Co-op electricity has transformed rural America, but the co-ops offer something even more electrifying: democratic power. Despite the strength and popular appeal of the co-op approach, RECs in regions where they are large and numerous have hardly been models of dynamic progress. Even when they face stagnant economies and widespread poverty, many co-ops charge exorbitant rates and cling to a toxic legacy of coal-fired power plants spewing pollutants. What happened?
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