Electric cooperative leaders from Mississippi went to Washington, D.C., in April for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s (NRECA) Legislative Conference to engage members of Congress and urge policymakers to take action to help meet the growing demand for electricity.
“The Legislative Conference allows co-ops to speak to policymakers with one voice on issues that affect us and our local communities,” NRECA CEO Jim Matheson said. “And while that is important every year, it is especially important at the start of a new Congress and a new administration.”
Mississippi co-op leaders met with Senators Roger Wicker and Cindy-Hyde-Smith as well as Congressmen Mike Ezell, Bennie G. Thompson, Michael Guest, and Trent Kelly to discuss pending legislation and regulatory reform.
“Even in today’s modern age of advocacy, there is still no more powerful tool than a good relationship and a face-to-face meeting with a policymaker,” said Hill Thomas, NRECA’s vice president of legislative affairs. “These have always been electric cooperative strong suits. Legislative Conference is the time to put that engagement to work.”
Over the next 10 years, winter peak demand is expected to rise about 18%, according to the North American Electric Reliability Corp.’s most recent Longterm Reliability Assessment.
NRECA members from all over the country urged Congress to pass additional reforms to environmental permitting that speeds up the process for co-ops to obtain federal approval to build crucial infrastructure projects. Co-op leaders want the legislation to include litigation reform that places reasonable limits on lawsuits seeking to block projects that have already received permits.
