Rail Service
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Protecting Consumers from High-Cost, Unreliable Monopoly Rail Service
As a member of Consumers United for Rail Equity, NRECA is pushing to increase competition and
accountability in our nation’s rail system and ensure adequate infrastructure to meet shippers’ needs.
For many industries, rail is the only practical option for moving their products. Many co-op power
companies rely on rail to deliver coal. Unfortunately monopoly business practices have allowed
railroads to hold customers captive. The nation’s rail system is broken.
News:
House Judiciary Committee passes bipartisan Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2007 (H.R. 1650).Legislation seeks to eliminate antitrust exemptions enjoyed by freight railroads since the 1900s.
more >>Railroad Reform Effort Shows MomentumMarch 24, 2008 - Shippers fan out across Capitol Hill to press issues of competition, reliability.
more >>NRECA CEO Glenn English Testifies on Rail Reform Before Senate Commerce SubcommitteeOctober 23, 2007 - English blasts Surface Transportation Board for failure to protect stranded shippers.
more >>Letter to the Editor of Roll Call: Fair and AccurateOctober 8, 2007 - NRECA CEO Glenn English responds to recent
Roll Call article “The Railroading of America” which was published September 26, 2007.
more >>Dairyland Electric President Testifies Before Senate Judiciary PanelOctober 3, 2007 - Bill Bergh, President & CEO of Dairyland Power Cooperative, testifies in support of S.722 The Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act and notes the impact railroad's antitrust exemptions have had on Wisc.
more >>GAO: Freight Rail Rates Spike in 2005August 30, 2007 - Government Accountability Office report shows a spike in rail costs in 2005, with railroads shifting more costs to shippers. Rail customers increasingly are required to own and maintain freight rail cars and other railroad equipment, greatly increasing the costs of doing business with railroads.
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Climate Change
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Electric Co-ops and Climate Change: Bridging the Technology Gap
Even as consensus solidifies around the need to reduce greenhouse gases, America’s need for
electric power is growing -- America’s electric cooperatives need to build more baseload electric
power plant capacity.
As cost-effective technology is not currently commercially available to capture and store CO2 produced
by coal-based power plants, NRECA believes that any realistic policy to must include a substantial,
prolonged research and development program to develop new technologies to achieve significant
reductions in the future. Additionally, climate change is a global issue: American policy must encourage
equal international efforts by all major emitting nations.
NRECA supports sustained effort in a wide array of electric power areas – energy efficiency, clean coal technology,
renewable energy – are necessary to meet growing demand in a carbon constrained future. This view has been
reinforced by recent work conducted by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).
News:
Flawed climate change policy could lead to "very expensive and unreliable power," warns FERC Chairman, Joseph KelliherApril 4, 2008 - Kelliher sees advisory role for FERC in finding a balance between environmental and energy goals.
more >>U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Estimates Cost of Lieberman-Warner Bill to Limit Greenhouse Gas EmissionsMarch 19, 2008 - S. 2191 projected to be nearly twice as expensive as either McCain-Lieberman (S. 139) or Bingaman-Specter (S. 1766).
more >>Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Joseph Kelliher: Planning for Energy Supply and Addressing Climate Change a Balancing ActMarch 11, 2008 - 2008 National Electricity Delivery Forum offers diverse perspectives on the role of electricity delivery infrastructure in addressing climate change, demand growth, and energy security.
more >>A New Estimate by the Energy Information Administration Shows Annual Growth in Electricity Demand Dropping from 1.5 Percent, as Projected in 2007, to 1.1 PercentMarch 10, 2008 - New lighting efficiency standards included in last year’s energy bill lowers a previous 2008 estimate of residential electricity usage in 2030, according to Senate testimony by Administrator Guy Caruso.
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Renewable Energy
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Making Renewable Energy a Bigger Part of the Electric Fuel Mix
Co-ops are playing a leading role in the development and marketing of renewable energy.
In 2006, three co-ops were among the top ten sellers of green power.
On Feb. 28, 2007, NRECA signed on to the 25 x '25 Action Plan.
Under this plan, by the year 2025, America’s farms, ranches and forests will provide 25 percent
of the total energy consumed in the United States, while continuing to produce safe, abundant,
and affordable food, feed and fiber.
News:
Senator Baucus Unveils Renewable Energy BillMay 8, 2008 - Senate bill includes $400 million for Clean Renewable Energy Bonds.
more >>Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Issues Status Report on Renewable Portfolio StandardsRate increases resulting from implementing standards appear generally to be less than one percent in states where data on costs is available; in several states, renewable energy appears to be priced competitively with fossil generation.
more >>S&P Raises Doubts on Renewable StandardsApril 11, 2008 - Portfolio standards force utilities to shift from least-cost sources toward above-market renewable sources in unprecedented quantities, says ratings firm.
more >>NRECA Supports House Bill to Make Geothermal Heat Pumps Eligible for a Tax CreditsNovember 20, 2007 - NRECA joins Alliance to Save Energy and American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy in thanking Representatives Lloyd Doggett and Bart Gordon for introducing a bill promoting geothermal heat pumps.
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