Native American Reservation Reaches Settlement with New Mexico Coop
Posted on Nov 12, 2013 in Grid & Infrastructure, Land Use, Legislative & Politics, Litigation, Rates, Regulation & Policy | Comments Off on Native American Reservation Reaches Settlement with New Mexico Coop
Northern Rio Arriba Electric Coop (NORA) has reached a deal with the Jicarilla Apache Nation for the Nation to purchase all of NORA’s infrastructure on the Northern New Mexico reservation. This settlement effectively ends two years of litigious hostilities between the utility and the Nation, whose lawyers said Nation officials are displeased with NORA’s service and are ready to end a...
Sutherland Webcast: NIST’s Preliminary Cybersecurity Framework – Impact on Energy Companies
Posted on Nov 6, 2013 in Grid & Infrastructure, Legislative & Politics, Regulation & Policy, Reliability | Comments Off on Sutherland Webcast: NIST’s Preliminary Cybersecurity Framework – Impact on Energy Companies
Cybersecurity and the protection of critical infrastructure are major concerns for the energy industry. New government regulations and guidance are in the works under the President’s Cybersecurity Executive Order, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework. NIST released its Preliminary Framework on October 22. Join Sutherland...
House Passes Bill Protecting Access to Low-Cost Hydropower
Posted on Oct 25, 2013 in Legislative & Politics, Rates, Regulation & Policy | Comments Off on House Passes Bill Protecting Access to Low-Cost Hydropower
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill by a margin of 417-3 that limits the ability of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to change its hydroelectric projects in ways that could result in increased rates for coops. Read the full story here.
South Carolina Attorney General Seeks Investigation of Phone Scam
Posted on Oct 16, 2013 in Legislative & Politics | Comments Off on South Carolina Attorney General Seeks Investigation of Phone Scam
South Carolina’s Attorney General has requested that the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division investigate a state-wide phone scam targeting utility customers. Utility consumers around the state have been receiving calls from phone scammers who pose as electric cooperative employees and threaten disconnection of service if the customers do not make immediate payments. The scammers...
Montana Coops Discuss Sage Grouse and Renewable Portfolio Standard
Posted on Oct 3, 2013 in Environmental, Legislative & Politics, Rates, Renewable Energy | Comments Off on Montana Coops Discuss Sage Grouse and Renewable Portfolio Standard
Efforts to avoid listing the sage grouse as an endangered species and changes to the Montana Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) were among the issues discussed at the annual Montana Electric Cooperatives’ Association meeting. Efforts to save the sage grouse may require coops to reroute existing lines or plan new lines to avoid breeding locations, which may increase member rates. The...
Coops Could Be Affected by Shutdown
Posted on Oct 1, 2013 in Legislative & Politics | Comments Off on Coops Could Be Affected by Shutdown
Coops could feel the pinch of the federal government’s shutdown because agencies responsible for transmission and distribution could close until Congress successfully enacts a stopgap or long-term spending bill. Generally, only those services deemed “essential” by federal officials will remain open. One of the services affected will be the Rural Utilities Service, which will not make...
NRECA Receives $3.6 Million Cyber Security Grant
Posted on Sep 25, 2013 in Grid & Infrastructure, Innovation/Efficiency, Legislative & Politics, Regulation & Policy, Reliability, Technology | Comments Off on NRECA Receives $3.6 Million Cyber Security Grant
The Department of Energy recently awarded the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) a $3.6 million grant to be used to develop advanced cyber security technology to assist rural cooperatives in monitoring and securely managing their systems from changing threats. NRECA will work with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Carnegie Mellon University, Honeywell...
Alaska Coop Finalizes Financing to Purchase Plant
Posted on Sep 16, 2013 in Climate Change, Environmental, Financing, Legislative & Politics, Project Development, Regulation & Policy, Reliability | Comments Off on Alaska Coop Finalizes Financing to Purchase Plant
Golden Valley Electric Association (GVEA) of Fairbanks, Alaska, has finalized financing from the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and the Cooperative Finance Bank to purchase the 50-MW Healy Clean Coal Project from the State of Alaska. The Cooperative Finance Bank will finance the purchase of the plant, which will be renamed “Healy Unit 2,” while the RUS loan will finance new emissions...
White Paper Argues EPA Cannot Limit Power Plant Emissions
Posted on Sep 16, 2013 in Climate Change, Environmental, Legislative & Politics, Regulation & Policy | Comments Off on White Paper Argues EPA Cannot Limit Power Plant Emissions
Attorneys general from 17 states recently submitted a white paper to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Administrator, arguing that Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act limits the EPA’s authority to develop procedures to guide states in establishing emissions standards for existing power plants. The white paper is in response to an expected revised EPA rule directly capping...
NRECA Forming Cyber Security Task Force
Posted on Sep 9, 2013 in Innovation/Efficiency, Legislative & Politics, Regulation & Policy, Reliability, Technology | Comments Off on NRECA Forming Cyber Security Task Force
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) is forming a task force to ensure that coops’ needs are met when cyber security regulations and legislation take shape and require coops to take responsibility for safeguarding their operations. The NRECA Cyber Security Task Force will focus on the implementation of cyber security standards by the North American Electric...
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