IT’S FINALLY THAT TIME of year again—time for us to head to the beautiful lakes throughout Kentucky. From one end of the state to the other, Kentucky offers an abundance of options for boaters. 

There is nothing that I love more than visiting with friends and family on the peaceful waters of Kentucky lakes. Dale Hollow, Grayson, Nolin, Cave Run, Barkley and Kentucky Lake are the ultimate for fishing and fun. 

One of my favorite memories is the night my wife, Kim, and I spent with one of her high school friends on a houseboat at Green River Lake, above, just outside Campbellsville. Dr. Kellee Frogge and her husband were gracious hosts. It’s crazy how fast time passes, how we sometimes lose touch with friends whose stories are woven into the fabric of our past.

I don’t think there’s anything better in Kentucky than watching the sun set across the water while sharing laughs and stories with friends and family. 

In the magazine this month, there is a story about Kentucky’s beaches (page 49). Many people don’t think about beaches when visiting our state, but we have our share. I think Kentucky offers the best of all worlds. Our tremendous parks, pristine lakes and friendly people make our state the perfect place to spend a day at the beach. 

I hope as you begin making plans for this summer you’ll consider visiting Kentucky’s amazing outdoor spaces. 

There still will be safety concerns as we get vaccinated for COVID-19 and venture back into the world. For that reason, staying close to home and visiting with people who are special in your life could become the perfect vacation. 

“A lake is the landscape’s most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth’s eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.” —Henry David Thoreau

The Safety Committee of the Kentucky Electric Cooperatives has voted to recommend that the 2021 Lineman’s Rodeo be postponed because of ongoing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic and the ability to comply with safety restrictions.

The full Board of Directors will hear the recommendation at its May 18th meeting.

The committee’s recommendation was informed by a survey of Kentucky co-ops. 

Pending board action, it will be the second year that the Kentucky Lineman’s Rodeo to be hosted by Jackson Purchase Energy in Paducah will be postponed.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., says he knows that the big internet providers don’t always deliver when it comes to broadband access in rural America, but financial help from Congress is on the way.

Warner brought that message to BARC Electric’s broadband subsidiary in the Shenandoah Valley on April 7. The former Virginia governor discussed his plan for assistance to get rural networks built.

“In many communities, the deck is stacked in favor of the incumbents, and we have not put in place, I think, the kind of programs and resources we need to incite really expanded high-speed coverage,” Warner told a roomful of co-op and local officials from the areas where BARC Connects delivers broadband.

“I commend the co-op for taking this on, and I would love to see other co-ops be as bold as you guys have been,” said Warner, who co-founded former cellular giant Nextel Communications before it merged with Sprint. “This is an area where many of the big incumbent providers, the Comcasts, the Verizons, the AT&Ts, have quite honestly not done the job they should have.”

The senator said he believes that dynamic will change with new financial resources for rural broadband in the latest federal COVID-19 relief bill signed by President Joe Biden on March 11. It allows $350 billion in recovery funds—$219 billion in state and $130 billion in local—to be applied to broadband deployment and creates a $10 billion capital projects fund for states, territories and tribal governments that includes projects enabling remote work, education and health monitoring.

The new law also sets up a $7.2 billion emergency connectivity fund at the Federal Communications Commission to close the “homework gap” by paying for internet service, hotspots and equipment at eligible schools and libraries.

“There’s no reason why the kids in Bath County [part of BARC’s territory] shouldn’t have every bit the high-speed internet connectivity as the kids in Alexandria” just outside Washington, D.C., Warner said. “This needs to be an economic justice issue.”

Local officials, school representatives and business owners, socially distanced in the co-op’s large solar learning center, talked with Warner for an hour about the challenges of getting affordable high-speed internet service throughout the region. The senator encouraged them to contact his office when encountering barriers to rapidly expand broadband connectivity to unserved areas.

“To have him take an interest in BARC and everything that we’re doing and see the progress that we’re making, it’s a tremendous honor,” said CEO Mike Keyser.  “It is clear that Senator Warner shares our passion for this issue. To have his support in overcoming the financial and operational challenges associated with rural broadband deployment means everything.”

Cathy Cash is a staff writer at NRECA.

Researchers at Colorado State University are predicting a more active hurricane season than normal this year for the Atlantic Basin with 17 named storms, including eight reaching hurricane strength and four developing into major hurricanes. But the early forecast falls short of last year’s unusually active season.

The researchers predict about 80 named-storm days for the Atlantic season, compared to just under 60 for an average year. They rate the probability of landfall along the U.S. coastline at about 130%, based upon 38 years of data.

Hundreds of electric cooperatives serve members within 400 miles of the U.S. coastline, from Texas to Florida along the Gulf of Mexico and between Florida and Maine along the Atlantic coast.

Climatologists with the university’s Tropical Meteorology Project, in their earliest preseason forecast ever, on April 8 cited projected atmospheric patterns as factors that could lead to increased storm formation.

The Atlantic hurricane season officially begins June 1 and continues through Nov. 30. Storm development is affected by a combination of ocean temperatures and atmospheric wind patterns.

La Niña conditions—when surface water in the equatorial Pacific becomes warmer than average and east winds are weaker than normal—may transition to neutral by this summer, wrote Phil Klotzbach, a principal researcher in the university’s department of atmospheric science. He added that the odds of a significant El Niño seem unlikely.

 “Sea surface temperatures averaged across the tropical Atlantic are currently near average, while subtropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures are warmer than normal,” wrote Klotzbach.

The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season was unusually active with 30 named storms, including 13 that developed to hurricane strength with sustained winds topping 74 mph. Of that number, six reached major hurricane status of Category 3 or higher, with winds topping 115 mph.

For the 2021 season, researchers warn of an “above-average probability for major hurricanes making landfall along the continental United States coastline and in the Caribbean.”

“Coastal residents are reminded that it only takes one hurricane making landfall to make it an active season for them,” Klotzbach wrote. 

Colorado State forecasters will begin issuing their monthly updates in June, before increasing to biweekly updates in August. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center will issue its 2021 hurricane season forecast in May.

Derrill Holly is a staff writer at NRECA.

When electricity came to Cahess, Haiti, in 2013, Gimps Louis-Charles bought a DVD player and invited 40 people to his home to watch movies.

“It was a happy moment for me and everyone in my community,” said Louis-Charles, 31, a contract groundworker for NRECA International at the time.

While that “flip the switch” moment marked the start of progress and promise in his hometown, it also set off a series of events for Louis-Charles that rivals any movie ending.

Today, Louis-Charles has a new life in the United States, where he’s a lineman-second class at Bandera Electric Cooperative and lives near its Bandera, Texas, headquarters with his wife, Marotine, and two stepchildren.

Louis-Charles’ connection to BEC began in 2015 when he met volunteer lineworkers John Hernandez, Jay Raspberry and Garrett Clark during an NRECA International job to extend lines to an orphanage in Caracol. The job was grueling, especially for the Americans accustomed to power tools and trucks. But not for Louis-Charles.

“He was willing to work and do whatever it took to complete the job,” said Hernandez, who’s now Louis-Charles’ foreman at BEC. “He never backed off anything, and he was always wanting to learn, always asking questions. It’s a job that very few of us can do, and he had it.”

The four men became fast friends. “I always try to ask people where they work, and one of the things they kept saying was how their company values them and how it’s a great place to work,” said Louis-Charles, who had wanted to move to the U.S. “That was the place I wanted to be and the team I wanted to join.” 

In late 2015, Hernandez heard from Louis-Charles’ supervisor in Caracol. Louis-Charles was in Louisiana and was looking for a job in the industry.

Hernandez found donors to help pay the $4,000 in immigration attorney fees to obtain a work visa for Louis-Charles, a six-month process. Later, he helped the family settle into their new home by loaning Louis-Charles money for a car and a deposit on a rental home.

“I’ve been in a similar situation where someone helped me,” said Hernandez. “I wanted to bless Gimps like I was blessed.”

Louis-Charles landed the lineworker apprentice job in 2017, but the journey to Texas wasn’t easy. His wife had close family in Louisiana, and the family had to endure a 15-hour bus trip to Texas.

“When I moved here, I didn’t know the next thing,” said Louis-Charles, who has since repaid Hernandez. “I didn’t have a place, or even money to get a place. When we arrived, we found the house ready with beds and food. All I had to do was bring my family.”

BEC is also paying Louis-Charles’ tuition at Northwest Lineman College. Classes are on hold because of the pandemic, but Louis-Charles is attending other trainings.

“He’s a great, hardworking guy who’s given employees a perspective on how some people’s lives are harder,” said Bill Hetherington, the co-op’s CEO. “His story proves through hard work and resilience and effort, you can be successful.” 

As Louis-Charles waits for linework school to resume in full, he’s working to relocate his two children from a previous marriage who are still in Haiti. He loves the camaraderie at the co-op and the small-town friendliness. “I have a great relationship with the managers and my coworkers, and it is a good place to work. I’m honored to be part of that team.”

Victoria A. Rocha is a staff writer at NRECA.

President Joe Biden has announced a sweeping $2 trillion infrastructure and jobs plan that would affect electric cooperatives by increasing investment in broadband and electric vehicles, strengthening grid resiliency and dramatically reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

A key provision would make not-for-profit electric co-ops eligible for the first time for direct-pay investment tax credits and production tax credits for clean energy generation and storage projects. One of NRECA’s legislative goals this year is to ensure that co-ops are included in any federal incentive programs that encourage the use of renewable energy.

“For far too long, electric cooperatives have not had comparable incentives to develop energy technologies,” said Louis Finkel, NRECA’s senior vice president for government relations. “This has held back innovation.”

It is now up to Congress to turn Biden’s blueprint—the American Jobs Plan—into legislation. NRECA will work with lawmakers to help craft the details that are most important to co-ops, said CEO Jim Matheson.

“We’re encouraged to see electric co-op priorities reflected in President Biden’s infrastructure proposal,” Matheson said. “As we plan for a future that depends on electricity as the primary energy source for a majority of the economy, strategic investments in grid modernization and energy innovation are critical. Equally important is support for expanded rural broadband and other efforts to help rural families and businesses.”

As Congress begins drafting the bill, “we look forward to staying engaged to ensure that the priorities of rural America and electric co-ops remain front of mind,” Matheson said.

Here’s a look at some of the highlights of Biden’s proposal: 

Tax Incentives for Renewables

• Makes electric co-ops eligible for the first time for direct-pay investment tax credits and production tax credits for clean energy generation and storage projects. The tax credits are expanded and extended for 10 years. Tax-exempt co-ops would finally get incentives comparable to those provided to for-profit companies to develop energy technologies.

Grid Improvements

• Invests $100 billion in the electric grid to “create a more resilient grid, lower energy bills for middle-class Americans, improve air quality and public health outcomes, and create jobs … on the path to achieving 100% carbon-free electricity by 2035.”
• Creates a targeted investment tax credit to spur the buildout of at least 20 gigawatts of high-voltage capacity power lines.
• Reforms and expands the Section 45Q tax credit for carbon capture and storage projects, making it easier to use to retrofit existing power plants.
• Establishes a new Grid Deployment Authority at the DOE that permits better use of existing rights of way along roads and railways and supports creative financing tools to fund more high-voltage transmission lines.
• Develops an Energy Efficiency and Clean Electricity Standard aimed at cutting electric bills and pollution, increasing competition in the market, spurring more efficient use of existing infrastructure and continuing to leverage carbon-free energy from existing sources, such as nuclear and hydropower. 

Broadband

• Invests $100 billion in infrastructure to deliver reliable broadband to every American, especially the more than 30 million in communities that lack infrastructure for even minimal internet access, namely rural areas and tribal lands.
• Prioritizes support for broadband networks owned or operated by or affiliated with local nonprofits and co-ops as providers driven by “a commitment to serving entire communities” rather than profit.
• Prioritizes deploying “future proof” broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas for 100% delivery of high-speed internet access nationwide. 
• Levels competition for rural electric co-ops by requiring for-profit providers to fully reveal their prices. 

Electric Vehicles

• Invests $174 billion in the electric vehicle market, including grant and incentive programs for state and local governments and the private sector to build a national network of 500,000 EV chargers by 2030.
• Enables automakers to ramp up domestic supply chains from raw materials to parts, retool factories to compete globally and employ American workers to make batteries and EVs.
• Offers U.S. consumers point-of-sale rebates and tax incentives to buy American-made EVs. Biden said the plan will ensure that EVs are affordable for American families.
• Replaces 50,000 diesel transit vehicles with EVs and electrifies at least 20% of the nation’s yellow school buses through a new Clean Buses for Kids Program.
• Sets the federal government on a course to electrify its fleet by buying EVs when it replaces old vehicles. 

Support for Rural Communities

• Proposes $5 billion for a new Rural Partnership Program to spur local economic development, led by rural communities, to meet critical needs. 
• Provides tax credits, grants and other assistance to build, sustain or retrofit more than 1 million affordable, energy-efficient homes and extend affordable housing opportunities to rural and tribal areas.
• Invests $20 billion in 10 regional innovation hubs and a Community Revitalization Fund to create new businesses in rural regions and community-led redevelopment. 
• Quadruples support for the Manufacturing Extensions Partnership to boost minority and rural involvement in technological advancement.
• Calls for $30 billion for R&D to spur innovation and job creation, including in rural areas, involving advanced technologies in communications, energy and biotechnology.
• Calls for $12 billion in community college infrastructure to address “education deserts” in rural communities, boost local economies and improve energy efficiency.

Authors: Erin Kelly and Cathy Cash.

Community Action Agencies across Kentucky have extended the enrollment period for the Crisis Component of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Applications for the Crisis Component will now be accepted through April 15, 2021, or until designated funds are depleted on a first-come, first-serve basis. Qualified residents should apply at their local Community Action Agency. To locate your local office, please call 800-456-3452. 

To utilize the Crisis Component, applicants must have a household income at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, as well as have received a “disconnect” notice from their utility company or be within four days of running out of a non-metered fuel such as propane. Additionally, this year applicants can also apply if they have a late or overdue amount or if they are on an arrearage payment plan.

The applicant must be responsible for home heating costs or pay heating costs as an undesignated portion of rent. Crisis applicants who participate in a Pre-Pay Electric Program would be eligible if they are within 10 days of running out of pre-paid electric services.

For everyone’s safety, Community Action Agencies may provide special accommodations, adjust locations and times, and may ask that LIHEAP applicants follow safety protocols. Because these may change and vary between counties, applicants are encouraged to contact their local Community Action office for more information.

Kentucky’s Community Action Agencies administer LIHEAP in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a pass-through block grant from the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. More information about LIHEAP, including contact information for county-specific office contact information, can be found at the Community Action Kentucky website at www.CAPKY.org.

Though the concept of serving “the last mile” is often spoken in the relatively new challenge of delivering high-speed internet to rural Kentucky, electric cooperatives have embraced “the last mile” for generations, and to this day.

Not-for-profit electric co-ops are led by, belong to and were built by the very people they serve, the people on the last mile. Conversely, for-profit utilities generally serve more densely populated areas, an average of 32 customers per mile of electric line. Though co-ops serve an average of only eight consumer-members per mile of electric line, through responsible practices, careful planning and expert management, they provide safe and reliable service to the last mile at competitive rates.

Value and values

The strength and resiliency of electric cooperatives can be traced to proactive maintenance and infrastructure investments. That’s where the value of your co-op’s service is found—in the electric grid.

“It’s a system that’s become so reliable, it’s understandable some people take it for granted,” says Chris Perry, president and CEO of Kentucky Electric Cooperatives. A resilient grid utilizes different types of generation—such as coal, natural gas, solar and hydro—to seamlessly work together to provide safe, reliable and affordable power to the last mile of Kentucky co-op members. Yet Perry warns that political forces aiming to dismantle that diverse energy mix “threaten to sacrifice the on-demand reliability and affordability of co-op electric service. Kentuckians deserve a robust discussion before drastic changes are made that could impact future reliability and affordability.”

Kentucky’s electric co-op system is designed and built to withstand high winds, powerful storms, cybersecurity threats and other disruptions. When major outages do occur, such as after February’s ice storm, co-ops work together to help restore power. Your local co-op, local co-op board and local employees respond to needs in your local area, uniquely suited to understand your local community.

The cooperative way

The 26 electric cooperatives in Kentucky serve more than 1.5 million co-op members in 117 counties. Kentucky Electric Cooperatives is the statewide association that publishes Kentucky Living. Co-ops share information and practical advice, pooling their resources to encourage innovation and high standards in safety training, disaster response, communications, technical knowledge, economic development and advocacy.

“We advocate for all co-op members,” Perry says. “Yes, to the last mile.”

Congress has approved a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill that could help struggling electric cooperative consumer-members pay their electric bills.

The American Rescue Plan Act provides an additional $4.5 billion in emergency funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. The money, available through September 2022, helps pay for home heating and cooling for low-income households, including elderly and disabled people and families with young children.

NRECA, along with six other energy-related associations, sent a letter to congressional leaders on Feb. 4 urging them to increase LIHEAP funding by $10 billion.

The relief package also allocates $21.5 billion in additional funding for emergency rental assistance, which helps people pay their rent and utility bills, including both past due and future payments. Funds will be available through September 2027.

Homeowners hit hard by the pandemic will be eligible for assistance as part of a new, nearly $10 billion program to help them pay their mortgage, utility and internet bills. The money will be dispersed by states and local governments through September 2025.

“This package provides some much-needed relief to co-op consumer-members who have suffered job losses and other economic devastation caused by the pandemic,” said Louis Finkel, NRECA’s senior vice president of government relations.

The Senate passed the legislation Saturday, and the House approved it Wednesday. President Joe Biden, who made COVID-19 relief the first legislative priority of his administration, signed the bill into law Thursday.

In addition to helping people pay their electric bills, the legislation includes potential broadband funding opportunities, gives more money to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund and expands support for small businesses.

The bill includes $340 billion in COVID-19 recovery funds to state and local governments, which have the option to use the money for broadband deployment if they choose. It also establishes a $7.2 billion emergency connectivity fund at the Federal Communications Commission that aims to close the homework gap by providing funds to eligible schools and libraries to pay for up to 100% of internet service, Wi-Fi hotspots and equipment costs.

The legislation also provides $25 billion in grants to restaurants devastated by the pandemic. The businesses can use the money to pay their electric and internet bills, along with other eligible expenses.

Co-ops battered by storms, fires and other disasters could benefit from an additional $50 billion in the bill for the FEMA Disaster Relief Fund. 

Congress also expanded eligibility for loans under the Paycheck Protection Program to most nonprofits, affirming guidance from the Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration on electric co-op eligibility. The program is designed to help small businesses keep their workers employed during the pandemic. They can also use the money to pay their utility bills.

Erin Kelly is a staff writer at NRECA.

In a significant win for the electric cooperative program in Kentucky, the General Assembly approved legislation Tuesday that allows regulated electric cooperatives to add broadband service, and earmarks $250 million in federal funding to encourage broadband deployment in unserved and underserved areas. The bill now goes to Governor Andy Beshear for his signature or veto.
 
Supported by a grassroots campaign of Kentucky’s electric cooperatives, House Bill 320 does not include any changes to existing pole attachment regulations that would have led to electric rate increases. Instead, the bill requires the Public Service Commission to promulgate updated pole attachment regulations by the end of the year.

After the Kentucky Senate unanimously approved the bill late Tuesday afternoon, the House followed hours later.

The bill sets aside $250 million from Kentucky’s share of the federal coronavirus relief package, but only $50 million of the funds will be allocated before April, 2022.

Republican Senate Pro Tem David Givens said lawmakers were “planting the seed” and could make more decisions about funding in the future.

“Let’s get people doing it right before we start overfunding or funding in ways that cause potential mischief or poor investments,” Givens said.