Joe Arnold, political editor, reporter, anchor, and host of the weekly The Powers That Be program for WHAS11, has been named Vice President of Strategic Communications for Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives.

KAEC President and CEO Chris Perry says, “Our industry is facing many challenges due to the Clean Power Plan and other regulations. Joe is a communications leader with the skills to effectively communicate how issues will affect Kentucky’s electric co-ops and our members. This is a critical role in the success of our organization and during a period of transition in the utility world. We are looking forward to having Joe on board.”

Arnold announced his departure from television news to colleagues in the WHAS11 newsroom Tuesday morning, August 4, 2015. Though Arnold will begin his position at KAEC on September 18, he will continue to contribute to WHAS11 political coverage as host of The Powers That Be and on election night.

“It is with mixed emotions that I announce my decision to transition to the next stage of my career,” Arnold said. “WHAS11 is a leader in broadcast journalism and my dear and talented colleagues have been a second family to me over the last 17 years. WHAS11 has introduced me to leaders, concerned citizens and issues in Kentucky, and I am excited to be able to apply my experience and skills to an organization that supports a critical asset for our state, reliable electricity at affordable rates.”

In his new role, Arnold will oversee corporate media relations communications for KAEC, which includes Kentucky Living magazine. He will represent KAEC on local and state legislative concerns and lead KAEC communications as it relates to the 26 electric cooperatives and other key constituent groups.

Recognized locally and nationally for his reporting of politics and government, Arnold first joined WHAS11 in 1998 while host of The Joe Arnold Show on WHAS-AM 840. Beginning in 2001, Joe anchored Good Morning Kentuckiana and weekend newscasts before assuming the role of political editor in 2009.

Arnold’s reporting has been recognized with top awards from the Associated Press and Emmy Awards for investigations and blogging.

A 2012 graduate of Leadership Louisville, a civic training group for emerging leaders, Arnold has also been recognized for his contributions to charitable causes, including the Colon Cancer Prevention Project and the Alzheimer’s Association.

Arnold lives in Louisville with his wife and two children.

On Monday, August 3, 2015, President Barack Obama unveiled the Environmental Protection Agency’s final rule for the Clean Power Plan, regulating greenhouse gas emissions at U.S. power plants. The plan requires carbon emissions to be cut 32 percent by 2030 outlined in a 1,560-page report.

The Clean Energy Plan sets national standards, while allowing states flexibility in deciding how to meet those goals. States are required to submit state-specific plans by September 2016. If states need more time, they can make an initial submission and request extensions of up to two years for their final plan. Mandatory reductions for carbon emissions begin in 2022, and states can elect to gradually step down reductions to meet the final goals for 2030.

While the nation relies on nearly 40 percent of coal for its energy, Kentucky’s energy is 92 percent coal-powered, according to the latest statistics from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

An important strategy for lowering emissions in Kentucky, given the state’s heavy reliance on coal for energy and lack of renewable energy from solar and wind, will be energy-efficiency programs put into place by electric utilities, which are already being widely used.

For Kentucky, shuttering power plants, leaving stranded assets before the debt is paid off, is a huge concern. East Kentucky Power Cooperative’s CEO Tony Campbell says, “The regulations announced effectively remove coal as an option for future power plants, and begin restricting carbon emissions from existing coal-fired plants. This will put pressure on costs to rise. As we move away from coal, there are serious questions that must be addressed about the affordability and reliability of alternatives, including natural gas and renewables.”

East Kentucky Power provides generation and transmission to 16 distribution electric co-ops in Kentucky, which provide power to more than 1 million Kentuckians.

EKPC’s Campbell says, “I am concerned about the impact these rules will have on the affordability and reliability of electric power.” He says, “I am especially concerned for the people at the end of our power lines. Among the people served by Kentucky’s electric cooperatives, household income is 7.4 percent below the state average and 22 percent below the national average. Among the 87 counties served by EKPC’s owner-member cooperatives, 40 counties face persistent poverty.”

National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) CEO Jo Ann Emerson states, “Any increase in the cost of electricity most dramatically impacts those who can least afford it, and the fallout from the EPA’s rule will cascade across the nation for years to come.”

NRECA is the national service organization that represents the nation’s more than 900 private, not-for-profit, consumer-owned electric cooperatives that provide electricity to 42 million consumer-members in 47 states, including Kentucky.

Emerson states, “While we appreciate the efforts intended to help offset the financial burden of rising electricity prices and jobs lost due to prematurely shuttered power plants, the final rule still appears to reflect the fundamental flaws of the original proposal. It exceeds the EPA’s legal authority under the Clean Air Act, and it will raise electricity rates for our country’s most vulnerable populations while challenging the reliability of the grid.”

NRECA recently commissioned a study that underscores the devastating relationship between higher electricity prices and job losses. The study, Affordable Electricity: Rural American’s Economic Lifeline, measures the impact of a 10 and 25 percent electricity price increase on jobs and gross domestic product (GDP) from 2020 to 2040. The study shows even a 10 percent increase in electricity prices would result in 1.2 million jobs lost in 2021 across the country with nearly 500,000 of those lost jobs in rural communities.

“For many years, because of the Commonwealth’s abundant coal resources, Kentucky has enjoyed some of the lowest electric rates in the nation,” says Campbell. “I am proud of EKPC’s role in providing some of the most affordable, reliable electric available. As a result, Kentucky has a dynamic manufacturing economy that employs 235,000 Kentuckians and depends on that affordable energy.”

Kentucky’s electric cooperatives are committed to keeping costs affordable and to maintain reliability for electric co-op members.

Emerson says, “We will continue reviewing this extremely complex rule and have additional comments on behalf of America’s not-for-profit, consumer-owned electric cooperatives in the coming days.”

Pennyrile Electric, in Hopkinsville, hosted the 11th Kentucky Lineman’s Rodeo at the Western Kentucky Fairgrounds July 30 and 31.

The Kentucky Lineman’s Rodeo is a yearly competition organized by the Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives and showcases the amazing talents of electric cooperative lineman. This year’s rodeo saw 21 of Kentucky’s 26 electric cooperatives’ linemen compete for the coveted titles of top Apprentice, Journeyman, and Lineman team. The competition includes several work-related events: hurt-man, pole top rescue, and skill climb. All events are mainly judged on safety procedures since the rodeo’s main focus is doing line work in the safest possible manner.

Besides the 100+ competing lineman, the rodeo also had 50 judges and 37 volunteers. Family members and co-workers also come out in large numbers to support their various cooperative team members. Sponsors are also important to the success of the rodeo and there were 32 sponsors at varying levels providing support.

The rodeo, which began in 2005, started as part of a state effort to make lineworker safety a top priority for electric co-op utility employees in Kentucky. While the event is a competition, the rodeo tests line workers’ skills and safety practices—scoring rewards safety over speed.

Find out top results and see a video about the 2015 Kentucky Lineman’s Rodeo.

Farmers RECC and its power supplier, Winchester-based East Kentucky Power Cooperative (EKPC), today announced updates on their project to develop a plant in Glasgow that will produce clean, renewable energy. Called the Glasgow Landfill-Gas-To-Energy (LFGTE) project, the plant will produce renewable power using methane collected from the Glasgow Regional Landfill. The plant will be owned and operated by EKPC, the power supplier that is owned by Farmers RECC and 15 other rural electric Kentucky co-ops.

On April 2, 2015, the Kentucky Public Service Commission approved the construction of the landfill generator. This allows EKPC to begin construction of the facilities to generate electricity from the captured landfill gas. “We are extremely excited to be part of this and appreciative to East Kentucky Power Cooperative and the City of Glasgow for helping make this a reality,” said Farmers RECC President and CEO Bill Prather. “This project has been made possible as a result of the City, Farmers, and East Kentucky Power working together for the benefit of the community.”

The project began as a result of extensive discussion between Farmers RECC and the city of Glasgow. Farmers RECC was interested in the production of energy from renewable sources and the city of Glasgow was interested in capturing the methane gas produced at the landfill. In addition, the LFGTE project will provide a backup source of power to the Glasgow Water Company’s waste water treatment plant, saving them from having to make a considerable investment to provide their own backup power source.

“The longer term impact will be the ‘alternative’ energy that will be generated at the projects’ completion,” said Glasgow Mayor Dick Doty. “The City of Glasgow is very excited to be partners with East Kentucky Power and Farmers Rural Electric Co-op for the exciting opportunity to positively impact the environment and the citizens of Glasgow and Barren County.”

EKPC President and CEO Anthony “Tony” Campbell said the Glasgow plant fits with the cooperative’s Strategic Plan to continue to pursue prudent diversity in its generation fleet. “We were the first utility in Kentucky to build renewable power plants, and this project shows our continued commitment to affordable, reliable alternatives that work,” he said.

The plant will produce approximately 1 megawatt, which is enough electricity to power about 550 Kentucky homes and is expected to begin producing electricity later this year. East Kentucky Power will own, operate and maintain the plant, while Farmers will design, construct, operate and maintain facilities that interconnect electrically to the plant. EKPC will purchase the methane gas from the City to power the generator and Farmers will purchase all of the renewable energy produced by the facility. “It’s no secret that the demand for energy in Kentucky and around the world continues to rise,” Prather said. “We’re doing our part to responsibly meet this projected demand by working with the City of Glasgow and East Kentucky Power to develop this renewable resource.”

EKPC owns and operates five other Kentucky landfill gas plants located in Laurel, Greenup, Hardin, Pendleton and Boone counties. These plants annually generate enough electricity to power more than about 8,000 Kentucky homes each year. The environmental benefits of biomass projects equal taking 130,000 cars off Kentucky’s roads each year.

For the past year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been working on new rules to regulate the carbon dioxide emissions of power plants as pollutants under the Clean Air Act.

The agency expected to finalize its highly controversial carbon dioxide standards for new units on January 8, and for existing units on June 1.
EPA will postpone these rules until sometime “mid-summer,” Janet McCabe, acting assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, said in a conference call with reporters.

The agency did not provide a specific date for the final rules.

NRECA CEO Jo Ann Emerson said EPA should use the extra time to study the 1.2 million comments that flooded the agency from advocates for electric cooperatives concerned about the proposals’ impact on affordable, reliable electricity.

During many Kentucky electric cooperative annual meetings this past summer tables were set up where cooperative members could sign cards provided by Action.coop to send to the EPA urging them to keep affordability in mind when proposing new regulations that will affect electric co-op power bills. Co-ops also made the cards available at co-op offices and during member appreciation days as well as putting the message on T-shirts.

As of December 2014, Kentucky co-ops had sent almost 16,300 cards to the EPA helping to raise the overall number of cards sent from co-ops across the nation to the 1.2 million.
A recent study, entitled Energy Market Impacts of Recent Federal Regulations on the Electric Power Sector, was released by Energy Ventures Analysis, a Virginia-based firm that has provided market analyses of the energy industry since 1981.

The study looked at the impacts of the proposed regulations on individual states. In Kentucky, the average residential electric utility bill is projected to increase by $450 a year if the proposed regulations go into effect.

EPA’s Janet McCabe also said the proposed rules targeting emissions from coal-based power plants attracted more than 4 million public comments.

EPA is also preparing a federal “model” plan to comply with the regulations although the agency has a “strong preference” for states to draft and submit their own implementation plans to meet the new emissions limits, McCabe said.

Information gathered from ECT.coop and Jackson Energy