ARLINGTON, Va. – National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Jim Matheson today issued the following statement in support of the Trump administration’s final rule to repeal the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule:
“The 2015 rule would have increased costs and regulatory hurdles for electric co-ops to build and maintain critical infrastructure without providing meaningful environmental benefits. We support repeal of the rule and its eventual replacement with sensible regulation that provides clarity and recognizes the important role of states in managing our water resources.
“Today’s announcement will help electric co-ops carry out important maintenance activities while also building new energy infrastructure as needed.
“Two courts have remanded the 2015 WOTUS rule back to the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on both substantive and procedural grounds. Repealing the rule eliminates the current patchwork of standards governing jurisdictional waters resulting from stays of the 2015 rule in more than half the states as the agencies act to correct those flaws.”
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is the national trade association representing more than 900 local electric cooperatives. From growing suburbs to remote farming communities, electric co-ops serve as engines of economic development for 42 million Americans across 56 percent of the nation’s landscape. As local businesses built by the consumers they serve, electric cooperatives have meaningful ties to rural America and invest $12 billion annually in their communities.
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