Release No. 0145.99
April 1, 1999
"The Department of Agriculture has a special interest in the infrastructure serving rural America. The Rural Utilities Service (RUS), an agency of USDA, helps provide electric power to rural America by financing power distribution, generation and transmission systems. RUS makes and guarantees loans to nonprofit and cooperative associations, public bodies and others that bring power to 25 million Americans. That is why the Department is working within the Administration to help craft legislation that permits the restructuring of electric power in a way that ensures affordable, reliable and safe electric power continues to flow to rural areas.
"During the past two weeks, several national news publications have run articles citing a USDA study of the effects of restructuring of the U.S. electric power industry on rural areas. The articles summarized an internal, draft USDA assessment that was incomplete and has not been released or published. USDA's Office of Energy Policy and New Uses, under the direction of Dr. Roger Conway, is responsible for assessing possible economic effects on rural electric consumers. The leaked report was work the Office had underway to examine potential risks to rural electric consumers under specific assumptions about electric power restructuring. The document was not an analysis of the Administration's bill and did not suggest what would occur if the Administration's bill was enacted.
"It is unfortunate that an incomplete and potentially misleading internal document was leaked to the public, and people should be cautioned against using the media-reported results to draw inferences about the likely effects of electricity restructuring or the implications for public policy. The leaked document contained one scenario for electric power rates in rural areas, and since other scenarios are also possible, and considered more likely by a number of people, it would be incorrect to use the leaked results as a statement of what is expected under deregulation. The Office of Energy Policy and New Uses will continue to refine its work and work with the Department of Energy to assess the range of impacts likely for rural electric consumers."
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