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Two Electric Cooperatives Rank in Top 10 for Solar Generation Wattage Per Member

The Solar Electric Power Association included two electric cooperatives in its list of top 10 utilities incorporating solar generation wattage per member.  Kaua’i Island Utility Cooperative, which had been ranked at twelfth place in 2011, moved to second place, adding 282 watts of solar electricity capacity per member last year.  Chickasaw Electric Cooperative, ranked fifth on the...

Utilities Victorious in Case Asserting Utility Poles Should be Subject to Environmental Regulation

A federal appeals court ruled against the Ecological Rights Foundation in finding that utility poles should not be regulated under the Clean Water Act.  With fewer customers per mile of line than the industry average, coops would have felt a disproportionate impact of any regulation.  The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association filed a brief in this case supporting the position...

North Carolina Coop Seeking Addition of Transmission Line in a Wilderness Area

A Rutherford County coop may end up in conflict with ecologists after seeking to run a 12-mile, high-voltage power line through an area of unbroken forest that is currently part of a conservation zone.  Rutherford Electric Membership Corporation says the proposed line would prevent brownouts in a rural community of 1,900 families but ecologists counter that the line would run a...

Coops Ask DOE Chief to Drop Grid Restructuring Plan

Coops and other utilities want the new Department of Energy chief, Ernest Moniz, to drop his predecessor’s requirements to integrate renewable energy into the grid.  Utility groups want Moniz to rescind a plan proposed by outgoing DOE Secretary Steven Chu to restructure federally controlled power systems in the Western United States that would enable deployment of renewable energy,...

Missouri Coop to Shut Down Chamois Power Plant

Central Electric Power Cooperative’s (Central) board has decided to cease operations at the Chamois Power Plant in Missouri effective September 30.  Since 1962, Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc. (AECI), the wholesale supplier of Central, has been paying all of the expenses of the plant in exchange for a right to all of the output.  The plant is the smallest and the oldest of AECI’s...

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.

Alaska Bill Could Allow Coop Activity in Protected Area

A bill moving through Alaska’s legislature would eliminate wilderness restrictions in a portion of a Bristol Bay region state park to allow a utility to study a hydroelectric project on a lake where development now is banned.  So far, in observance of a 10-year-old management plan approved by local residents, state park officials have refused to allow Nuvista Light & Electric...

Government Announces New Funding for Rural Coops

In a recent announcement, John Padalino, USDA Rural Utilities Acting Administrator, stated that rural electric cooperatives and utilities in 12 states will receive loan guarantees to improve generation and transmission facilities and implement smart grid technologies.  The statement was made during the annual meeting of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association on behalf of...

Arizona Appealing EPA Decision Requiring Upgrades to Coal Plants

The Arizona Attorney General is seeking an appellate court review of an  Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decision requiring pollution control upgrades at three coal plants.  One of the coal plants in question, the Apache Power Plant, is owned by the Arizona Electric Power Cooperative.  The Arizona Daily Star is following this story.

Coop Considers Closing Coal Plant Citing Regulations and Other Costs

Central Electric Power Cooperative of Jefferson City, Missouri, is considering closing its Chamois power plant because of regulations and other costs.  The coop held a meeting on Thursday to discuss whether it should make $17 million in improvements to comply with Environmental Protection Agency regulations for air quality and to build a new railroad siding to bring coal to the plant. ...

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