Electric Co-op Today

Wallace Tillman, NRECA’s vice president of energy policy and general counsel, has seen many changes in the 35 years since he came on board with the association’s government relations department. But as he neared retirement, the association executive noted similarities between the challenges of his early days and those facing co-ops today.

NRECA Board President F.E. “Wally” Wolski (r) applauds Wallace Tillman as he addresses the board's December meeting. (Photo By: Steven Johnson)

One major parallel is in power supply, where co-ops must prepare to meet members’ future needs at a time of financial uncertainty and increasing regulation across the board, Tillman told ECT.coop prior to his Jan. 1 retirement.

The 1970s-era amendments to the Rural Electrification Act and that decade’s enactment of energy policy and clean air legislation are echoed in today’s public policy arena, he noted.

“What goes around, comes around,” said Tillman.

While co-ops have always advocated fuel diversity, the association veteran said, they increased their use of coal “to do the right thing” when natural gas was removed as a fuel option in the late 1970s by the Powerplant and Industrial Fuel Use Act, which greatly restricted its use as a boiler fuel. “We were the good guys,” he underscored.

At the same time, prospects for increasing the use of nuclear power were knocked out by escalating costs and the influence of the Three Mile Island episode in 1979.

The drive for energy conservation and efficiency, represented in part by the integrated resource planning of the 1970s and today’s demand response efforts, is another parallel. Meanwhile, expansion of the country’s transmission network remains a vital–and difficult–task; “We need it, but I don’t see an easy path to building it,” he noted.

Tags: Co-op News, Energy and Environment