ARLINGTON, Va. – National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Jim Matheson today issued the following statement on the confirmation of Doug Burgum as Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
“Doug Burgum has long been a steadfast advocate for safeguarding the reliability of our electric grid, effectively stewarding our nation’s public lands and natural resources, reducing wildfire risk and helping rural communities across America thrive,” Matheson said. “We have enjoyed working with Secretary Burgum during his tenure as Governor of North Dakota, and we look forward to collaborating with him in his new, well-deserved role as Secretary of the Interior.
“Electric cooperatives serve 56% of the nation’s landmass and operate on more public lands than any other type of utility. We look forward to partnering with Secretary Burgum and his team to alleviate the layers of bureaucratic red tape in our land and species management agencies that so often stand in the way of electric system operations, reliability and affordability. By doing so, cooperatives can more effectively operate and maintain their systems, harden the electric grid against wildfire and other threats and meet surging electricity demand.
“NRECA and its members also are eager to work with Mr. Burgum in his capacity as Chairman of the National Energy Council. We are confident his leadership will help make reliability and affordability central tenets of U.S. electricity policy.”
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is the national trade association representing nearly 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 $15 billion annually in their communities.
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