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Coop Uses Crowdfunding to Create Additional Wind Power

East River Electric Cooperative (EREC), a supplier of electric power for rural areas of South Dakota and Minnesota, is using crowdfunding to add more wind power to its portfolio.  Crowdfunding is a new method through which many writers, artists, designers, and entrepreneurs get their projects funded by strangers.  EREC crowdfunded from the communities it serves to finance a portion of...

Coops Continue to Take on EPA’s New Climate Plan

Representatives of electric coops across the country are trying to get the following message across on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rulemaking announced September 20:  This rulemaking is not feasible and prohibitively expensive.  Specifically, the EPA’s rulemaking implementing the Clean Air Act requires future coal-based generation to employ carbon capture and storage...

EPA Proposes Carbon Standards for New Power Facilities

As part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a news release outlining carbon standards for new power facilities.  The EPA will consider comments and hold a public hearing before completing the rulemaking process.  For more information, click here.

NRECA Opposes President’s Plan on Climate Change

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) has launched a campaign against President Barack Obama’s proposal to use the Clean Air Act to regulate carbon dioxide and fight climate change.  The NRECA  released a video voicing its opposition to the President’s plan.  Click here for more.

NRECA to Oppose Certain Power Plant Rules in Obama Climate Plan

Due to concerns that power plant regulations would impose enormous costs on vulnerable citizens, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) has stated that it intends to oppose any effort to use Obama’s Clean Air Act to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.  While the climate plan, which was slated for release on June 25, has been widely expected to address rules to limit...

President’s 2014 Budget Includes Restrictions on Amounts and Use of RUS Loans

Under the proposed 2014 federal budget, the lending authority of the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) would be decreased from $6.5 billion to $4 billion, which RUS projects will be sufficient to meet the demand from borrowers.  Of this new amount, $3 billion will be earmarked for generation with carbon sequestration and renewable energy, including peaking plants to complement intermittent...

North Dakota Coop Sends Carbon Dioxide Packing

Basin Electric Power Cooperative recently shipped a milestone amount of carbon dioxide to Canadian oil fields for use in forcing oil to the surface.  The coop’s Great Plains Synfuels Plant has been capturing carbon dioxide since 2000 and just sent the 25 millionth metric ton to southern Saskatchewan.  Click here for more information.

North Dakota’s Electricity Case against Minnesota Survives First Legal Challenge

A federal judge has ruled that the state of North Dakota’s case against Minnesota can move forward, as North Dakota has a “plausible” claim that a 2007 Minnesota energy law is invalid due to preemption by federal law.  Minnesota’s Next Generation Energy Act bars new coal-fired power plants in Minnesota and restricts out-of-state imports of new coal-based power generation unless the...

NRECA Asks EPA to Withdraw Rule for Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) has asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw a proposed rule for greenhouse gas emissions for new fossil-fuel-based power plants.  According to the NRECA, the EPA is violating the law by classifying coal and natural gas baseload generation as interchangeable fuel sources.  The NRECA says only some natural gas...

Lawmakers Press for Details on EPA Proposal to Cap Emissions

On Thursday, Representatives Fred Upton and Ed Whitfield sent a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson asking a host of questions regarding the agency’s Carbon Pollution Standard for New Power Plants as well its plans for future regulations on utilities.  In March, the EPA released a proposal to set the country’s first-ever limits on greenhouse gas emissions from new...

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