Number: 1985-03
WHEREAS, the Rural Electrification Act has brought the benefits of affordable electric power to the millions of rural families in need of such services; and
WHEREAS, the activities of many rural electric cooperatives now extend far beyond the distribution of electric power in rural areas, and include major investment in coal, nuclear, hydroelectric power plants, and high voltage transmission lines, with resulting significant environmental impacts; and
WHEREAS, the investment of rural electric cooperatives in environmentally damaging power plants and transmission lines has been encouraged by the availability of Federal loans, bearing an interest rate of 5%, and loan guarantees; and
WHEREAS, continued subsidized investment in new electric power plants undercuts energy conservation efforts; and
WHEREAS, the rural electrification revolving fund is deteriorating because it loans money at low interest rates during this period of high market interest rates;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation, in annual meeting assembled March 14-17, 1985, in Arlington, Virginia, supports an orderly termination of Federal subsidies for new power plants and high voltage transmission lines through the rural electrification program, by means of: the timely repayment of all currently outstanding loans owed to the Treasury; the elimination of interest rate subsidies for new power plant construction; greater reliance on the private sector to share the costs and risks of financing future construction projects; and targeting new less-than-market interest rate loans to distribution system improvements necessary to maintain rural electric service and to energy conservation plans and programs of rural electric cooperatives.