Manager’s Message – February 2025

2025 Legislative Preview

Hello Lane Electric members,

I want to introduce myself as the interim general manager of Lane Electric Cooperative.

In July 2023, I retired from Central Electric Cooperative in Redmond, Oregon, after 17 years as president/CEO. I’m happy to assist Lane Electric for the next several months as the board of directors continues its national search for a new general manager.

While at CEC, I testified in Washington, D.C., and Salem in support of wildfire mitigation policy and the Federal Columbia River Power System.

On January 21, the 83rd Oregon Legislative Assembly convened in Salem, a few weeks after the 119th Congress began in Washington, D.C. The legislative session signifies several milestones, including a new Oregon Legislative Assembly, a new U.S. Congress, and a new presidential administration. This transition provides an excellent opportunity to shape policies that will protect and preserve the treasure of the Northwest: our reliable, carbon-free, and renewable hydropower system. Through our state and national associations—the Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association—we will have a voice in both capitals.

As always, there are several new faces on both sides of the aisle in Salem and 2 new members of Congress from our great state. Oregon’s electric cooperatives will work hard to build new relationships and continue existing relationships on a bipartisan basis with these decision-makers.

Wildfire policy will be an important issue in both capitals. The tragic fires last month in Los Angeles confirmed what we already knew: Wildfires can strike anywhere—rural or urban. We will continue pursuing policies that protect our communities from wildfire risks.

We will also engage with the new administration and the appropriate federal agencies to advocate for a commonsense approach to hydropower policy. As the Northwest’s demand for power grows, this is no time to eliminate a carbon-free, reliable form of electricity, as some have proposed.

There is no shortage of energy challenges, and we look forward to working with our elected officials to help solve them.

General Manager Dave Markham