National Grange Joins Alliance for Rural America

September 12, 2000

The National Grange, the nation's oldest general farm and rural public interest organization, is joining the Alliance for Rural America (ARA). The ARA was formed in 1998 to give farmers and rural consumers a strong and unified voice as energy deregulation and environmental issues are debated in Washington, DC and in individual states. National Grange has nearly 300,000 members nationwide who are affiliated with more than 3,800 local chapters in 37 states.

Referring to the current congressional debate on electric restructuring National Grange President Kermit Richardson said, "The National Grange is proud to be joining the Alliance for Rural America to work cooperatively with other farm and rural organizations to pursue our mutual goals of assuring that rural Americans have access to safe, reliable and cost competitive electricity service. Family farmers and rural Americans are dependent on a reliable system that generates and distributes electricity at a fair price. The National Grange believes that any deregulation or restructuring of the electric utility industry must protect the interests of rural Americans and bring the economic benefits of deregulation directly on to every farm and into every rural home and small business."

He also said the Grange believes state governments are "better positioned to devise and implement electricity deregulation programs" that will assure universal service for all rural residents as well as bring the economic benefits of deregulation to the rural areas of each state. "Only after state governments have devised and implemented their electricity deregulation programs should federal legislation be considered to assure the safety and reliability of the nationwide electricity distribution system," said Richardson.

In welcoming the National Grange to the Alliance ARA spokesman Gary Goldberg said, "It's clear from the congressional debate over electric restructuring and recent Environmental Protection Agency rulemakings that policymakers in Washington are paying attention to rural concerns."

With the addition of The National Grange the ARA now represents more than 550,000 farm and rural families from across the country, Goldberg said.

Other ARA members are: American Agriculture Movement, American Corn Growers Association, Federation of Southern Cooperatives, National Association of Farmer Elected Committees, National Farmers Organization, and Women Involved in Farm Economics.