Electricity cooperatives have served rural America since 30s. In this renewable era, it's time to update and strengthen them
As we hoped to show with our piece on Cornel West the other week, there is more to the coming US general election than its current parade of top-down, binary grotesques.
For example, here’s a campaign - the Rural Power Coalition - which reaches back into a historic precedent for American society (the establishment of electrical cooperatives in the 30s) and seeks to update them for our current era of climate crisis.
From their about page:
Our mission is to elevate rural communities as leaders of a just and clean energy transition across the United States. We advance this mission through member-owner engagement, clean energy investment on inclusive terms, and federal policy advocacy.
The Rural Power Coalition envisions resilient and clean rural energy systems that are democratically controlled, equitable, and affordable while supporting healthy environments, well-paying jobs, and the building of community wealth.
Rural electric cooperatives serve the most sparsely populated areas of the United States, places that profit-driven electric utilities historically ignored. The Rural Electrification Act of 1936 supported the creation of hundreds of electric cooperatives and literally electrified rural America.
Electric cooperatives now serve 42 million Americans and power 56% of the nation’s landmass. They are the social, economic, and infrastructural cornerstones of the rural communities they serve. If they’re not adequately supported, millions of Americans could suffer and an urgently needed opportunity for energy transition would be lost.
The #RuralPower Campaign seeks additional federal support for rural electric cooperatives’ transition to renewable energy.
More here. Their lobbying managed to get substantial support from the Biden Administration, as they cite here:
Through diligent advocacy and lobbying work around the Inflation Reduction Act, the Rural Power Coalition and other rural advocates helped win the biggest investment for rural electrification in US history. As a coalition working to elevate rural communities as leaders of a just and clean energy transition, we applaud these necessary investments into rural electric cooperatives and member-owners.
Key provisions in the IRA include:
$9.7 Billion Dollars of USDA Assistance for Electric Cooperatives for a voluntary program for rural electric cooperatives to make investments in renewable energy.
$1 Billion Dollars in additional funding to cover the cost of loans related to Renewable Energy.
A direct pay option for clean energy tax credits to allow electric co-ops to be eligible. This would level the playing field for electric co-ops by allowing them to receive clean energy incentives just like private utilities.
More information below: