Business : REC leaders return after discussing various issues on Capitol Hill

Board Director Don Shonka, East-Central Iowa Rural Electric Cooperative, along with nearly 40 other representatives from Iowa’s rural electric cooperatives have returned from Washington, D.C., after discussing energy, environmental and economic development issues with Iowa’s members of Congress and their staff earlier this week.

The purpose of the trip, an annual gathering of electric cooperatives from across the country, is to ensure Iowa’s elected officials are fully aware of the thoughts and concerns of their constituents who are served by electric cooperatives in Iowa.

The key issues that have the greatest impact on the 650,000 Iowans to whom the state’s electric cooperatives provide electricity included FEMA’s policy change on storm recovery and funding for programs that promote rural economic development.

“If not addressed properly, these issues will jeopardize our ability to provide reliable and affordable electricity to the Iowans we serve,” said Marion Denger, president of the board of directors for the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives.

Information was provided to each of Iowa’s six members of congress on the following issues:

* FEMA’s policy change on storm recovery – Thanked Iowa’s Congressional delegation for their attention to the issue relating to storm recovery and updated them on the recent appeal denial from FEMA Region VII.

* Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant Program (REDL&G) – Thanked members of Congress for their support of the RUS Electric Loan Program and asked them to support increased appropriation and authorization for USDA’s REDL&G program. In Iowa, the REDL&G program has been well utilized by businesses and communities to spur economic development.

* Improving Coal Combustion Residuals Regulation Act – Asked members of Congress to support the Improving Coal Combustion Residuals Regulation Act, which makes the EPA’s decision to regulate coal combustion residuals (CCRs) in a nonhazardous manner permanent.

* The Ratepayer Protection Act of 2015 – Asked members of Congress to support the Ratepayer Protection Act of 2015, protecting member-consumers from the uncertainty of the Clean Power Plan while the legal challenges work their way through the courts.

* “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) – Asked Iowa’s Congressional delegation to support legislation aimed at limiting the expansion of the definition of the “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS).

“I believe the Iowa Congressional delegation now has a better understanding of how legislation and regulations being discussed in Congress would affect the affordability and reliability of electricity in Iowa,” said Don Shonka, board director for East-Central Iowa Rural Electric Cooperative.

East-Central Iowa Rural Electric Cooperative serves 8,695 member-accounts with 2,279 miles of electric lines in 11 counties: Benton, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Clayton, Delaware, Fayette, Linn, Tama, Johnson, and Iowa County.