix of wildflowers including black-eyed Susan, butterfly milkweed, purple coneflower and 14 other flowering forbs,” said Williams. “This mixture of grasses and wildflowers create brooding habitat for quail, nesting habitat for grassland songbirds, and pollinator habitat for beneficial insects.”

The relatively compact growth patterns of the selected vegetation will eliminate the need for mowing, said Williams. “We can easily trim under panel racks and around other components at the site to perform maintenance on the equipment.”

Partnering with Quail Forever on the project gives Craighead EC an opportunity to make a lasting local impact on wildlife habitat across its service territory.  The organization maintains full control over locally raised donations, selects its own projects and coordinates with local community groups to recruit volunteers for plantings and other events.

Quail Forever chapters are also working with Today’s Power on two other solar array planting projects in the region to help bobwhite quail and other species.

“Native pollinators have experienced declines throughout North America, especially in agricultural areas like the mid-South,” said Jennah Denney, marketing and public relations coordinator of Today’s Power.  “Insects like butterflies, moths, honeybees, native bees, and beetles are critical for native plant reproduction through pollination and plant community health.” 

Derrill Holly is a staff writer at NRECA.

It won’t produce a lot of power, but a new cooperative solar project could play a major role for butterflies, bees and bobwhite quail that live or migrate through Arkansas’s Delta region.

Craighead Electric Cooperative has just turned on a 1-megawatt solar array, but the landscaping work just getting under way will give a huge boost to wildlife for years to come.

“We’ve built the array on land that’s been used to grow soybeans and other crops for generations,” said Monty Williams, vice president of marketing and communications for Craighead Electric Cooperative Corp.

Jonesboro-based CECC developed the array on an 11-acre site near Brookland. While it’s only expected to produce enough electricity to meet the needs of 135 average homes in the co-op’s service territory, the site’s habitat management plan could improve conditions for a number of species found in Arkansas’ Delta region.

“The Craighead Electric board of directors and management emphasized that their members must receive economic as well as environmental benefits, and this solar system accomplishes both,” said Michael Henderson, president of Today’s Power Inc.

Little Rock-based TPI, a wholly owned subsidiary of Arkansas Electric Cooperatives Inc., builds and maintains photovoltaic systems, energy storage projects and electric vehicle charging stations.

“Our solar systems are customized around a utility’s wholesale billing [cost factors] and load characteristics specifically to produce maximum value for the customer,” said Henderson, noting that TPI has now built 18 such projects in Arkansas. “We have five more in the planning stage that will be announced soon.”

Craighead Electric and TPI worked with the City of Brookland and the conservation group Quail Forever to meet several environmental goals for the project’s design.  They include sustainable pollinator habitat for bees, butterflies and other beneficial insects, and cover and forage for cottontail rabbits, bobwhite quail and indigenous and migratory songbirds.

Community partners including 4-H, FFA and scouting groups will be assisting with plantings and other improvements at the site in the coming months.

“This project shows Craighead Electric’s commitment to providing a low-cost source of energy to our membership,” said Craighead Electric CEO Brian Duncan, adding that the project underscores the co-op’s commitment to the environmentally responsible use of renewable energy.

Derrill Holly is a staff writer at NRECA.

A Federal Communications Commission panel will call for the regulation of power poles owned by electric cooperatives as one way for states to accelerate broadband deployment, drawing serious concern from NRECA.

The FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC) included a dozen other provisions that the association said threaten co-op operations as part of a model code for states to employ as laws and regulations for delivering high-speed internet.

BDAC is expected to give final approval to the state model code by late August or early September. NRECA has had a seat on the committee that is dominated by telecom representatives since its launch in 2017.

“When the BDAC approves the model code, state legislatures will be encouraged to take it up as how the FCC believes broadband should be deployed,” warned Brian O’Hara, NRECA regulatory issues director.

State model code provisions opposed by NRECA involve rights of access to existing network support infrastructure and rights of access to poles in the communications space. One of the most troublesome articles would classify electric co-ops as infrastructure “owners” and subject them to regulations under the code.

“The state model code, as drafted, ignores current exemptions from pole attachment regulation allowed by Congress for electric co-ops. It also ignores that all 20 states that have enacted laws streamlining attachments for small cell/5G networks allow that same exemption for co-ops,” said O’Hara.

The committee on July 27 failed to reach final agreement on the state model code and is revising the draft. The final state model code, however, is unlikely to allay concerns by NRECA, said O’Hara.

“We do expect it to eventually pass. We do not anticipate the provisions with which NRECA has concerns to be improved,” he said. “Once adopted by the BDAC, we fully expect the telecom industry to push hard for adoption of the model code in state capitals across the country.”

NRECA supported the only three articles it felt would assist rural broadband. One that established a broadband assistance fund remained in the document. NRECA managed to get co-ops and other non-incumbent telecom providers included as eligible participants.

Another provision that would create a state broadband infrastructure manager and Broadband Infrastructure Advisory Council was struck from the code. The third, to allow co-ops and municipalities to partner to deliver broadband, was set aside for possible reconsideration.

Cathy Cash is a staff writer at NRECA.

Editor’s Note, Aug. 20: Hear firsthand from the workers involved in the dramatic pole-top rescue of Shelby Electric Cooperative’s Kevin Carlen in this new video produced by the Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives.

Shelby Electric Cooperative’s Kevin Carlen had completed “hurt man” rescue training and was on his way down when he lost consciousness at the top of the pole.

At 22 feet in the air, the forestry foreman had suffered sudden cardiac arrest.

“He kicked back so hard that his feet came out of the pole. Basically, he was just laying in his belt,” said Thad France, a safety instructor at the Association of Illinois Electric Cooperatives in Springfield.

France was conducting annual pole-top rescue training at the Shelbyville, Illinois, co-op in mid-May when the incident occurred. He stood, horrified, at the base of the pole with the rest of the group.

“When he first kicked back in his belt, people thought that I had set this up for the training. But I saw the color of his face and it was gray,” said France, whose father has had a heart attack. “I knew immediately what had happened.”

Within seconds, the group sprang into action. Each person chose a role. Because a training exercise had been in progress, a trainee was already up in a bucket ready to retrieve Carlen. Another put on his climbing tools to go up the pole. Someone ran to get the AED kit, and once the Carlen was safely on the ground, two others administered CPR. France applied the automated external defibrillator (AED).

No life-saving detail was too small.

“The guy who called 911 had enough wits about him to go out in the road to meet EMTs because [construction work] was blocking the normal entrance. He had EMTs come a different way,” France recalled.

“It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen in my 24 years as a lineman. Every time I yelled to someone to do something, he was doing it. It was boom, boom, boom. Everyone did the right thing. As far as the actual rescue, even the EMTs said that the group of guys did better than most of his fire department.”

Regular training enabled crews to save Carlen’s life, said Josh Shallenberger, the co-op’s president and CEO.

“We learned a few things that day,” said Shallenberger, who ran out to the training yard that day to provide backup support. “We were very thankful that Kevin was wearing a BuckSqueeze belt for fall protection. Also, once the guys realized this wasn’t a joke, they jumped to action and what they’ve been trained to do over the years just came out naturally.”

Carlen, 54, is recovering at home awaiting surgery to repair a clogged artery and is looking forward to going back to work. “Someone called it the ‘perfect storm’ to have the [heart attack] happen here at the co-op office,” said Carlen. “I could have been by myself or in a right of way with one other person.”

The real-life lessons of that day remain with France still. “Even afterwards [when EMTs took Carlen to the hospital], we all looked at each other and said, ‘I guess this is why we do the training every year.’”

Victoria A. Rocha is a staff writer at NRECA.

North Dakota is a prairie state, but an electric cooperative project is helping establish stands of trees and shrubs across several counties to enhance wildlife habitat and expand ecological diversity.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative is working with landowners, local governments and state agencies to plant sustainable patches of trees and shrubs in five western North Dakota counties. The Bismarck-based G&T is committed to meeting vegetation replacement obligations related to major transmission projects completed in late 2017.

“The state requires that we inventory the trees and shrubs removed from our right-of-way and replace them, two-for-one,” said Cris Miller, senior environmental administrator for Basin Electric. “About one-third of the affected landowners requested trees and shrubs to be replaced on their property outside of the transmission right of way.”

That means the remaining trees and shrubs are available for planting projects within public spaces. Some of those projects include landscaping around ballparks, picnic sites and local parks. Thousands of trees and shrubs are being planted on undeveloped public lands, including parcels managed by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.

One Big Job and Lots of Little Sites

The G&T sought approval of 225 miles of new 345-kilovolt transmission to serve Bakken Formation oil and gas development, and the North Dakota Public Service Commission stipulated vegetation replacement with three years of monitoring. Trees and shrubs that don’t survive may require replacement.

“This ultimately involved 37,000 trees and shrubs,” said Miller. “Affected landowners had the first opportunities to replace trees on their property outside of our transmission corridors.”

Miller added that many of those landowners opted for border patch plantings between field acreage sections. Those stands of trees and shrubs are commonly seen along the edges of fields and pastures and serve as natural windbreaks and shelter for wildlife.

The patches, roughly 30 feet wide, are designed to provide cover and help meet the nutritional needs of indigenous songbirds, migratory fowl and upland game species such as pheasants and grouse. The white-tail and mule deer inhabiting the area will also benefit.

After identifying planting opportunities, Basin Electric relies on the County Soil Conservation District’s expertise to select the trees and shrubs that have the best opportunity for survivability based on the soil types present and achieve the intended purpose of the planting.

Fauna Friendly

About two-thirds of the total planting stock was made available to public agencies, including some who tapped the resource to enhance habitat near recreational space and reclaimed mining sites.

“You’ll see a lot of smaller shrubs, denser planting to provide food source and shelter for animals,” said Sarah Tunge, manager of the Mercer County Soil Conservation District. The district began planning for the two Mercer County projects in January, and plantings there took place in late May.

“We worked with North Dakota Game and Fish on this one to provide the most benefit. We looked at water sources and other habitat in the area,” said Tunge. “Deer, grassland birds, pheasants, song birds of all types, pollinators, are all going to use this new habitat.”

And it shouldn’t take long to see results. Tree species selected for bare-root planting top out at about 12 feet in height because naturalists involved in the planning aren’t interested in providing roosts for raptors.

Reshaping the Landscape

The Harmony Lake site is a former surface coal mine that predated the current state’s strict surface mine reclamation regulations. The 45-acre lake is surrounded by 450 acres of restored prairie and wetlands.

Reclamation work began in the area in 1998, and the ownership of the area was transferred to the state and opened for recreational use in 2003. At least 17 species of wildlife live in the area. Previous plantings at the site were completed to obscure and cover spoil piles left over from early surface mining operations.

“Wildlife actually like the spoil pile areas, so these trees will add to their habitat, and they will make a snow trip to keep the snow from filling in those spoil piles,” said Arvid Anderson, a resource biologist with North Dakota Game and Fish Wildlife.

Dense growth on the spoil piles will provide cover for deer and other wildlife moving between open areas, said Anderson. “It makes for better aesthetics for the public driving by, as well.”

More Work Ahead

On each of the projects, Basin Electric picks up the costs of all plantings, and the native trees and shrubs stock used are purchased from a state-owned nursery in order to ensure their hardiness. Weed barrier fabric is also laid out around the planting zones to discourage grassland encroachment while the bare-root trees and shrubs get established.

Cold, wet spring weather compressed 2018’s available planting schedule to just three weeks. Work began in late May and was suspended in mid-June.

An assessment survey of planted sites is expected to take place in September, but Basin Electric is already preparing for a series of projects with the North Dakota Department of Transportation for 2019.

The highway beautification effort will provide a visual barrier along the edges of highway right-of-way, and the trees and shrubs, once established, will be a natural snow fence, reducing drift accumulations during North Dakota’s blustery winters.

“There are four or five such projects scheduled for next year,” said Miller. “That will complete the bulk of our planting efforts.”

Derrill Holly is a staff writer at NRECA.

National Pollinator Week kicks off this year (June 18-24) amid talk that the federal government could designate the monarch butterfly, whose numbers have been in decline for decades, as endangered or threatened.

Electric cooperatives with territories that overlap critical monarch breeding areas and migration routes are devoting land and labor to reverse the decline of this and other key pollinator species.

East Kentucky Power Cooperative is building a 1.7-acre monarch waystation at its Winchester, Kentucky, headquarters to grow milkweed, black-eyed Susans and other native flowers where the butterflies can lay their eggs and rest on the long flights to and from their overwintering grounds in Mexico.

“We’re developing a monarch waystation to help,” said Chris Carpenter, a biologist at EKPC. “If monarchs are listed, that could significantly affect us.”

The habitat, adjacent to a 60-acre solar farm that went online in November, is also home to four hives of 25,000 honeybees, which, while not a native species, are key pollinators.

Members who tour the co-op campus “like the fact that we are helping out species that are pollinators and plants that are native,” said Josh Young, EKPC’s natural resource and environmental compliance supervisor.

EKPC is also looking into developing pollinator plots at its H.L. Spurlock Station, a coal-based plant, and Bluegrass Station, a natural gas plant.

Dairyland Power Cooperative, in La Crosse, Wisconsin, first caught the pollinator preservation bug in 1994 when it prepared to cover a closed 40-acre coal ash landfill near a power plant. General practice at the time was to plant grasses, but the co-op expanded that to native prairie of grasses and pollinator plants.

The G&T is developing large plots at all 18 of its solar farms to host monarch butterflies, bees and other pollinators. The combined 250 acres of habitat contain a diverse mix of milkweed, black-eyed Susans, sunflowers, lupine, cornflowers, forbs and other species. Fifteen sites are already up and running.

Brad Foss, Dairyland senior environmental biologist, said efforts to sustain the monarch butterfly have “ramped up in the last few years, with the plight of pollinators” becoming more known. The rusty patched bumble bee, a Wisconsin native, was listed as “endangered” by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in January 2017.

Dairyland recently planted two pollinator plots of 1.5 to 2.5 acres and identified a 3-acre site in Minnesota. Plans include interpretive walking trails and information kiosks about the benefits of pollinators and the plant species.

The co-op is also working with the Mississippi Valley Conservancy on an 8-acre bluff within a conservation easement to remove invasive species and return the land to native plants, including pollinator species.

“We want to develop high-profile sites, such as those located by subdivisions, for pollinator signage to educate the public on what we are doing and why we’re doing it,” said Foss.

NRECA is also getting involved, partnering with the Energy Resources Center at the University of Illinois-Chicago to develop a voluntary conservation agreement to aid the monarch butterfly population along utility and transportation rights of way. The partnership involves 24 organizations with pollinator projects across 1.8 million acres in 45 states.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has recognized such conservation agreements as regulatory mechanisms to encourage non-federal landowners and managers to adopt practices that help pollinators. As a representative for the gas and electric sector, NRECA will provide comments on draft documents and key elements that should be incorporated into the agreement, including what types of utility activities should be covered.

Cathy Cash is a staff writer at NRECA.

Fill in the blank: Pollinators are responsible for one in every __ bites of food.

That’s one of many weekly pollinator trivia questions that Casey Shepard, an environmental engineer at Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp., posed to co-op staff leading up to National Pollinator Week.

The answer? Three.

“Aside from fruits and vegetables, there are nuts, jellies, salsas, coffee, chocolate,” said Shepard, ticking off the food products that require pollination by bees and butterflies to come to fruition.

“Pollinators are not only critically important to our food chain but also to our economy,” she added. “Pollinator products are responsible for $20 billion worth of revenue in the U.S. each year. They are pretty significant. But their populations are declining globally.”

Electric co-ops across the country have been developing better ways to protect the bees and butterflies—known as “pollinator programs.” These include pollinator gardens and projects on their campuses, along rights of way and intermingled with their solar energy farms. With the potential for the monarch butterfly to be listed as threatened or endangered next year, co-ops are stepping up their efforts to conserve pollinators.

Winners of AECC pollinator trivia quizzes received a peat pot, packets of Arkansas native wildflower seed blend and a packet of milkweed seeds from Save Our Monarchs. (Photo By: AECC)

Shepard, president of AECC’s new 14-member Cooperative Green Team, is helping spread the message through educational projects.

Co-op volunteers are cultivating a pollinator garden at a city park near the G&T in Little Rock. Small areas in rights-of-ways are being explored for other possible gardens.

Winners of the trivia questions received small peat pots and packets of Arkansas native wildflower seeds, including cone flowers and black-eyed Susans. A bee “condo” is on display in the headquarters’ lobby with free seed packets of milkweed—the sole food source for the caterpillars that turn into monarch butterflies.

“Cooperatives recognize how important these pollinators are and, with as many as 40 percent at risk of extinction, we are ramping up efforts to ensure their continued protection,” said Shepard.

National Pollinator Week takes place June 18-24. Find out more information on the Pollinator Partnership’s website.

Cathy Cash is a staff writer at NRECA.

The Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives is lauding recently passed state legislation that addresses existing utility rights of way and easements to deliver broadband internet access to co-op members at the end of the line.

“This is a crucial step in bringing high-speed internet service to rural people across the state who desperately need it,” said Caleb Jones, AMEC vice president. “It took a true grass-roots effort to make this happen. Getting this legislation passed this quickly is a testament to the hard work of our legislative staff and the entire Missouri Co-ops grass-roots team who descended on the Capitol several times to encourage their elected officials to support it.”

Easement considerations have received increased attention as electric co-ops consider running fiber optic cable, leasing their unused fiber, or allowing other providers to attach fiber or 5G wireless equipment to their poles to provide broadband service.

NRECA encourages co-ops to carefully review their state laws and easements whenever adding anything beyond electric poles and wires or using existing facilities for non-electric purposes.

Jones noted that getting the bill passed was extremely difficult because of the complexity of easement issues. “We had to overcome a lengthy and heated Senate committee hearing, two Senate filibusters and had to engage in some very stressful negotiations on amendments in order to keep moving forward.”

In Tennessee, Gov. Bill Haslam signed a law in March clarifying that an electric co-op can use existing infrastructure for delivery of high-speed internet access. The law stated that “any easement owned, held, or otherwise used by the cooperative in pursuit of a primary purpose may be used for any secondary purpose.”

“Ensuring co-op electric easements can be used for broadband services was a huge win for Tennessee co-ops,” said Mike Knotts, vice president of government affairs at the Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association.

“Not only does it reduce the risk of lawsuits, it helps co-ops deploy broadband in the most efficient and cost-effective manner possible. That means more people get connected to modern high-speed internet and they get connected sooner,” said Knotts.

In April 2017, Haslam also signed into law the Tennessee Broadband Accessibility Act, which allowed electric co-ops in the state to provide, through a subsidiary, broadband and other similar services within their service territory.

“In so many places across rural America, quality broadband service is the No. 1 challenge facing our communities,” said Knotts. “Electric co-ops are uniquely positioned to help solve this problem.”

5G is coming.

The much-anticipated next generation of wireless communication, expected to be launched as early as later this year, promises to deliver on a host of futuristic technologies, including self-driving cars, real-time virtual reality, and smart cities and towns.

“With the proliferation of mobile technology and the growing popularity of data-intensive services like video streaming, 5G represents the next generation of communications,” said Michael Leitman, an NRECA strategic analyst.

It’s a promising development, but one that has brought some consternation to electric cooperatives and other utilities, whose distribution poles will likely bear part of the burden of the expanded infrastructure.

“Any foreign attachment that departs from the design and construction of the original overhead line may introduce significant engineering, safety, and reliability issues which must be considered,” said Robert Harris, senior principal engineer for NRECA’s Business and Technology Strategies department.

“Co-ops and other utility providers are concerned about the added weight on the poles, and how that will affect their stability and integrity during wind and ice storms, or prolonged rain events,” said Harris.

The technology is expected to take root at first in densely populated areas, before extending into nearby suburbs. It could be several years before it arrives in rural communities distant from major metropolitan areas, and it will not likely ever be extended to isolated locations.

5G will be able to deliver extremely fast speeds, low latency (responsiveness), and high capacity in part because it will rely on a dense network of small, connected antennae. A single 5G antenna weighs only a few grams, but some parts of the system are designed for so-called block-matrix mounting, where hundreds of the devices are housed in arrays.

“The 5G attachment that will be placed in the communications space on a pole is being sold as pizza-box-sized equipment,” said Tammy Embrey, an NRECA senior legislative adviser.  “The reality is that when you factor in the total amount of equipment that will be added, this could add 300 to 400 pounds of weight to a pole.”

Additional equipment includes control units, auxiliary backup batteries and other support equipment housed in metal or composite refrigerator-sized boxes.

“This equipment is fundamentally different than any other type of attachment we’ve ever put on our poles,” said Embrey. “There’s more weight, wind and ice loading involved, there are reliability and worker safety issues, and most designs include a communications conduit running the length of the pole.”

Servicing that communications equipment is also a major concern, said NRECA’s Harris.  “Some of that equipment could be near or above energized lines, so training, safety and potential service reliability issues need to be considered.”

Keeping Connections Local

The race to 5G could have a major impact on pole attachment oversight and cooperatives’ local control, as the wireless industry pushes for streamlined and uniform pole attachment procedures and lower rates nationally. That could lead to increased federal regulation of right-of-way relationships electric cooperatives have spent decades developing with private landowners and state and local jurisdictions.

NRECA and its member cooperatives are supporting a resolution opposing regulatory authority over pole attachments by the Federal Communications Commission.

“Congress long ago recognized the consumer-focused nature and democratic local control inherent in the cooperative business model and exempted electric cooperatives from federal pole attachment regulation,” said Embrey.

Over the last few years, 19 states have enacted legislation to streamline pole attachment policies and reduce rates for small cell and 5G deployment.

“Legislators in all of those states have had the foresight to make sure these rules do not apply to electric cooperatives,” said Brian O’Hara, NRECA’s senior director of regulatory issues, adding that several states have excluded electric utilities more broadly from new pole attachment regulations, citing their critical infrastructure status.

“In some cases, the addition of foreign attachments may necessitate installation of taller or stronger poles, relocation of poles, or additional poles, increasing costs to the electric cooperative members,” said O’Hara.

“Each cooperative is unique and faces specific challenges and costs.  Pole attachment rates should reflect the actual cost of providing attachment service.”

According to NRECA, receiving full compensation for pole attachment costs cannot be guaranteed with a uniform regulatory policy. Artificially low rates could burden co-op members with undue costs, effectively subsidizing large, for-profit telecommunications companies.

NRECA has joined several entities representing utility, telecommunication and communications technology interests in calling for cross-industry compromises on spectrum issues related to 5G technology and its deployment. A letter outlining their position was submitted to the FCC on May 9. It includes measures that will help ensure options of some local involvement in how the technology is deployed and administered.

Derrill Holly is a staff writer at NRECA.

ATLANTA—Northfork Electric Cooperative’s Heath Martin survived a 7,200-volt shock, and he’s the first to admit the accident was his fault.

Martin and his co-worker, Chad Crompton, had worked all night but were then called to a routine outage near the Sayre, Oklahoma-based co-op.

On Martin’s mind was an upcoming fishing trip with his buddies. “I was in a hurry, but it was no reason to take a shortcut,” said Martin, who suffered severe burns to his hands and face resulting in skin grafts, multiple surgeries and physical therapy.

Remarkably, Martin retooled his career at the co-op and as its safety director talks about his experiences. “Grounding that line down would have taken me maybe five minutes at the most and…I just made a bad decision that day.”

That fateful day was nearly two decades ago. Today, the number of serious injuries and fatalities (SIFs) among co-op lineworkers remains stubbornly high even though the overall injury rate has fallen. A nationwide survey of 51,000 co-op employees conducted annually between 2006 and 2015 found an average of more than 23 SIFs each year.

Contact with energized lines and equipment caused more than 40 percent of the incidents.

It’s a trend that safety leaders across the country want to stop through Commitment to Zero Contacts, an initiative of NRECA and Federated Rural Electric Insurance Exchange launched at the 2018 Safety Leadership Summit. The voluntary initiative provides field guides, a downloadable job briefing app and other resources to help eliminate injuries by electrical contacts.

Serious injuries and fatalities for co-op lineworkers

In the past decade, the overall injury rate has fallen among co-op lineworkers, but high rates of serious injuries and fatalities persist, a national survey found.

The factors that increase the likelihood of SIFs vary, but creating a strong culture of safety helps mitigate the risk at all levels of an organization, NRECA CEO Jim Matheson told safety professionals April 27.

“If you have a strong organizational culture, it creates better teamwork, improves communications and reduces injury rates,” said Matheson.

“Those electric cooperatives that are top performers in this area keep a close eye on cultural aspects of their organization. They measure it and never lose sight of it,” said Matheson. “They intentionally onboard new employees into that culture with a sharp focus on safety. They’re always looking for potential gaps in that culture and, above all, are always looking for ways to strengthen that culture.”

Typically, the worst accidents happen during routine jobs where risk awareness declines and complacency is most likely to occur, said Bud Branham, NRECA director of safety programs.

Combined with people’s natural instinct to favor the “fast brain” even during situations that require analytic thinking and reasoning, the factors can lead to deadly consequences.

“Research shows that you can have the best injury rates in the world, but you can still fall victim to a catastrophic incident. We must all remain focused,” said Branham, adding that persistent SIFs are an industry-wide problem.

Commitment to Zero Contacts suggests that co-ops avoid a “bad cop” mentality and instead focus on a systemwide approach that helps them:

• Clarify and define life-saving rules.
• Verify use of life-saving rules.
• Create effective job planning on all jobs.
• Form a structured safety management process.
• Seek employee involvement.

“When you change attitudes, there will be a lot of naysayers. It’s a tough job. But this is doable,” said Phil Irwin, president and CEO of Federated. “We have the tools and the training.”

Already, co-ops are pledging to work safer and smarter. At least 30 percent of Federated members have downloaded the smartphone app, S.A.F.E. (Stop and Focus Everyday).

The three-day Safety Summit also featured 20 “safety improvement talks” from co-ops with innovative safety ideas and stories. Among them:

• Clarifying organizational roles and responsibilities for safety at the Merom Generating Plant operated by Hoosier Energy in Bloomington, Indiana.
• Engaging employees in the “I Will” pledge program at the North Carolina Association of Electric Cooperatives in Raleigh.
• Creating an effective incident management system at Cooperative Energy in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Co-op leaders can make the commitment to join the nationwide initiative at cooperative.com/ZeroContactsForm.

Hurricane-force winds knocked out electricity to nearly 2.5 million people from the Great Lakes to the Mid-Atlantic regions and in New England late last week, and electric cooperatives in some of the hardest-hit areas still have crews working to restore service.

“This is the worst weather event to hit our service territory since Superstorm Sandy,” said Chris Reese, CEO of New Jersey’s Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative, which lost about 5,000 of its 12,000 meters.

New Jersey’s only electric co-op had crews out early March 5 restoring service to just over 100 members who were still without power, but in some cases, 400 to 600 feet of new line will have to be installed and energized before service is restored.

The first outages began before noon on March 2, and operations had already arranged for mutual aid crews from co-ops in western and central Pennsylvania.

“We had 10 broken poles, and Asplundh tree crews needed a 70-foot-tall bucket truck to deal with one tangle of downed trees before crews could restore power,” said Reese.

Several co-ops in Virginia reported widespread outages.

“We had more than 40,000 meters out Friday afternoon,” said Casey Hollins, director of communications and public relations for Rappahannock Electric Cooperative. “Winds snapped dozens of poles and downed trees, making it difficult for crews to reach some locations.”

Crews from the Fredericksburg, Virginia, co-op received mutual aid from co-ops in Kentucky, North Carolina and South Carolina. Restoration was stalled in some areas until the Virginia Department of Transportation could clear tree debris and reopen roads.

“We still have about 8,000 meters out, but hope to wrap up restoration by Wednesday,” Hollins said March 5. Member services representatives and social media posts urged members to check the co-op’s outage maps for information on specific trouble locations across the co-op’s 22-county territory.

Virginia’s Northern Neck Electric Cooperative reported nearly 6,500 of its meters out March 2, said Jay Garner, manager of public relations for the Warsaw-based co-op. “With the help of co-op crews from Kentucky and Georgia, our crews worked day and night, and wrapped up the work Sunday afternoon with all members restored.”

Crewe, Virginia-based Southside Electric Cooperative lost nearly 20,000 meters to high winds and falling trees that splintered 35 poles and shredded power lines.

Crews worked around the clock from late Thursday night restoring power until Sunday evening, said Ronald White, vice president of member and public relations for SEC.

The storm, blamed for at least five deaths, disrupted flight schedules and rail transportation along the East Coast before winds subsided March 3. Electric utility crews were still working March 5 to restore service to nearly 500,000 meters in several states.

Co-ops expressed relief that total system damage was not more extensive.

Many compared the winter event to Superstorm Sandy, a massive weather system that began as a tropical depression in October 2012 before becoming a hurricane and morphing into a subtropical weather event. That storm brought high winds, freezing rain, snow and major flooding to parts of 21 states, knocking out electricity to 8.5 million meters that took months to repair.

“We had 5,000 members out at the height of the storm,” said Jeremy Tucker, manager of communications for Delaware Electric Cooperative in Greenwood, Delaware.  “We had 10,000 meters out after Hurricane Sandy, and 20,000 after Hurricane Ike.”

While co-op officials are pleased at how their systems held up under the 60- to 70-mph sustained winds, winter is not over, and high winds are forecast for the Mid-Atlantic region by late this week.

“This was essentially a 24-hour event for us,” said Tucker, noting that all affected members had power restored March 3. “Our crews train for this, it is what they do, and they do it well. Hopefully, this next storm won’t cause major problems.”

Derrill E. Holly is a staff writer at NRECA.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Four years later, it still haunts Jason Siegfried.

“I’ll never forget the look on Jeremy’s face when his wife and I walked into that burn unit,” said Siegfried. They were there that December 2013 day to see Jeremy White, a lineman at Southern Pine Electric, who came into contact with a power line while on a service call.

“He was lying there, missing part of his left arm and both legs below the knee. He couldn’t talk for all the machines hooked up. But his expression, as he shrugged his shoulders and looked at his wife, said clearly, ‘I’m sorry.’”

White died Jan. 11, 2014. He was 36 and left behind a wife, daughter and son.

It might not be a typical thing to hear about at the NRECA Annual Meeting, but Siegfried made clear it needs to be.

“I believe there is not a single topic to be discussed during this annual meeting that’s more important than the safety of the men and women at our co-ops,” he said to applause from the packed room at the Feb 26 opening session.

As CEO of Taylorsville, Mississippi-based Southern Pine Electric, Siegfried called on fellow co-op leaders to “band together to annihilate complacency, and place accountability front and center.” He said it’s the only way to accomplish NRECA’s goal of zero contacts.

A moving video, “A Lineman’s Call—The Story of Jeremy White,” was played at the general session. It’s told by his widow, Liz, and the colleagues he left behind.

“I want you to know that creating that video was hard. As many times as I’ve watched it, it never gets any easier,” said Siegfried, who often wonders why White was in such a hurry that he overlooked several safety rules.

“I’ll admit I was angry. It never should have happened,” said Siegfried.

“But at some point I realized that instead of asking why Jeremy did the things he did, I need to focus on what can I change.”

To that end, Siegfried urged meeting participants to think long and hard about what they need to do when they return home.

At Southern Pine Electric, “We demanded that each person, no matter rank or tenure, take complete ownership in holding themselves and others accountable,” said Siegfried. “No more shortcuts. No more covering for anyone regardless of how small or minor the violation may seem.”

He acknowledged it isn’t easy. But neither is going to a burn unit—or a funeral.

“I’ve looked some people in the eye and said some pretty harsh words about what safety violations will mean moving forward. And here today I’d like to look you in the eye and say this is where a movement can begin to lead this industry.”

This video is the property of Southern Pine Electric Cooperative and may be used for safety training only. Its use for any other purpose is strictly prohibited.

NRECA’s Safety Leadership Summit takes place April 25-27 in Atlanta. Details are available on cooperative.com.

Michael W. Kahn is a staff writer at NRECA.

Tropical Storm Harvey has moved beyond south-central Texas, and although its winds were only gale force, moisture sucked up from the Gulf of Mexico means it is still a wet and destructive force.

Harvey’s second landfall Aug. 30 near Cameron, Louisiana, was in the service territory of Jefferson Davis Electric Cooperative. The storm caused scattered circuit outages; however crews quickly restored substations and are dealing with line problems caused by downed trees as they occur, according to officials from the Jennings, Louisiana-based co-op.

Deridder, Louisiana-based Beauregard Electric Cooperative reported about 3,000 meters out of service within hours of the storm’s approach. Though crews encountered high water in many locations, they brought back power to all but about 20 members by late morning Aug. 31.

“We had three major outages,” said Kay Fox, vice president of marketing and member services at Beauregard EC. “Most of the remaining damage to our system involves lines and poles submerged under water, so we can’t touch those until the water recedes.”

The Association of Louisiana Electric Cooperatives is coordinating intrastate mutual aid for its member co-ops. Beauregard EC is receiving mutual aid from South Louisiana Electric Cooperative Association, Houma, and Northeast Louisiana Power Cooperative, Winnsboro.

Claiborne Electric Cooperative in Homer has requested help from Baton Rouge-based Dixie Electric Membership Corp.

As the storm worked its way inland through central Louisiana, wet bands caused more problems for co-ops in the eastern part of Texas. The storm was expected to add another five to 10 inches of rainfall in some areas, although its 45 mph winds were only about one-third as strong as the sustained winds pushed out last week.

“We had about 5,000 members out, but more than 2,100 of those are connected to one substation,” said Joey Davis, director of member services for Jasper-Newton Electric Cooperative. “We have outages, system-wide, but primarily down near the Gulf or southern end.”

The co-op has been looking for a route to reactivate de-energized lines served by the substation, but high water was keeping crews from reaching some areas where repairs can be made, Davis said.

Co-ops in other parts of South Texas that suffered major storm-related outages over the past week are making substantial progress with restoration.

Victoria Electric Cooperative, which serves the Rockport, Texas, area, had 217 personnel in the field Aug. 30. They are working through outages affecting 22,000 meters that stopped spinning after Harvey’s initial landfall.

In a single day, “this amazing team helped bring over 8,000 meters online,” said Brittany Marsh, communications specialist for the Victoria, Texas-based co-op.

Crews made up of co-op staff, mutual aid workers from 10 other co-ops and contractors are working throughout the co-op’s service territory repairing damaged lines and replacing poles.

“Many of them have left their community, family and comforts of home to be here to help VEC get power to you as quickly as possible,” said Marsh. About 60 percent of the system was back up as of Aug. 31, though repairs could in some areas could take another week, the co-op said.

Mutual aid crews from three Texas co-ops are helping Jackson Electric Cooperative in Ganado, Texas, restore power to 500 members in an area that was previously under a mandatory evacuation.

Seven Texas co-ops are assisting Sinton, Texas-based San Patricio Electric Cooperative with a final push to bring 723 meters back on line as of midday Aug. 31.

Restoration work was nearly concluded for Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative, headquartered in Gonzales, Texas, which is getting power to all but two dozen of the 17,000 meters initially knocked out by the storm. “The old saying ‘stronger together’ has never been more evident than at this moment,” said General Manager and CEO Darren Schauer.

Wharton Electric Cooperative, based in El Campo, Texas, and La Grange, Texas-based Fayette Electric Cooperative are continuing touchup repairs as floodwaters subside. Both co-ops serve members in areas that have received more than 20 inches of rain over the past six days.

However, the storm has thrown Sam Houston Electric Cooperative in Livingston on to an outage roller coaster. The co-op had restored service to more than 21,000 meters since Harvey first made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane near Rockport, Texas on Aug. 25.

That didn’t hold.

“We had outages down to 800 [on Aug. 29] and now they’re back up to 5,000,” Keith Stapleton, chief communications officer, said Aug. 30. “Water and trees falling are the problem. The winds are moderate, but the ground is so saturated, it doesn’t take much for the trees to fall over. … We had a big tree fall right across from our office that took out a main feeder for about 20 minutes until we could get it cleared.”

With outage numbers rising, crews and contractors available to Sam Houston EC expect to be busy restoring power for several days—by nightfall Aug. 31, the outage number was just 1,700. But widespread flooding has inundated roads and made some areas inaccessible. Approximately 1,200 of the outages are inaccessible, and many are located in areas that have been evacuated.

“There are areas that are completely under water, and we can’t even see our poles and meters,” said Stapleton.

Flooding along Texas’ Trinity River prompted voluntary evacuations in three counties served by Sam Houston EC. And co-op managers continue to free up time for lineworkers, member services personnel and other staff to see to their homes and families.

“We have some employees who are in the flood zone. Water is getting into the homes of some of our employees as they work to restore power,” said Stapleton.

In some cases, the co-op could help find hotel space for the displaced families, while key field staff and inside support personnel are more likely to take their rest breaks at co-op facilities.

“There’s going to be some roads I won’t be able to get to for however long the flooding lasts,” said Rachel Frey, Sam Houston’s communications specialist. “I needed to get home and sort out arrangements for my dog and get clothes for the next few days.”

Experiences following past storms like Hurricane Rita in 2005 and Hurricane Ike, three years later, have provided useful lessons for planning and executing a prolonged response, Stapleton said.

“We have agreements with local church camps to house visiting crews,” Stapleton said. “We also have arrangements with companies that can provide tent cities for housing, food and support services for visiting crews should that be needed.”

Texas Electric Cooperatives, headquartered in Austin, is shipping poles and hardware to co-ops affected by Harvey. The statewide association is also compiling a list of charitable and community assistance organizations operating in the territories of the affected co-ops to provide storm relief to be shared with the cooperative community, officials said.

Derrill Holly is a staff writer at NRECA.

Editor’s note: This post is continually updated with the most recent outage reports.

Read and view all of our Hurricane Harvey coverage.

In his decades of experience as a lead electric cooperative lineman, Cal Wolterman has had more than his share of close calls with motorists zipping by work sites on highways.

Take the time Wolterman, his crew and their bucket truck from Estherville-based Iowa Lakes Electric Cooperative were sandwiched between two speeding vehicles on a two-lane highway in northern Iowa. They had blocked off a lane when a tractor-trailer and another vehicle approached from opposite directions.

“Instead of one vehicle waiting to use the other lane, they both used the other lane and the shoulder to go around our truck, barely missing the outrigger on the truck,” said Wolterman, who escaped without injury. “We’ll have signs and cones up, and we’ll have a guy out there with a ‘slow’ sign, and they’ll still fly by us at 60 miles per hour.”

Signs and orange cones have failed. But Iowa electric utilities are hoping penalties under the state’s new “Move Over or Slow Down” law will do the job.

The law, which took effect July 1, expands a 2002 law that covered emergency vehicles by imposing fines and penalties for failure to change lanes or reduce speed when passing utility vehicles.

“I sure hope people abide by it, move over and slow down,” said Wolterman. “It’s kind of crazy out there.”

Electric utilities launched a campaign to promote the law and are taking extra steps to make sure it sinks fully into people’s consciences. A news conference featuring Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds kicked off the effort, along with catchy signs promoting the campaign on the sides of utility vehicles.

Organizers want to get at “why a driver wouldn’t instinctively move over or slow down when approaching a stationary utility vehicle with flashing lights,” said Erin Campbell, director of communications at the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives in Des Moines.

“We want to proactively change drivers’ behavior to prevent close calls or incidents from happening in the first place,” said Campbell.

Drivers can go to the Move Over website for information and sign an online pledge that shows “they are consciously making a decision to alter their behavior by agreeing to move over or slow down,” said Campbell.

And for behind-the-wheel multi-taskers, organizers use a humorous touch with ads that utilities can customize on various outlets. “Bad time to search for those missing Skittles” reads one ad. “Bad time to text Chris about Friday night” reads another.

While all states have “move over” laws, about a dozen specifically protect utility service vehicles. Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens recently signed a measure to add utility vehicles to a list of other emergency vehicles for which motorists must pull over. It takes effect Aug. 28.

Co-ops without protections for utility service vehicles aren’t waiting for their legislatures to act. They are helping each other.

The Association of Louisiana Electric Cooperatives in Baton Rouge created “Hang Up and Drive. Lives are on the Line,” a multimedia campaign and video to combat texting and driving. Its efforts have inspired co-ops in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to take action.

Line crews at Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative in Sussex, New Jersey, have affixed ALEC-designed bumper stickers on trucks. And Claverack REC in Wysox, Pennsylvania, designed an on-screen ad for local movie theaters with a no texting and driving message and is considering creating its own video.

Line crews hope the focus on driver conduct helps because the problem is getting worse.

In the ALEC video, an apprentice lineman from Beauregard Electric Cooperative in DeRidder, describes a scene that’s increasingly familiar to line crews.

“We’re set up on [the] side of [the] road, we’ve got our cones out, our lights are flashing, maybe we have a lane of traffic blocked, and yet we have a distracted driver either texting or flying right by us. We have to worry about them and still continue to do our job,” said the co-op’s John Hobbs.

Victoria A. Rocha is a staff writer at NRECA.

A pair of electric cooperative priorities have passed the U.S. House of Representatives and are headed to the Senate.

For the second time in less than two years, the House approved a measure that would make it easier for co-ops to maintain rights of way on federal lands. The Electricity Reliability and Forest Protection Act, H.R. 1873, cleared the chamber June 21 on a bipartisan 300-118 vote.

On June 20, the House passed legislation to provide more equitable treatment of nonprofits, such as co-ops, that own nuclear power projects. H.R. 1551, sponsored by Rep. Tom Rice, R-S.C., also eliminate the 2020 construction deadline for new nuclear power plants to be eligible for tax credits established under a 2005 law.

NRECA CEO Jim Matheson praised the House votes and said they represent important steps in helping co-ops to continue to provide affordable and reliable power to their members. He noted that both the nuclear tax credit legislation and vegetation management bill were spotlighted at this year’s NRECA Legislative Conference.

“Passage of this legislation demonstrates that co-op leaders from across the country make a difference when they come to Washington to meet with their elected officials,” he said. “We’re pleased that the House has approved these bills and look forward to advancing them in the Senate.”

The rights-of-way bill seeks to correct problems co-ops have had securing permits to control vegetative overgrowth and trees that can topple onto power lines, causing fires and outages.

Utilities could receive preapproval from federal agencies to remove trees that could affect transmission and distribution line rights of way instead of waiting for authorization. It shifts liability to federal agencies if they deny permission to manage vegetation and a fire ensues.

The bill includes a floor amendment supported by NRECA to ensure Interior Department staff involved in rights-of-way management issues are trained on how unmanned technologies can help identify and reduce wildfire risks.

The tax legislation would enable four reactors currently under construction to benefit from production tax credits beyond the current timetable. It also could help the development of small modular reactors, a technology option that interests some co-ops.

NRECA and other trade groups wrote House Speaker Paul Ryan and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi on June 19, the day before the vote, urging favorable action on nuclear power as “a strategic national imperative.”

Steven Johnson is a staff writer for NRECA.

ARLINGTON, Va. – The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) today filed comments with the Fish and Wildlife Service arguing against listing the Lesser Prairie Chicken under the Endangered Species Act. In its filing, NRECA pointed to scientific data showing that the Lesser Prairie Chicken population is stable, thanks in part to the extensive voluntary conservation measures already underway by public and private stakeholders.

“The range-wide conservation plan approved by the Fish and Wildlife Service in 2014 along with other measures, are working,” said NRECA CEO Jim Matheson. “America’s electric cooperatives have continued to engage with state wildlife agencies and additional co-ops are enrolling in conservation plans to help the species.  As the huge swath of available habitat – more than ten million acres in five states – continues to grow, the best available data show the Lesser Prairie Chicken population has stabilized.”

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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In offering testimony today to members of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works’ Fisheries, Water and Wildlife Subcommittee, National Endangered Species Act Reform Coalition (NESARC) Chairman Ryan Yates outlined the Coalition’s concerns with proposed changes to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) Mitigation Policy.

Reiterating many of the points included in NESARC’s written comments to FWS earlier this year, Yates highlighted NESARC’s concern that the agency lacks the statutory authority for implementing the Mitigation Policy. According to Yates, “[t]he proposed revisions to the Mitigation Policy, and the Administration’s other recent policies addressing mitigation, test the boundaries of agency authority and likely exceed the scope of the applicable statutory framework without offering clear and transparent guidance to the regulated community.”

Yates also took issue with the imposition of a “net conservation gain” standard in the status of affected resources. “[T]he Mitigation Policy fails to provide the basis and authority for imposing a net conservation gain requirement and needs additional clarification on how the implementation of such a requirement would occur in practice,” he said. “Federal agencies cannot, by fiat, attempt to impose a net conservation gain as an absolute mitigation requirement, absent a clear grant of such authority from Congress.”

In his testimony, Yates contended that the Mitigation Policy’s landscape-scale approach is overly expansive and fails to consider the role of states and local jurisdictions in species conservation. Specifically, he testified that “FWS cannot incorporate landscape-scale mitigation into permitting decisions or authorizations without explicit statutory authority that requires such a broad ecological approach. Further, FWS’s definition of landscape and its reliance on a landscape-scale approach are not conducive to consistent application and would undermine the role of States and other local jurisdictions in the management of species and habitat.”

Finally, Yates called for flexibility and innovation to encourage conservation. “Assuming that FWS demonstrates the requisite statutory authority, to be successful, the Mitigation Policy must provide incentives and reduce the barriers for landowner participation. FWS must recognize voluntary conservation planning efforts that are associated with a particular species, habitat, or activity and allow such efforts to be applied as mitigation under the Mitigation Policy,” said Yates.

FWS proposed the changes to the Mitigation Policy earlier this year in response to directives from the President and the Secretary of the Interior. NESARC’s written comments on the proposed changes may be found on the Coalition’s website at http://nesarc.org/nesarc-files-comments-onproposed-changes-to-fws-mitigation-policy.

Earlier this month, the agency published a draft Endangered Species Act Compensatory Mitigation Policy (CMP). According to Yates, “the CMP contains many of the same issues and deficiencies that are inherent in the general Mitigation Policy.” NESARC is still reviewing the proposed CMP in order to submit comments and is awaiting FWS’s response to its request for an extension of the comment period.

NESARC is the country’s oldest broad-based, national coalition dedicated solely to achieving improvements to the ESA and its implementation. The Coalition includes agricultural interests, cities and counties, commercial real estate developers, conservationists, electric utilities, energy producers, farmers, forest product companies, home builders, landowners, oil and gas companies, ranchers, water and irrigation districts, and other businesses and individuals throughout the United States.

The National Endangered Species Act Reform Coalition (NESARC) expressed frustration with the most recent announcement that the environmental community intends to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in an effort to drive the listing of hundreds of additional species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This week’s “notice of intent” to sue the Federal government calls for listing decisions on 417 species for which petitions have been filed with FWS, which, if pursued, would be one of the largest ESA lawsuits in the statute’s 43 year existence.

“Environmental groups continue to use the courts to drive listings under the ESA to serve a narrow and radical agenda,” said NESARC Chairman Ryan Yates. “By continuing to employ ‘sue and settle’ practices, these organizations are forcing the Federal government to expend limited resources that otherwise could be directed toward the recovery of listed species and the pre-listing conservation of candidate species and species-at-risk,” said Yates.

This week’s announcement is reminiscent of the “mega-listing” litigation that was filed in 2010 to force listing decisions on 251 candidate species, as well as hundreds of other species determinations and designations of critical habitat. The outcome was an unprecedented settlement agreement in 2011 between FWS and several environmental groups, which set the stage for a 20% increase in listed species in the five years following agreement on the settlement.

“The Coalition fundamentally disagrees with the use of litigation to drive FWS species listing decisions. Litigation should be a last line of defense and not the first course of action,” said Yates.

NESARC contends that the uptick in litigation signals more significant flaws with the law itself that must be addressed by Congress. Specifically, the ESA requires that FWS — or the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for most marine species — make a finding within 90 days of receiving a petition as to whether or not there is “substantial information” indicating that the petitioned listing may be warranted. If this preliminary finding is positive, a 12-month status review is conducted. FWS must make a further finding that the listing either is or is not warranted within one year of receipt of the petition.

NESARC has long argued that these statutory deadlines are far too short, especially given the significant increase in petitions received by FWS and NMFS over the last decade. Missed deadlines account for the much of the litigation that ultimately drains limited resources that should be used for promoting species conservation and recovery.

“This latest action once again highlights the long overdue need for Congressional action to improve the ESA. Statutory and regulatory flaws need to be addressed through legislative reform to prevent unnecessary litigation and ensure that species recovery is primary objective of the ESA,” Yates said.

NESARC is the country’s oldest broad-based, national coalition dedicated solely to achieving improvements to the ESA and its implementation. The Coalition includes agricultural interests, cities and counties, commercial real estate developers, conservationists, electric utilities, energy producers, farmers, forest product companies, home builders, landowners, oil and gas companies, ranchers, water and irrigation districts, and other businesses and individuals throughout the United States.

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 (MBTA) implements four treaties that provide for international protection of migratory birds. Read about it’s impact on co-ops, NRECA’s position and the status of the issue.

Migratory Bird Treaty Act Fact Sheet (PDF)