NFU Statement: Salazar to Lead Interior Department — 12|18|08
Friday, January 16, 2009
Energy Regulation
All U.S. residents deserve access to affordable, high-quality electric service. NFU supports local power regulation to ensure that this need is met. Upgrading and developing interstate transmission lines can further assist some areas in the development of wind energy.
Community-based energy development projects must be provided incentives so as to maintain local ownership and benefits. We believe that state legislatures and Public Utilities Commissions should enable and encourage locally owned energy projects by providing economic incentives to move these projects off the ground. The Minnesota Community-Based Energy Development project (C-BED) ought to be used as a model for such initiatives.
Local ownership has proven to be an incubator of rural economic and community development. With ethanol plants springing into development all across the Midwest, the economic benefits to local areas has already been recognized and boards are starting to come off the windows of downtown rural America. A recent NFU-commissioned study shows that market concentration of ethanol production has actually been shrinking while other industries, such as the livestock industry, have witnessed increased concentration. Legislation should enable local ownership to expand.
Public ownership of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and federal power marketing administrations (PMAs) has been absolutely essential in providing reasonably priced hydroelectric power to rural America. TVA’s historic role as a supplier of low-cost, reliable electric power, supporting a thriving river system and stimulating economic growth in an environmentally friendly way deserves recognition. 
