New communications staffer welcomed

October 4, 2019—Julie Lund, newly hired for the position of Director of News and Communication at WECA, begins her duties October 4 at the statewide organization’s Madison offices. Lund will succeed Dave Hoopman who currently holds the position and plans retirement at the end of November. A Wisconsin native, Lund is a UW – La Crosse graduate holding a degree in Mass Communications with emphasis in television production. She has been a news reporter, producer, and anchor at TV stations in Rhinelander and Madison. She has also held a variety of media related positions with the State of Wisconsin. Lund is to assume the duties of WECA’s director of news and communication in her own right as of December 1.

Guatamala: Partners for a Brighter Tomorrow

October 1, 2019—Twelve volunteer linemen from Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa electric cooperatives are traveling to Guatemala today to help a rural village get electricity for the first time. This project—Partners for a Brighter Tomorrow—will provide power to 42 homes, a school, and a health post. This project was made possible by NRECA International, a non-profit 501(c) (3) charitable organization, whose mission is to increase individual and community access to electricity in all parts of the world.

Leaders descend on D.C. for fall fly-in

September 5, 2019—Leaders from Wisconsin’s electric cooperatives spoke this week with members of their congressional delegation on the importance of passing two key pieces of legislation. The RURAL Act would amend the tax code to ensure electric cooperatives do not lose their tax-exempt status when they receive federal, state, or local government grants and assistance, such as FEMA disaster relief and rural broadband grants. This measure would fix an unintended consequence of a change in the tax code from the 2017 tax reform bill. Without this fix, the current tax provisions would threaten our members’ ability to recover from major natural disasters or deploy critical infrastructure for broadband.

 

Magazine garners more national awards

August 6, 2019—Two Wisconsin Energy Cooperative News articles received national recognition in August, in a competition designed to reward strong efforts in co-op journalism.

The October 2018 article “Empowering Enterprise” and the April 2019 story “Good News is No News” each earned an Award of Merit from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s Statewide Editors Association.
 
The October article, describing Central Wisconsin Electric Cooperative’s long-term success fostering economic development in the communities it serves, was honored in the category of Best Feature Communicating a Cooperative Principle or Touchstone Energy Core Value.
 
The April story, honored in the category of Best News Feature, contrasted negative public and media perceptions of environmental quality against the reality of several decade’s environmental improvement, exemplified by massive growth of U.S. energy production and consumption since 1970 even as pollutant emission volumes have plummeted. 
 
The awards mark the Wisconsin statewide magazine’s second consecutive year of double recognition. Last year, the magazine won in the Best Editorial category and the Best News Feature category. 

Habitat-restoration projects are blooming at Wisconsin’s electric cooperatives

July 30, 2019—There’s a certain buzz in the air around many of Wisconsin’s electric cooperatives, and it’s hovering around the pollinator gardens that have been popping up on co-op properties throughout the state.

At some co-op headquarters, traditional floral landscaping and stretches of sunny green lawn have been replaced with native pollinator plantings that are just coming into bloom. Often tended by co-op employees, these plants attract the pollinators—including bees, butterflies, and birds—that are needed for the reproduction of about one third of all human food crops, as well as 75 percent of flowering plants, according to pollinator.org.

Co-ops hail disaster funds included in state budget

July 3, 2019—Rural energy consumers won’t be left to cope on their own when natural disasters strike, thanks to a pair of bipartisan provisions included in the state budget bill signed into law today by Governor Tony Evers.
 
The Wisconsin Electric Cooperative Association (WECA) hailed retention of the two items in the budget package, one providing direct assistance to a cooperative forced to repair and replace an underwater power cable knocked out of service by winter ice, and another re-establishing electric co-ops’ eligibility to make direct application for aid from the Wisconsin Disaster Fund.