Thank you, Congressman Newhouse, for visiting Benton REA to discuss the Retreat wildfire that is impacting their service area. Federal funding, wildfire mitigation and utility liability are important issues and we appreciate your support.
Congressman Newhouse visited Benton REA to receive an update on the Retreat wildfire that is currently impacting our service territory. We spoke about the need to secure federal funding to rebuild and improve our system quickly after a wildfire. We also spoke about our current wildfire mitigation practices and the need to reduce a utilities liability, especially when they are following industry best practices. We then toured a nearby substation to talk about how we deliver reliable electricity to our 12,000 members.