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co-op issues


EPA Regs Fail To Consider Economic Impact on Rural Americans Plant Closures • Higher Prices • Decreased Reliabilit


Emerson made the following statement about the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final rules regulating greenhouse gas emissions from new, existing, modified and reconstructed power plants.


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“Any increase in the cost of electricity most dramatically impacts those who can least afford it, and the fallout from the EPA’s rule will cascade across the nation for years to come,” Emerson said.


The final rule still contains the fundamental flaws of the original proposal, she added. “It exceeds the EPA’s legal authority under the Clean Air Act, and it will raise electricity rates for our country’s most vulnerable populations while challenging the reliability of the grid.


ational Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) CEO Jo Ann


In terms of national GDP from 2020 to 2040, a 10 percent increase results in a cumulative loss of $2.8 trillion and a 25 percent increase results in a cumulative $5.4 trillion loss.


Even more concerning is the impact of higher costs on the electric bills of those who can least afford it. On average, 23 percent of co-op households nationwide earn an annual income of less than $25,000. The average income for households served by electric cooperatives is 11.5 percent less than the national average.


An NRECA study finds that, between 2020 and 2040, the Clean Power Plan will result in an additional 10 percent increase in electricity prices above what is expected. Job losses across the country would reach 1.2 million by 2021.Nearly 500,000 of lost jobs are in rural areas.


NRECA recently commissioned a study that underscores the devastating relationship between higher electricity prices and job losses. The study, Affordable Electricity: Rural America’s Economic Lifeline, measures the impact of a 10 and 25 percent electricity price increase on jobs and gross domestic product (GDP) from 2020 to 2040.


Even a 10 percent increase in electricity prices results in 1.2 million jobs lost in 2021 across the country with nearly 500,000 of those lost jobs in rural communities.


“This study shines a light on the true, real-life cost of higher electricity prices – a cost that policymakers in Washington would do well to remember,” Emerson added. “And federal regulations that result in higher electricity prices could wipe out any modest gains rural America has made since the Great Recession.”


Co-op members can find more on the EPA ruling and its impact on rural America by visiting www.action. coop or www.nreca.coop.


WHAT YOU SHOULD


KNOWABOUT THE CLEANPOWER PLAN


◆ Emission requirements under the Clean Power Plan would prematurely shut down 18 of electric coops’ 64 coal-fired power plants, including the coal- fired plant in Hugo that provides most of the electricity used by Kiamichi Electric members.


◆The burden of paying off the remaining debt on these plants, and paying for electricity from other sources, will fall to co-op members.


◆ Stranded debts and reduced capacity from the loss of coal-fired plants will increase members’ electric bills and jeopardize reliability.


◆ Plant closures will force the industry to shift from coal to renewable resources and natural gas before the required infrastructure could be built, putting the reliability of the grid at risk during periods of high demand.


◆ Plant closures will result in the loss of thousands of jobs and a significant negative impact on the local, mostly rural economies.


Light Post | september - october 2015 | 7


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