A Swedish fertilizer company announced Thursday it plans to locate its first U.S. plant in Christian County, at a site served by Pennyrile Electric. The $109.2 million Cinis Fertilizer production plant is projected to create 65 new full-time jobs.

The company plans to construct a new facility at 200 Recharge Blvd. in Hopkinsville, with construction beginning mid-2025. The operation will recycle waste salt from battery production at the nearby Ascend Elements facility to produce low-carbon fertilizer.

Cinis Fertilizer and its patented process were developed in Lund, Sweden, by Jakob Liedberg, a chemical engineer. He saw potential for cross-fertilization, solving the waste issue and circularity for traditional industries while decarbonizing plant nutrition.

“TVA and Pennyrile Rural Electric Cooperative Corp. congratulate Cinis Fertilizer on its decision to establish operations in Christian County,” said John Bradley, TVA senior vice president of economic development. “Helping to support companies, like Cinis Fertilizer, that are creating jobs and investment in the region is at the core of TVA’s mission of service. We are proud to partner with South Western Kentucky Economic Development Council, city of Hopkinsville, Christian County and the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development to further that mission and celebrate this announcement together.”

Mason Lovell, Kentucky’s 2024 delegate on NRECA’s Youth Leadership Council, speaks to the Pennyrile Board of Directors about the important role electricity has played in his life.

Mason participated in the Kentucky Electric Cooperatives 2024 Youth Tour program, touring our state and nations capitol and meeting with Kentucky’s elected officials. As Kentucky’s youth leadership delegate, Mason meets monthly with the youth leadership council, spoke to a group of elementary school students about electricity during co-op month, and will attend NRECA’s 2025 PowerXchange conference.

In a letter to President-elect Donald Trump’s transition office, NRECA CEO Jim Matheson outlines high-priority actions the new administration can take to support a pro-energy policy agenda that will help meet skyrocketing U.S. electricity demand, remove regulatory burdens for co-ops, and promote the well-being of rural communities.

Matheson says reliability is under threat from “flawed public policies” that are forcing the premature closure of power plants. That’s a key reason the North American Electric Reliability Corp. expects many states to be at high risk of rolling blackouts in the next five years during normal peak demand conditions. And the problem is exacerbated by increasing demand from data centers, which could consume nearly 10% of all U.S. electric output by 2030, the letter stated.

Click here to see the seven key actions Matheson says Trump can take to address these challenges.

East Kentucky Power Cooperative President and CEO Tony Campbell speaks up for reliable and affordable electricity on the latest edition of Full Measure, an investigative news program broadcast to 43 million households on Sinclair Broadcast Group stations, including ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW, MyTV, Univision and Telemundo affiliates.

The program investigates an aggressive new rule by the Environmental Protection Agency mandating that coal plants shut down unless they reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 90 per
At EKPC, the cost of complying with the EPA could exceed 10 billion dollars — more than double the value of the cooperative owns.

“Our balance sheet’s only $3.8 billion, $3.9 billion dollars,” Campbell explains. “Well, how are we going to afford that? Our current average residential member is about a bill of about $157 a month. After we build all this, it’s going to be somewhere between $257 and $308 a month, and our end consumers aren’t going to be able to afford that.”

Senate President Robert Stivers is also interviewed, stressing the EPA’s rushed transition timeline’s adverse effects on reliability and productive farmland being used for solar installations.

“We don’t have the capacity through renewables, green energy, to keep up with our demands,” Stivers said.

Click here to watch the story.

Once the huge job of restoring power from Hurricane Helene is done, some electric cooperatives in the Southeast face an even more daunting task: completely rebuilding their systems destroyed by the storm’s ferocious winds and flooding rains.

“This is not just a matter of power outages; it’s about lives turned upside down, homes lost and communities facing weeks—if not months—of recovery,” Thomas Golden, CEO of EnergyUnited in Statesville, North Carolina, said at a news conference hosted by NRECA last week.

“Some of our hardest-hit areas are not dealing with a simple fix. They’re facing a complete rebuild of their electrical infrastructure, their roads and even their daily lives.”

Co-ops have an especially tough task of rebuilding because they serve some of the most remote areas of the country, said Mike Couick, president and CEO of the Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina.

One of the state’s co-ops, Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative in Pickens, saw its underground power lines wash down the mountainside, along with trees and power poles, Couick said.

“They’re rebuilding a system of 7,300 miles of line,” he said. “That’s almost the diameter of the planet Earth. And it runs straight up mountainsides.”

Ron Barnes, president and CEO of Coast Electric Power Association in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, knows better than most what it means to rebuild a co-op system after a disaster. He was working at the co-op as vice president of marketing, member services and public relations when Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast in 2005.

Coast Electric lost 30,000 power poles and 10,000 transformers. It took a full year and $110 million for the co-op to rebuild its system, with major funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“It’s not as dark as it seems at the moment,” he advises co-ops hit by Hurricane Helene. “You have all these pressures on you, and you say, ‘Oh my gosh, how are we ever going to do this?’ It seems like it will never end when you’re in the middle of it, but it does.”

The co-op restored power in just three weeks to members whose homes and businesses were still standing after Katrina.

With power restored within Kentucky, hundreds of lineworkers and contractors from the commonwealth’s electric cooperatives are now helping sister co-ops in other states ravaged by Hurricane Helene in one of the largest mutual aid deployments in the program’s history.

More than 150 co-op personnel from Kentucky’s electric cooperatives are providing mutual aid in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, joining crews from 18 other states. These co-op employees are in addition to the hundreds of contract crew members released by Kentucky co-ops so they can also respond to the calls for help.

“We are finding more destruction and houses that have been damaged beyond repair,” said Mitch Bearden, Chief Communications Officer at Haywood EMC in Waynesville, North Carolina, one of the co-ops where Kentucky crews are working to rebuild the electric system.

Flooding and landslides have swept away roads, limiting access to infrastructure and isolated communities.

“What we are currently finding is absolutely unprecedented,” Bearden continued. “I am unsure of a number of homes or businesses that may be forever gone due to these storms across our service area. We know that there are many and are hopeful we can play any part in being there for these folks who have lost everything. Some of these people are also our employees.”

The deployment to the southeastern states follows the successful restoration of power within Kentucky where more than 100,000 consumer-members lost power. Central and Eastern Kentucky experienced 40-60 mph winds, snapping tree limbs and toppling whole trees into power lines, breaking hundreds of poles across Kentucky. The region also received 3-5 inches of rainfall during this event.

The 2024 Kentucky Lineman’s Rodeo, scheduled for October 3-4 at East Kentucky Power Cooperative, was canceled in deference to the mutual aid needs. The annual event is a highlight of the year for Kentucky lineworkers who compete in a variety of events which demonstrate the skills and safety of the trade.

On daily calls with mutual aid coordinators from statewide associations such as Kentucky Electric Cooperatives, co-op leaders in Georgia and South Carolina are anticipating it could take three more weeks to restore power. North Carolina co-ops indicate it could take up to two months.

“We continue to pray for everyone affected by this natural disaster,” said Chris Perry, President and CEO of Kentucky Electric Cooperatives. “Our electric cooperative family is hurting. These crews represent Kentucky’s concern for our neighbors, and we pray for their safety and well-being as they face challenging conditions.”

In addition to supplying critical materials to co-ops rebuilding after Helene, Kentucky-based United Utility Supply Cooperative is donating more than 12,000 bottles of water to French Broad Electric Membership Corporation in North Carolina. The donation includes water that UUS had planned to provide to the Kentucky Lineman’s Rodeo.

The top priority of each local Kentucky co-op is service to its own consumer-members.  Before committing resources to mutual aid requests, each co-op ensures it has ample crews available for all local needs, including routine maintenance and emergencies.

“Cooperation among cooperatives is one of our guiding principles,” said Randy Meredith, Director of Safety and Training at Kentucky Electric Cooperatives. “It’s long hours in challenging conditions, but this is what we do. Lineworkers are wired to help people, and mutual aid deployments also provide invaluable training opportunities so these crews will be better prepared to respond to storm damage when it happens here at home.”

“While Tropical Storm Helene brought her worst, the unity and helping spirit that we are seeing in western North Carolina represents our best,” said Nelle Hotchkiss, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives. “We are resilient, we are strong, and we are in this together.”

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and Jason Todd, Kentucky Electric Cooperatives Boad Chairman, presented the 2024 Beautify the Bluegrass Governor’s Award to the Beattyville Welcome Sign project, a partnership of Jackson Energy Cooperative and community leaders.

For the eighth year in a row, the Governor’s office, Kentucky’s electric cooperatives and their flagship publication, Kentucky Living, partnered on the Beautify the Bluegrass initiative to recognize Kentuckians who complete homegrown projects to improve public spaces.

“When we say ‘Team Kentucky,’ this is what we’re talking about—Kentuckians who care about their communities and take action to help. Thank you to every Kentuckian and co-op who completed Beautify the Bluegrass projects this year,” said Governor Andy Beshear. “I want to say thank you for your cooperative spirit and your willingness to roll up your sleeves to improve Kentucky”

“Like the electric co-ops that belong to and are led by local Kentuckians, these projects are homegrown,” said Jason Todd, Kentucky Electric Cooperatives Board Chair at the announcement in the State Capitol Rotunda. “These efforts were not completed to win an award; they are the result of the people in this room taking it upon themselves to identify how they can make Kentucky a better and more attractive place to live.”

The program recognizes Kentuckians who take an active role in preserving the state’s natural beauty and helping their communities shine. Throughout the years, nominated projects have represented a wide variety of local needs, including rebuilding community assets impacted by natural disasters, breathing new life into downtowns, planting gardens, painting murals, repairing playgrounds, and removing litter from waterways and roads.

“We love the community we live, work and play in, and want to leave it a better place than we found it. Even though we don’t do it for awards and recognition, it’s such an honor to receive the Beautify the Governor’s Award for the second time,” said Lisa Baker of Jackson Energy, recipient of the 2024 Beautify the Bluegrass Governor’s Award. “The work we do for the people of Beattyville doesn’t go unnoticed—not by the consumer members in our region nor the state. Thank you to those who nominated us.”

The Welcome Sign on Beattyville Highway 11 in Lee County was renovated and revitalized by a team of 24 volunteers from Jackson Energy. The co-op funded the project in coordination with Beattyville community partners. Volunteers cleaned, repainted, installed solar lights, added flower planters and mounted new flags—all with locally sourced materials.

“I’m really pleased to see Kentuckians stepping up every year to help make Kentucky shine, and I’m especially proud of our co-ops who go above and beyond to serve their communities,” said Chris Perry, Kentucky Electric Cooperatives President and CEO. “Not only are these men and women working in all sorts of conditions every day to keep the lights on, but they are also giving back in unique ways. Our member co-ops really are proud to partner with the Governor’s office to highlight the individuals and groups who want to give back to our beautiful Commonwealth of Kentucky.”

In August, Kentucky Living and Governor Beshear announced the five 2024 Beautify the Bluegrass finalists. Kentucky Living readers voted online for their choice to receive the 2024 Governor’s Award. Other finalists included:

• Big Rivers Electric & Kenergy, Landscaping for Habitat for Humanity Training Center (Daviess County)
• Devan Horton, Works of Art That Bloom (Campbell County)
• City of Danville’s Downtown Streetscape Project (Boyle County)
• Friends of Red River Trah Cleanups (Wolfe County)

Any project completed between August 2024 and July 2025 is eligible for recognition for the 2025 Beautify the Bluegrass. Watch for the nomination form to go live in March 2025 on KentuckyLiving.com to coincide with the Kentucky Living article about the 2024 honorees.

 

Five community projects are in the running for the 2024 Beautify the Bluegrass Governor’s Award, an annual initiative of Kentucky Living, Kentucky Electric Cooperatives and the Kentucky Governor’s Office.

Started in 2017, Beautify the Bluegrass recognizes community members across the commonwealth for their efforts to improve public spaces. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear joined Kentucky Living’s Best in Kentucky Awards show on August 14 to congratulate the 2024 winners and announce the finalists for Beautify the Bluegrass.

“Thanks to Kentucky Living and Kentucky’s electric cooperatives for supporting homegrown beautification efforts across the commonwealth. We were so pleased to honor the Beautify the Bluegrass finalists at the capitol last fall and look forward to doing it again,” said Governor Beshear. “Congratulations to these finalists and thank you to all the volunteers who work to improve their communities. Looking forward to seeing all the beautification projects that happen around our great Commonwealth this year!”

This year’s Beautify the Bluegrass finalists, which hail from Lee, Daviess, Campbell, Boyle and Wolfe counties, were selected from among dozens of noteworthy projects across the state.

Big Rivers Electric and Kenergy

Landscaping for Habitat for Humanity Training Center, Daviess County
Over 20 volunteers from Big Rivers Electric, Kenergy, and contractors planted a landscaping barrier at the Habitat for Humanity Owensboro-Daviess County Training Center, which offers hands-on homeowner training.

Danville Downtown Streetscape Project, Boyle County

The $6 million, two-year project transformed downtown Danville’s Main Street with wider sidewalks, buried utilities, new trees, upgraded the Weisiger Park fountain, and added outdoor dining, creating a safer and more inviting pedestrian-friendly area.

Devan Horton

Works of Art That Bloom, Campbell County

With a grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women’s Art as Activism, Devan Horton created plantable art materials from natural items, organized a community event to create art with them, and planted the artworks in a blighted lot, transforming it into a blooming native pollinator meadow called “Perennial.”

Jackson Energy and various Beattyville entities

Beattyville Highway 11 Welcome Sign, Lee County

Beattyville’s newly renovated welcome sign, funded by Jackson Energy, was revitalized by 24 volunteers who cleaned, repainted, installed solar lights, added flower planters, and mounted new flags, all with locally sourced materials.

Friends of Red River Trash Cleanups, Wolfe County

The Friends of Red River (FORR) hosts monthly cleanups of Kentucky’s only Wild and Scenic River, removing tons of trash and thousands of tires, and in 2024 released a documentary, *River Cowboys: Keeping it Wild*, highlighting these efforts, which premiered at the annual Wild & Scenic Red RiverFest.

Now through August 28, readers can visit KentuckyLiving.com to learn more about each project and vote for their favorite of the five finalists. Click here to learn more and vote.

Kentucky Electric Cooperatives recognized Tony Brannon as its 2024 Distinguished Rural Kentuckian during the co-op association’s 78^th Annual Meeting in Louisville.

Distinguished Rural Kentuckian is the highest honor bestowed by the association, which consists of all 26 electric cooperatives across the commonwealth. It recognizes outstanding individuals who have devoted their lives to Kentucky in a way that matches the co-op mission of enhancing the quality of life here. Kentucky Electric Cooperatives President and CEO Chris Perry presented Brannon the award following a special video tribute. The full video can be viewed on the association’s YouTube channel.

“Having been born and raised on a farm and cutting my teeth on the steering wheel of a Model B Allis Chalmers tractor, I certainly felt rural.  Growing up as a teenager working in a dark tobacco patch, I’m not so sure I felt distinguished!  However, this rural upbringing and modest farm hard work ethic, combined with my Murray State education and 35 years of employment motivated me to a lifetime of service…for both agriculture and rural Communities,” said 2024 Distinguished Rural Kentuckian Tony Brannon. “It’s not easy to serve Kentucky agriculture statewide from the far west, but with commitment and passion and working with colleagues from all across the state, I did the best I could.  To have this ‘best I could’ rural and agricultural service recognized as ‘distinguished’ by this prestigious organization is certainly a capstone career highlight.”

Brannon, the retired Dean of the Hutson School of Agriculture at Murray State University, is the 40^th Distinguished Rural Kentuckian. Since 1982, the association has honored recipients from the arts, politics, journalism, business, education, religion, athletics, and agriculture. Two former honorees were in attendance at this year’s banquet, 2018 recipient Warren Beeler and 2021 recipient David Beck.

“Kentucky’s electric cooperatives power the lives of Kentuckians in 117 of 120 counties. Because member-owned co-ops belong to and are led by the people they serve, we believe it is important to recognize those who share our commitment to improving the quality of life in our local communities,” said Kentucky Electric Cooperatives President and CEO Chris Perry.

The Annual Meeting’s banquet featured a keynote address from Anthony Robles. Born with one leg, Robles overcame a number of challenges to become the 2011 NCAA wrestling champion. His inspiring life story will be told in the motion picture, Unstoppable, in theatres later this year. Robles encouraged the co-op audience to never give up, learn from mistakes and obstacles and to “never let your challenge become your excuse to say you can’t do it.”

With a theme of Support, Advocate, Educate, the meeting, held annually in Louisville since 1948, included important updates on safety and communications with a focus on reliability and cost pressures faced by co-ops and their members.

Featured speakers included Youth Leadership Council delegate and Pennyrile Electric representative Mason Lovell of Muhlenberg County, RunSwitch PR Founding Partner and political strategist Scott Jennings, National Renewables Cooperative Organization CEO Michael Keyser and former Navy SEAL and noted sports performance specialist Jason Kuhn.

At a critical time for energy policy in Kentucky and the nation, members of the newly formed Kentucky Rural Electric Cooperative Caucus participated this summer in the inaugural Electric University (Electric-U), a deep dive into how electric power is made and transmitted to homes and businesses across Kentucky. Outfitted with goggles, hard hats, and AV headsets, ten legislators witnessed the electric generation process first-hand during a tour of East Kentucky Power Cooperative’s Spurlock Station, a 1,346 MW coal power plant, along the banks of the Ohio River in Maysville. During the tour and a seminar in the facility’s technical center, energy industry experts and co-op staff answered questions posed by caucus members. “The primary focus of Electric-U is empowering lawmakers to understand the day-to-day realities of power generation and transmission,” said Chase Crigler, Government Affairs Director for Kentucky Electric Cooperatives. “The electric co-op caucus continues to demonstrate a commitment to advocating for the interests of local co-op consumer-members across the commonwealth.” Electric cooperatives provide power to more than 1.8 million Kentucky residents and businesses in 117 counties. Caucus members who participated in the first Electric University:

• Senators:
  • Senator Amanda Mays Bledsoe (Coop Caucus Co-chair)
  • Senator David Givens (Senate President Pro Tempore)
  • Senator Gex Williams
• Representatives:
  • Rep. Wade Williams (Coop caucus Co-chair)
  • Rep. Suzanne Miles (House Majority Caucus Chair)
  • Rep. Jim Gooch (House Natural Resources Chair)
  • Rep. Mike Clines
  • Rep. Dan Fister
  • Rep. Sarge Pollock
  • Rep. Bill Wesley

“We always appreciate the insights and transparency of Kentucky’s electric cooperatives, “said caucus co-chair Rep. Wade Williams (R-Earlington). “This experience to see electric generation close up helps all of us legislate on these matters more effectively.” Since its inception late last year, 96 members of the Kentucky General Assembly have joined the electric cooperative caucus, making it the largest caucus in the legislature. “The intense interest in the co-op caucus underscores how important reliable and affordable energy is to Kentucky,” said caucus co-chair Sen. Amanda Mays Bledsoe (R-Lexington). “In addition to looking out for our constituents, co-ops power some of our largest industries.” With input from Big Rivers Electric Corporation, East Kentucky Power Cooperative and the Tennessee Valley Authority, cooperatives plan to make Electric University an annual event, in addition to regular updates and briefings for caucus members throughout the year and during session. “We were pleased to host the first ever Electric University, and we appreciate the cooperative spirit of these informed legislators and our fellow power providers in Kentucky,” said East Kentucky Power Cooperative President and CEO Tony Campbell. “It is imperative that our elected leaders have access to factual information, especially as government regulators and policymakers are faced with crucial decisions that affect reliability and energy costs.”