ARLINGTON, Va. – National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Jim Matheson today issued the following statement after U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced next steps to release previously obligated funding under the Rural Energy For America Program (REAP), Empowering Rural America (New ERA) and Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) programs.
“These programs provide important tools for co-ops to invest in their systems, unleash American energy and help meet skyrocketing energy needs,” Matheson said. “We thank Secretary Rollins and the Trump administration for recognizing the importance of these programs and outlining next steps to release these funds. ”
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is the national trade association representing nearly 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 $15 billion annually in their communities.
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