Nearly 2,000 electric cooperative leaders will gather in the nation's capital this month for NRECA's Legislative Conference to engage members of Congress and the Trump administration and urge policymakers to take action to help meet the growing demand for electricity.

The conference will take place April 27-30 at the Marriott Marquis in downtown Washington, D.C. The number of registered attendees is the highest since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The Legislative Conference allows co-ops to speak to policymakers with one voice on issues that affect us and our local communities," NRECA CEO Jim Matheson said. “And while that is important every year, it is especially important at the start of a new Congress and a new administration."

Among the scheduled speakers for the conference's Monday general sessions are Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee; Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee; and Reps. Angie Craig, D-Minn., and Scott Peters, D-Calif., members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Co-op leaders will spend Tuesday and Wednesday visiting the offices of senators, House members and federal agencies to advocate for smart energy policies that help co-ops meet rising demand for power. Over the next 10 years, winter peak demand is expected to rise by about 18%, according to the North American Electric Reliability Corp.'s most recent Long-Term Reliability Assessment.

“Even in today's modern age of advocacy, there is still no more powerful tool than a good relationship and a face-to-face meeting with a policymaker," said Hill Thomas, NRECA's vice president of legislative affairs. “These have always been electric cooperative strong suits. Legislative Conference is the time to put that engagement to work."

NRECA members will urge Congress to pass additional reforms to environmental permitting that speeds up the process for co-ops to obtain federal approval to build crucial infrastructure projects. Co-op leaders want the legislation to include litigation reform that places reasonable limits on lawsuits seeking to block projects that have already received permits.

They also will be pressing senators to pass the Fix Our Forests Act to help co-ops defend against wildfires. The bill, approved by the House in January and introduced in the Senate this month, would greatly expand the ability of co-ops to remove “hazard trees" that are in danger of sparking fires by falling from federal property onto electric lines. Co-ops would be allowed to remove trees within 150 feet of their rights of way instead of the 10 feet that's currently permitted under federal law.

Co-op leaders will also urge policymakers to repeal the Environmental Protection Agency's power plant rule and protect hydroelectric power by opposing efforts begun in the Biden administration to breach the Lower Snake River dams.

To boost support for rural communities, co-ops will ask lawmakers to:

• Sign a “dear colleague" letter supporting full funding for the Rural Utilities Service Electric Loan program to finance construction of electric infrastructure projects. Co-ops repay these loans with interest, which makes money for the federal government.

• Protect electric co-ops' access to elective-pay tax credits to help them deploy new energy technologies, including carbon capture, nuclear, energy storage and renewables. For-profit utilities have long had access to such tax credits, and the elective-pay incentives help level the playing field for not-for-profit co-ops.

• Oppose cuts to federal grant and loan programs that are helping co-ops deploy new energy technologies, harden the grid, protect against cyberthreats, strengthen their systems against wildfires and more. The programs, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Energy, include Empowering Rural America (New ERA), Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE), Rural Energy for America (REAP) and Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP).

• Ensure that the Federal Emergency Management Agency continues to help fund the restoration of electric service after natural disasters. Without assistance from FEMA, co-ops say, recovery time and costs will increase dramatically for small rural communities.