Eversheds Sutherland Coop Law Blog
content top

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Reaches Agreement on Plan to Reduce Emissions

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association (Tri-State) reached a settlement with its members and other parties on the first phase of its 20-year plan to reduce its carbon emissions. The landmark agreement sets goals for reducing Tri-State’s emissions by 80% in 2030.

Iowa, North Dakota Utilities Seek $77 Million for Power Provided During Polar Vortex

Basin Electric and North Iowa Municipal Electric Cooperative Association filed a complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission seeking payment of $77 million from Southwest Power Pool for agreeing to provide energy during February 2021’s polar vortex. At issue is whether the utilities should be paid, even though some operations were temporarily offline during the...

CEO of Minnkota Power Cooperative Urges Congress to Boost Carbon Capture Technologies

Mac McLennan, President and CEO of Minnkota Power Cooperative, recently urged members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy to prioritize reliability and resiliency in the wake of power stability issues across the country. Specifically, Mr. McLennan asked Congress to support carbon capture technologies through passage of the Carbon Capture Modernization Act....

NRECA Urges Congress to Give Coops Direct-Pay Incentives for Clean Energy

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) is urging congressional leaders to provide electric cooperatives with direct payments to develop clean energy projects, which would give coops incentives comparable to the tax breaks granted to investor-owned utilities. For-profit utilities have long received federal tax breaks for providing power from solar, wind and other...

Vermont Electric Cooperative Pledges To Be Carbon-free by 2023

Vermont Electric Cooperative, Vermont’s largest member-owned electric utility, has pledged to move to a 100% carbon-free power supply by 2023. The electric cooperative said the carbon-free decision was made by the board of directors to reflect customer demand for clean energy and to meet state goals to fight climate change. The coop serves about 32,000 members in 75 communities in...

Texas Coop Requests Suspension of ERCOT Invoicing, Billing, Collection

Rayburn Country Electric Cooperative asked Texas state regulators to order the Electric Reliability Corporation of Texas (ERCOT) to suspend invoicing, billing and collection of charges related to February’s power outages after it was discovered that ERCOT may have charged $16 billion more than it should have during the mid-February winter storm. The coop says charges “stand to cause...

Colorado Governor Joins Tri-State to Announce Greenhouse Gas Reduction Goals

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association (Tri-State) and Colorado Governor Jared Polis recently announced Tri-State will be submitting a “preferred scenario” to reduce emissions associated with its wholesale electricity sales in Colorado by 80% by 2030. With the support of its members and board of directors, Tri-State will put forward this preferred scenario in its Electric...

What Biden’s Victory Means for Electric Cooperatives

Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential race sets the stage for potentially sweeping environmental policy changes. However, his planned policy agenda would be muted by what now looks to be a divided Congress, with a Republican-led Senate and a diminished Democratic majority in the House. In the near term, Biden is expected to push for a broad economic stimulus plan shortly after he...

Oregon Wildfires Devastate Coop-Served Communities

Wildfires fueled by strong winds are ravaging western Oregon, destroying small towns served by electric cooperatives, forcing people to flee their homes, and spurring four coops to turn off power at night to avoid sparking new blazes. Ted Case, executive director of the Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association in Wilsonville said the wildfires have hit four of the state’s 18 coops...

Basin Electric’s Carbon Storage Study Moves on to Geophysical Survey

Work toward a commercial-scale geological carbon dioxide storage complex near Gillette, Wyoming moved to the next stage today with a geophysical survey covering about 9 square miles of rural land around Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s (Basin) Dry Fork Station power plant. Basin and other partners are working to develop a site near Dry Fork Station and the Wyoming Integrated Test...

« Older Entries