Iowa Electric Coop leaders lobby in Washington

Leaders of Iowa’s electric cooperatives are in Washington, D.C., lobbying against new regulations they say would raise the price of electricity. Kathy Taylor, vice president of the Corn Belt Power Cooperative in Humboldt, says her focus is on proposed changes in the Clean Air Act. Taylor says the electric co-ops oppose any regulation of carbon dioxide emissions because Iowans depend on electricity from coal-fired power plants. She says limits on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants would prove “very costly” for Iowans. Taylor, who lives near Fort Dodge, says a majority of the power supplied to her co-op’s customers comes from coal-fired plants. Taylor says about 70 percent of the Corn Belt Co-ops energy comes from coal, while many electric cooperatives get 100 percent of their energy from coal-fired power plants.Roger Arthur of Sumner, the president of the Allamakee-Clayton Electric Coop board, is also in D.C. and he’s concerned about other provisions that may switch management of transmission lines to a federal agency. Arthur says the bill may give the feds control over the private lines the electric co-ops now own. Arthur says the electric cooperatives want to make sure the federal government doesn’t try to usurp their authority and try to control the “flow of electrons.” Arthur’s Allamakee-Clayton Electric Cooperative is based in Postville.