Along Those Lines

The EPA recently finalized its new rule to aggressively cut carbon dioxide emissions from power plants—a sweeping move that NRECA CEO Jim Matheson called "unlawful, unrealistic and unachievable." Critics across the industry have decried the regulation as a threat to reliability at a time when an already-stressed grid faces soaring demand. Hear from NRECA's Ashley Slater and Minnkota Power Cooperative's Mac McLennan about the rule, its impacts and how co-ops are working to reverse it.

In 2021, Branden Bauer was working at United Electric in Pennsylvania as a journeyman lineman with nearly 10 years of experience. During a system improvement project, he made contact with a live conductor that he'd mistakenly thought was a neutral and suffered devastating injuries. Hear from Branden and his wife, Caitlin, about how he's made a mission of telling his story in the hope that it'll help others. Graphic content warning: Contains detailed descriptions of high-voltage contact injuries.

A long-simmering dispute over the Lower Snake River dams burst onto the headlines in November with news of a backroom deal between the Biden administration and plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Bonneville Power Administration and other agencies that manage the dams. The deal has raised fears about the possibility of breaching the dams and compromising the availability of reliable, carbon-free electricity. Hear from NRECA's Louis Finkel and Fall River Rural Electric Cooperative's Bryan Case.

The electric utility industry is in the midst of a "skills and people shortage," brought on by a steady stream of senior leaders reaching retirement age, a marked increase in non-retirement turnover and an evolution toward more advanced technologies that's making it more difficult to find qualified employees. Electric co-ops are responding with creative initiatives on succession planning and employee development. Learn more from NRECA's Delaine Orendorff and Wells Rural Electric's Clay Fitch.

Artificial intelligence is poised to have a rapidly expanding impact on many facets of our lives—and the power industry is at the tip of the spear. How are electric co-ops already using AI, and how will it shape and change the way we approach operations, member services and our workplace culture in the years to come? Hear from Mike Walsh, a futurist, author and the founder and CEO of the consulting firm Tomorrow as well as a keynote speaker for NRECA's 2024 PowerXchange and TechAdvantage.

The Achieving Cooperative Community Equitable Solar Sources (ACCESS) project, a three-year, Department of Energy-funded effort in which electric co-ops have worked on innovative ways to bring the benefits of solar power to their low- and moderate-income members, is winding down at the end of the year. Learn more about ACCESS from Lisa Slaughter, NRECA research engineer, and Marshall Cherry, president and CEO of Roanoke Cooperative.

A key piece of the broadband puzzle is the "middle mile," which connects local networks to the broader web—a particularly critical facet for rural areas. Many electric co-ops in the broadband space are finding it difficult to access reliable, affordable third-party middle-mile networks, and some are starting to take matters into their own hands. Learn more from NRECA's Katie Culleton as well as Steven Bandy, general manager of OzarksGo, the broadband subsidiary of Ozarks Electric Cooperative.

The Commitment to Zero Contacts program, a joint effort of NRECA, Federated Rural Electric Insurance Exchange and statewide co-op associations to eliminate injuries and deaths caused by accidental electrical contacts, hit its five-year mark earlier this year. Phase 2 of the program includes a VR training kit that's being rolled out to statewide associations across the country. Learn more from NRECA's Bud Branham, Federated's Corey Parr and North Carolina's Electric Cooperatives' Farris Leonard.

In November 2021, Delta-Montrose Electric Association was hit with a ransomware attack that quickly spread through the co-op's network and took over key systems like phone and email, customer information and meter data management. It took months of work to re-create and restore DMEA's network, build new cyber protections and get back to a new normal. Hear from DMEA Chief Information Officer Bob Farmer and IT Manager Jay Suckey on the details of the attack and the valuable lessons learned.

The EPA's proposed power plant rule is set to go into effect in the spring of 2024. This sweeping set of new restrictions on emissions from new and existing power generation facilities is being criticized by many in the industry for setting unrealistic timelines, relying on untested technologies and threatening the affordability and reliability of electricity. Hear from Ashley Slater, NRECA's vice president for regulatory affairs, on the proposed rule and the electric cooperative response.