Amid skyrocketing demand from residential growth and large industrial loads, an electric cooperative near Atlanta is helping test advanced long-duration energy storage technology to enhance reliability, maintain affordability and support new energy resources.

Covington, Georgia-based Snapping Shoals EMC welcomed the opportunity from technology developer Stryten Energy in neighboring Alpharetta to demonstrate a small vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) for safely storing electricity for up to six hours.

“The state of the electric grid today is evolving every day, and our equipment has to be able to change and respond much quicker than electric systems in the past,” said Shaun Mock, CEO of Snapping Shoals EMC.

“The Holy Grail is long-duration energy storage. Having a piece of equipment like a long-duration battery can help stabilize fluctuations and enable us to provide better service and manage costs.”

The VRFB system at Snapping Shoals is the first system manufactured and installed in the state of Georgia. While VRFB is in use in Australia and China, there are only a handful of such systems in the United States, making the co-op’s pilot significant to the advancement of the technology, Stryten said.

“Snapping Shoals has just been a tremendous help to us to take that first step and the second step and start to prove to the world that we need a new technology,” said Scott Childers, vice president of essential power at Stryten.

So how does VRFB work and what makes it different from the lithium-ion batteries that utilities across the country are using to run microgrids, shave energy demand peaks and fill in generation gaps?

The completely liquid-based VRFB is composed of two tanks of electrolytes—one positively charged, the other negatively charged—and a stack assembly where ion exchange and electron movement from one tank charges the system. The battery’s power is determined by the quantity of stacks, and its duration is based on tank size.

Childers likens the VRFB’s setup to that of an automobile. “If you want more horsepower, you get a bigger engine. Here, the number of stacks that you have in the system gives you your power that can be discharged at a given time,” he said. “If you want longer duration or more total energy, you just get bigger tanks filled up with more liquid.”

Unlike lithium-ion batteries, a VRFB is scalable to meet a utility’s growing needs. Stacks and tanks can be reconfigured independently to increase the amount of power and storage duration for up to 10 hours. A lithium-ion battery can store electricity for one to four hours and must be fully replaced with a larger one or multiple batteries to increase energy storage capacity.

Another significant difference is that a VRFB can last up to 20 years without losing capacity despite multiple daily charges and discharges. Lithium-ion batteries tend to be replaced within four years due to more wear-and-tear with each use.

“There’s really no limit to VRFB’s capacity,” said Childers. “It’s really kind of a question of how big a field do you have to put tanks in.”

Snapping Shoals offered clean concrete generation pads for the company to install a 20- kilowatt/120 kilowatt-hour system when it agreed to pilot the battery technology last August.

“This is what cooperative innovation looks like when the grid has no time to wait,” said Jennah Denney, senior program manager of technology integration at NRECA. “As demand accelerates from growth, electrification and large loads, co-ops are actively testing solutions that can scale, adapt and perform over decades.”

As new houses, businesses, rooftop solar, electric vehicles and large industrials, including data centers, proliferate across the co-op’s system, Mock envisions multiple applications of the technology to reduce the strain on the grid.

VFRB may provide prepacked solutions for redundancy to hospitals, schools or large industrial or commercial consumers. It can also help reduce outage times, blunt power market price spikes and back up intermittent renewables, he said.

“The flexibility of our power supply structure enables us to explore new technologies,” said Mock. “The world is changing, and we all need to have every available resource to us in order to meet the demand.”

Cathy Cash is a staff writer for NRECA.

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Congress should act quickly to renew a crucial cybersecurity program that helps electric cooperatives protect the grid from rapidly changing cyberthreats, a Wisconsin co-op leader urged a House panel Tuesday. 

“Securing the grid is essential to national security, but the threat landscape is evolving faster than ever,” Nate Melby, vice president and chief information officer at Dairyland Power Cooperative, told the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy. 

“While cooperatives are committed to this fight, we cannot confront sophisticated nation-state actors alone.” 

Melby asked for the subcommittee’s help to reauthorize the Department of Energy’s $250 million Rural and Municipal Utility Cybersecurity Program, which prioritizes funding for co-ops with the greatest need for support and those that serve military installations and other key facilities. 

Cybercriminals and some foreign nations, including China, “are among the most active and persistent threats” to the electric grid, he said. 

“RMUC bridges the rural resource gap, ensuring that the security posture in rural America is as robust and formidable as anywhere else in the nation,” Melby said. 

“This is accomplished by helping electric cooperatives make critical investments in three key areas: the people, processes and technologies necessary to secure the grid.” 

Last fall, he said, DOE announced $80 million in RMUC awards that would directly support more than 400 cooperatives’ cybersecurity programs, including those of generation and transmission co-ops like Dairyland as well as distribution co-ops. 

“This funding includes $3.5 million for Dairyland Power Cooperative, which will allow us to work with 20 of our distribution co-ops to invest in technologies that will boost cyber defenses across our shared systems.” 

Unfortunately, he said, La Crosse-based Dairyland and other co-op awardees are still waiting for those funds, which would empower them to hire cyber professionals, strengthen information-sharing and use more advanced technologies. 

Melby said moving these resources from the pipeline to the field will “expand and expedite the collaborative work to improve cyber defenses that is already being done between co-ops, statewide associations and NRECA.” 

There is an estimated $160 million left in the overall RMUC program, which will lose its authorization from Congress in less than a year, Melby said. 

“Given the importance of this program to electric cooperatives and our nation’s security, NRECA is strongly urging Congress to reauthorize this program and update the legislation to improve program access for co-ops with limited resources.” 

He said not-for-profit co-ops “operate on thin margins in difficult terrain,” making it important to pair effective policy with resources rather than with burdensome bureaucracy. 

“Every dollar we spend comes directly from our members’ pockets, so we need solutions that empower us to protect our communities without adding financial strain,” Melby said. 

“We strongly urge the committee to advance the RMUC reauthorization to ensure we can keep the lights on for 42 million Americans.” 

Erin Kelly is a staff writer for NRECA.

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Wheatland Electric Cooperative has won a national award for educating its communities about electric vehicles and installing public chargers to help close a 100-mile gap between stations in southwest and central Kansas. 

The 21,000-member, Scott City-based co-op beat out three large investor-owned utilities in Michigan, New York and New Jersey in the final round to win top honors in the utilities category of the 2025 Drive Electric Awards. The awards are given by Plug In America, a national, nonprofit organization that advocates for affordable, accessible EVs and charging stations. 

“Though small, Wheatland Electric Cooperative leads with innovation—bridging the gap in rural America and proving no community is too small, too rural, or too remote to be part of the clean transportation future,” the group said in announcing the award. 

Since 2021, WEC has installed three ChargePoint® Level 2 public charging stations—with two charging ports each—across an area where no chargers existed within a 100-mile radius. As of October, the stations have supported more than 1,500 charging sessions by nearly 670 different drivers. The co-op created them at its own expense.  

“We’re in a part of the country that’s often overlooked, simply because we’re so rural,” said Shajia Donecker, the co-op’s multimedia specialist. “We are always striving to put our region on the EV maps, and I think Plug In America recognized that.” 

 The co-op also invites community members to test drive EVs at special events, which included a “Dine and Drive” lunch in 2024 in Great Bend that attracted 150 people for a free lunch and a chance to get behind the wheel of three different types of EVs.  

The co-op brought its own two electric vehicles—a Hyundai Kona and a Ford F-150 Lightning—and an employe shared his Tesla Model Y. The co-op’s member services team won NRECA’s 2025 Service Excellence Gold Award for creating the “best external event.” 

This year, the co-op held “EVs & Espressos” events at or near several local coffee shops, providing free coffee to help entice people to explore EVs as part of National Drive Electric Month.  

“Our whole goal is to make EVs more approachable,” said Alli Conine, WEC’s director of member services and corporate communications. “When we give people those hands-on experiences, their perspectives change. We want them to have fun while learning more about EVs.” 

EVs are still relatively scarce in the area and no local car dealers display them, making the co-op events the only chance many residents have to test drive an EV, Donecker said. 

“We try to meet people where they are,” she said. “You get all kinds of reactions. Some people will say, ‘no, absolutely not, I don’t want anything to do with an EV.’ But you also get, ‘wow, I had no idea how much power an EV has.’ About 99% of the time, the reaction is good after they get a chance to drive.” 

WEC’s grassroots efforts have focused on EV “accessibility, reliability, and cost savings to resonate locally,” Plug In America said. 

“Beyond consumers, Wheatland has provided training and education to first responders, chambers of commerce, and civic leaders. The co-op is also electrifying its fleet, mentoring cooperatives in Kansas and Oklahoma, and providing a replicable playbook for other rural coops across the U.S.” 

Erin Kelly is a staff writer for NRECA.

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An esports tournament, where teams of players battle to win a specific video game, requires high-quality streaming broadband, not something you’d expect to find among rural Michigan’s tiny townships and vast farmland.  

But that’s where Midwest Energy & Communications’ fiber internet and commitment to community come in to back today’s youth for tomorrow’s promise.  

“The tournament allows talented high school students the opportunity to experience competitive sports in an arena, and it gives MEC a unique way to support kids who may someday become our customers or employees,” said Terry Rubenthaler, president and CEO of the Cassopolis-based electric cooperative.   

MEC, in partnership with Southwestern Michigan College in Dowagiac, recently hosted the third annual MEC X SMC Fiber Cup esports video game tournament, which drew teams from around the state, including Detroit, for prizes and recognition.  

The idea of the tourney came about as MEC prepared to launch its 5 Gigabit broadband in 2023 and saw esport gamers as the perfect demographic that could take full advantage of the near-instantaneous speed. 

The co-op soon connected with the college and sponsored SMC’s esports gaming arena, now named the MEC Esports Arena, to hold the tournament. This year MEC also engaged Calix, its software/hardware provider, to help cover the cost of the grand prize: Steam Decks, portable personal computers designed for gaming, for each member of the winning team. Other winners received gift cards and financial contributions to their schools. 

“Partnerships to host a local esports tournament beautifully illustrate how much more impactful events can be when community members come together,” said Candy Riem, vice president, marketing and customer solutions. 

Like many electric co-ops with fiber networks, MEC entered the broadband field to strengthen communications for its infrastructure and operate smart, more resilient electric grid technology like distribution automation and fault location, isolation and service restoration (FLISR).  

MEC first connected members to retail internet in 2014 and has since achieved 35,500 broadband customers along its 8,300-mile fiber network that the co-op continues to expand.  

The co-op expects the tournament, which attracted nine teams this year, to grow as esports develop in schools across Michigan.  

“MEC is happy to support local esports programs as a way to give students an opportunity to develop teamwork, communication and other life skills that are usually practiced in traditional team sports such as football,” said Riem. 

“With this tournament, our investment in students today is an investment in the future of the vibrant, sustainable rural communities of south Michigan.” 

Cathy Cash is a staff writer for NRECA.

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Electric cooperatives are working together on innovative ways to strengthen their cybersecurity, but they can’t do it alone, a Kentucky co-op leader told a House panel Tuesday. 

“Smart, targeted federal support through funding, workforce development and improved threat intelligence sharing is essential,” Tim Lindahl, president and CEO of Kenergy Corp., testified at a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy. 

“This will help close the resource gap and ensure rural communities are not left behind in the national effort to secure our energy infrastructure.” 

Specifically, Lindahl asked lawmakers to reauthorize the Department of Energy’s Rural and Municipal Utility Cybersecurity Program and release its remaining funds. RMUC, a $250 million, five-year program authorized by Congress through fiscal year 2026, represents what he called “a generational opportunity to improve the cybersecurity posture of electric cooperatives and municipally owned electric utilities.” 

“RMUC prioritizes co-ops with the greatest need of support that serve the nation’s most critical infrastructure, including military installations, to help them make the necessary investment to secure the grid,” Lindahl said. 

Last fall, DOE announced $80 million in RMUC funding that will directly support more than 400 electric co-ops’ cybersecurity programs.  

“Much of that funding has yet to be released to the award winners,” Lindahl said. “We encourage DOE to move expeditiously to distribute the awarded funds so that electric cooperatives can put them into action to defend their critical infrastructure.” 

Electric co-ops face unique challenges in securing the grid because of their rural, often remote, locations and the fact that they are not-for-profit businesses, he said. 

“Because cooperatives operate without shareholders or profit incentives, financing costly investments often requires reliance on debt, which must be approved by their boards and is ultimately paid back through rates paid by their members,” Lindahl explained, adding that one in four households served by co-ops earns less than $35,000 a year. 

“These resource constraints can make it difficult to invest in advanced technologies and recruit and retain a skilled cyber workforce necessary to defend against increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks, especially those from nation-state actors.” 

Despite these obstacles, co-ops are uniting to do everything they can to improve their cyber readiness, said Lindahl, whose Henderson-based co-op serves over 60,000 homes and businesses. 

“Co-ops across the country are coming together and thinking innovatively to overcome these challenges,” he said. “The seven cooperative principles, like concern for community and cooperation among cooperatives, are the driving force behind what we do.  

“Additionally, our national trade association, NRECA, is leveraging private and public dollars to develop cybersecurity tools and resources to improve information sharing, deploy new technologies and build a capable workforce.” 

Among those tools, he said, are the NRECA Threat Analysis Center, a secure technology platform that helps the co-op community detect, analyze and communicate cybersecurity threats, and the Co-op Cyber Goals Program, which helps co-ops improve their cyber defenses. 

Electric co-ops are committed to doing their part, but collaborating with the federal government remains crucial, Lindahl said. 

“With continued partnership and targeted investment, we can strengthen our defenses, protect critical infrastructure, and keep the lights on for 42 million Americans. The last two decades have seen significant advancement in how electric cooperatives secure our grid, but there is much more work still to do.” 

Erin Kelly is a staff writer for NRECA.

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Grappling to attract young people to Tombigbee EPA’s digital workforce, CEO Scott Hendrix took a page out of lineworkers’ career showcase, applied it to fiber broadband skills, and an annual “splicing rodeo” was born.  

The rodeo is proving to be a winner for electric cooperatives pursuing a new generation of workers and rural teenagers seeking good-paying technical jobs. Tombigbee Fiber, the broadband subsidiary of the Tupelo, Mississippi-based co-op, has filled three broadband tech positions with competitors from event, which has tripled in attendance since its start in 2022. 

“Anytime we build a workforce to make all of our lives easier, that’s a win,” said Hendrix. “To see the joy in these young men and women’s eyes at the rodeo then see them sitting across the table six months later in an interview saying, ‘Hey, I was there at the rodeo. I want to work for you.’ That’s a great day.” 

Nearly 130 high schoolers from eight north Mississippi counties, many traveling more than 100 miles, came to the Sept. 30 rodeo to learn how to fuse fiber optic cable from co-op staff and then compete in three timed rounds with increasingly complicated splicing assignments. 

The top six competitors won scholarships to enroll in the fiber technician certification program at Northeast Mississippi Community College from Tombigbee and MEGAPOP, a nonprofit that promotes north Mississippi co-ops’ broadband buildout and middle mile fiber network, with TVA Mississippi contributing to reduce overall tuition.  

The co-op also brought equipment to the event such as a fiber splicing trailer, a bucket truck and a trailer with an electric system built in miniature for the students to explore. 

“It’s a good opportunity to explain to them what we do,” said Hendrix. “Some of the students who had no interest in coming leave the day wanting to work in this field. Some of them come in wanting to be in an electric environment and find a new appreciation for fiber.” 

The rodeo takes place at the Digital Innovation Conference organized by MEGAPOP, which tapped Hendrix, a MEGAPOP board member, to find ways to engage youth in the future of co-op broadband. He immediately thought of the popular lineworker rodeos. 

“How do you make something competitive, fun, entertaining, informative and fiber related? And this was our answer to that,” said Hendrix.  

Since the state allowed electric co-ops to enter the broadband field five years ago, 17 have developed subsidiaries with a total of 41,000 miles of fiber that pass more than 550,000 homes and businesses.  

To keep pace, Hendrix said, Tombigbee Fiber has expanded its staff to 50 and plans to tap the splicing rodeo’s talent whenever necessary.  

Calling it “an easy lift” for “a year of goodwill,” he encourages co-ops in broadband nationwide to find partners and pursue a splicing rodeo to grow their workforce and enrich their communities.  

“It’s great community outreach,” he said. “At worst, we are teaching people in our communities just the sheer mechanics of running a fiber network, which has great educational value. And at best, you come out with a great relationship with future community leaders and then, even better, you end up hiring a few of them.” 

Cathy Cash is a staff writer for NRECA.

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When an unusually disastrous ice storm hit Northern Michigan in late March, Cherryland Electric Cooperative was ready to help its hard-hit co-op neighbors with line crews, engineers, communicators—and drones. 

“The affected co-ops were telling us, ‘We can’t even get around our territory, the damage is just so devastating, literally you’ll drive into an area and five trees will fall down behind you and you’re having to turn around and cut your way back out,’” Cherryland CEO Rachel Johnson said. “At that point, I said, ‘Hey, we have drones.’” 

The Grawn-based co-op’s Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) program proved pivotal for safe and efficient mutual aid to Boyne City-based Great Lakes Energy Cooperative, Onaway-based Presque Isle Electric & Gas Co-op and Cadillac-based Wolverine Power Cooperative, the wholesale generation and transmission provider. 

Having drones “let us accelerate the pace of their damage assessment about threefold,” said Johnson. “When there’s a storm where it’s really hard to move vehicles and people around, having a person stand in one place and inspect miles of line clearly has both a timing and safety advantage.”  

Cherryland, working with Northwestern Michigan College, launched drones over a two-week period along rugged rights of way deep into ice-coated forests to spot widespread ruin after the unseasonable winter blast. The school’s “beyond visual line of sight” (BVLS) federal flight exemption allowed the drones to capture images of 50 poles on average per flight with zoom and infrared capability cameras on 25-minute batteries.   

“It was a very, very new experience for the co-ops up here to utilize drones in that manner,” said Zach Endres, Cherryland’s communications control field engineer who piloted a drone during the initial mutual aid recovery effort. Later, armed with maps, Endres guided the NMC pilots through the co-ops’ territory and drafted damage reports.  

“The first couple days of the storm was definitely the most dangerous,” Endres said. “There was still a lot of ice holding on the lines and poles and trees, and branches were breaking off. You’re flying the drone and all of a sudden you just hear a crack. You always had to keep your head on a swivel and pay attention to your surroundings.” 

Cherryland first digitized its power line and pole inspection reports in 2019, then tested the use of drones for aerial maintenance shots and got five staff UAS licensed at the college, which has a robust drone pilot training program. The co-op began testing the program in 2022. 

Last year, Cherryland and NMC entered an agreement in which college trainees conduct aerial inspections of the co-op’s transmission infrastructure and take up to 40 images of poles. The school’s BVLS exemption allows their pilots to fly drones farther and inspect dozens of poles in a single day. A contractor downloads the data for the co-op’s reports.  

The results to date show that Cherryland is meeting its goals of greater safety, efficiency and reliability: Nearly 7,000 poles have been inspected with 40% less field work at an annual savings of $45,000. The co-op is on target to eventually cut in half its 14-year pole and line inspection cycle.  

Endres foresees a time when drones can be strategically placed on the co-op’s system and deployed from the office and artificial intelligence will analyze the images captured by the drone and provide a damage assessment within minutes. “That’s kind of where I imagine the drone program going,” he said. “You won’t need a physical pilot in the field.” 

That could be especially useful for co-ops, where drone pilot may be one too many roles for staff to play. Cherryland temporarily shelved its drone program before partnering with NMC and seeing it bloom.  

“We realized we couldn’t possibly do what we needed to do with our internal staff and the program just kind of sat for a couple years,” said Johnson, who credits “the scrappy, gritty creativeness” of the co-op team with bringing it back to life.  

Cherryland also uses its UAS operations to help grow the next-generation co-op workforce. The co-op finds that its drones with their video game-like controls captivate middle and high schoolers at career fairs.  

“Everybody’s like, ‘Wait a minute, now that looks like a job I could get excited about because it doesn’t seem stodgy and old; it feels fun and cutting edge,’” Johnson said. “It helps us with setting up a longer-term talent pipeline of people who might think a little differently about coming to work for their local co-op.” 

Cathy Cash is a staff writer for NRECA.

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NRECA is urging the Treasury Department to maintain its current rules for determining whether electric cooperatives and other utilities have started construction on new wind and solar projects in time to qualify for crucial federal tax credits. 

Any changes to Treasury’s “beginning of construction” rules would complicate co-ops’ ability to access the credits, raising costs or forcing co-ops to abandon projects at a time of growing electricity demand, NRECA CEO Jim Matheson warned. 

“The tax credits help to make projects possible for electric cooperatives that would otherwise not pencil out or would result in steep rate hikes for their consumer-members,” Matheson said in a July 15 letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. 

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law July 4, moved up deadlines for wind and solar projects to start construction in order to qualify for energy tax incentives but did not take away co-ops’ ability to access those credits through an elective-pay option. 

NRECA asked Treasury to implement the new law without changing its existing start-of-construction rules, which consider construction to have begun if significant physical work on the project has started or the developer meets a “safe harbor” test where it has paid or incurred at least 5% of the total project cost. 

In an executive order on July 7, the White House directed Treasury to restrict safe harbors for wind and solar facilities “unless a substantial portion of a subject facility has been built.” The order gave Treasury 45 days from the new law’s signing to issue guidance. 

Matheson said keeping Treasury’s current start-of-construction rules is “critical to mitigating the inevitable risk that comes with building any energy infrastructure—from permitting delays to supply chain challenges to severe weather—all of which can impact construction schedules.” 

“Changing the rules now would significantly alter the financing structures for these long-planned projects and likely result in cooperatives abandoning the projects or incurring more debt to cover the increased costs—which must ultimately be passed on to their consumer-members,” Matheson said. 

Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, wind and solar projects can qualify for the full value of the current tax credits if they are already under construction or start construction within a year of the bill’s signing. Projects that begin construction after that 12-month window must be placed in service by the end of 2027 to be eligible for a tax credit. 

The new law maintains credits past 2030 for nuclear energy, carbon capture, batteries and hydropower. 

“At a time when the grid needs every megawatt possible, these tax credits provide a critical tool to America’s electric cooperatives as they strive to add energy to the grid and support President Trump’s vision for Unleashing American Energy,” Matheson concluded. 

Molly Christian is a staff writer for NRECA.

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After years of advocacy by NRECA and electric co-ops, federal agencies are releasing new National Environmental Policy Act procedures that will simplify permitting of cooperatives’ energy and broadband projects. 

The Trump administration’s new procedures, which reflect recent NEPA reforms from Congress and court rulings on the law, will benefit a wide range of co-op projects. Reviews under NEPA frequently take years to complete and are required when a project needs a government permit or receives federal grants or loans. 

“The announcements deliver what we’ve been requesting for years—simplified, streamlined agency procedures that will allow us to more quickly get projects reviewed and approved,” NRECA CEO Jim Matheson said. “This change will benefit all 900 electric cooperatives and will help streamline many co-op projects from Rural Utilities Service loan applications, building new generation, expanding new distribution infrastructure and more.” 

On July 1, updated NEPA procedures were released by the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, the Interior, Energy, Transportation and Defense, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 

The reforms will help expedite infrastructure development and cut project costs by: 

• Setting deadlines and page limits on NEPA environmental reviews, as required by the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (two years and 150 pages for environmental impact statements; one year and 75 pages for environmental assessments). 

• Clarifying that NEPA does not apply to every federal action. 

• Allowing agencies to more easily create and adopt “categorical exclusions” for activities that do not have significant environmental impacts. 

The NEPA changes will take some time to play out as agencies work to implement them over the coming weeks and months. 

The new actions came after President Donald Trump directed the White House Council on Environmental Quality in January to provide guidance to agencies on simplifying and expediting the NEPA permitting process.  

The new procedures also follow a recent Supreme Court decision clarifying that agencies generally must only consider the environmental effects of the project they are reviewing rather than study indirect impacts beyond their authority.  

NRECA had filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case urging better guardrails around the law’s application. 

“For years NRECA has advocated for more efficient and predictable NEPA reviews and permitting processes that are essential for modernizing our nation’s infrastructure,” NRECA Regulatory Affairs Director Viktoria Seale said. “This overhaul implements bipartisan amendments to NEPA in 2023 that will focus the scope of environmental reviews and expedite them.” 

Co-ops have testified before Congress on the need for permitting reforms to help them meet growing demand for reliable, affordable power and high-speed internet service. Many of their recommended reforms were included in the new agency procedures, including the time limits for NEPA reviews. 

But more changes are needed to speed infrastructure development, including policies to limit litigation that could delay crucial projects, Seale said. 

 “NRECA will continue to advocate for common-sense reforms such as reasonable time limits for filing lawsuits and requiring parties wishing to challenge a NEPA review to have raised their concerns during the public comment period,” she said.  

Molly Christian is a staff writer for NRECA.

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In a victory for electric cooperatives and rural communities, the Supreme Court upheld a vital Federal Communications Commission-managed fund that supports rural broadband deployment and other communications services nationwide. 

On June 27, the court ruled 6-3 to preserve the Universal Service Fund, rejecting a lower court’s argument that the USF’s funding mechanisms are unconstitutional. The USF is funded by contributions from telecommunications carriers nationwide to promote quality services, including broadband internet access, at just and affordable rates. 

“Electric co-ops across the country are leading the charge to bring affordable, reliable broadband service to rural communities, and the USF plays a crucial role in supporting that mission,” NRECA CEO Jim Matheson said. The Supreme Court’s decision “is a win for rural America and preserves access to critical support for rural broadband providers and the communities they serve,” he added. 

The FCC distributes Universal Service Fund proceeds to several programs that support broadband deployment, including the Connect America Fund, the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund and Lifeline.  

Thirty-two electric co-ops won a combined $254.7 million in the Connect America Fund Phase II auction. Co-ops are using the money to bring high-speed internet service to 86,716 unserved locations in 15 states. 

Electric co-ops, individually or as part of consortia, have also won about $1.6 billion from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund to construct broadband networks and provide service to 910,539 unserved locations. 

Many more electric cooperatives also participate in other portions of the Universal Service Fund, including the E-Rate program, which supports broadband connectivity to schools and libraries, and the Rural Health Care program, which improves broadband access for health care facilities. 

NRECA joined several other organizations, including CoBank and National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corp., in filing an amicus brief in the case before the Supreme Court. 

The brief outlined how losing USF would hurt rural communications service providers and the communities they serve. The fund is also vital for the agriculture industry, manufacturing sector, telehealth and remote workers, the filing stated. 

“This is a real victory for rural communities,” said Brian O’Hara, NRECA senior director of regulatory affairs. “These programs ensure rural communities across the country can improve digital access and do not fall behind on connectivity.” 

Molly Christian is a staff writer for NRECA.

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