United Electric Cooperative, a rural electric system based in Andrew and Nodaway counties, will use the loan to build or continue current improvements to 164 miles of line, along with other work to the system. The amount includes $3.5 million for smart grid projects designed to introduce the latest technology to the utility’s services.
The financing is part of $3.6 billion in loans for 82 electric projects in 31 states. The packages aim to bankroll infrastructure upgrades, create jobs and improve operations for rural electric customers across the nation.
The loans are provided through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Electric Program of the Rural Utilities Service, which succeeded the Rural Electrification Administration that was created in the 1930s. The measure gave the USDA the authority to bring electric power to rural areas. Loans and loan guarantees are made to nonprofit and cooperative associations, public bodies and other utilities.
“It’s an incredible investment, an historic investment, in the rural economy,” Vilsack said while visiting the United Electric office in Savannah, Missouri. “We are heavily investing in the economic opportunities in rural Missouri.”
The secretary added that the rural areas need more attention due to their importance to the nation. That, he said, should include a renewed focus in the next Farm Bill.
“I think there’s an incredible amount of good stuff going on in rural areas,” Vilsack said. “No one should be put at a disadvantage just because they happen to be living in the wrong ZIP code.”
Resources such as the loans go beyond their normal tasks and are crucial to the further development of regions such as Northwest Missouri, he told a small gathering of government personnel.
“They also enhance economic opportunity,” he said. “They support job creation, and they support the small businesses, the farmsteads, the small communities that give rise to new opportunities in rural areas.”
Vilsack earlier had participated in a private roundtable discussion that Missouri Department of Agriculture Director Richard Fordyce labeled as consisting of “innovators and supporters of clean and renewable energy.”
The panel, Fordyce said, offered suggestions to Vilsack and compliments on achievements attained over his last years of effort in the Obama administration.
Gene Dorrel, United Electric’s chief executive officer, also attended the announcement.
©2016 the St. Joseph News-Press (St. Joseph, Mo.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
