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Discover how Tri-State and our members are embracing the opportunity to power the West in our new podcast, Western Watts!
We'll dive into the heart of energy issues, from reliability to wildfire mitigation, and share firsthand insights relevant to rural, agricultural and mountain communities across Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico and Wyoming.
On This podcast may contain certain forward looking statements concerning Tri-State's plans, performance, and strategies. Actual results may differ materially because of numerous factors, and Tri-State undertakes no obligation to update these forward looking statements. We urge you to review Tri-State's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a discussion of these factors.
Elizabeth Schilling:So as an intro, if you can let us know your name cooperative, your role, and how many Tri-State Annual meetings you've been to.
Corey Robinson:Great. Thank you. Yeah. Thanks for having me. My name's Corey Robinson.
Corey Robinson:I'm from Empire Electric. I'm on serve on the board of directors there, and I am the owner representative to the Tri-State Board from Empire. I live in Cortez, Colorado in the very Southwest corner of the state, and Empire serves the Southwestern corner of Colorado and up into a little little bit of Utah even. Right. And it is my first annual meeting.
Corey Robinson:I am the new guy.
Elizabeth Schilling:Yay. Well, we're glad to have you here. Yeah. So I hear you self describe as an energy nerd and that you also have a background as a photographer and documentarian. So it seems like you have a love for protecting and preserving the land.
Elizabeth Schilling:So how do you think about the role of your cooperative and what it plays in balancing and maintaining reliable service while also protecting the history of Cortez?
Corey Robinson:Yeah, big question. But I think a lot of it gets to a lot of the reasons we love where we live. Right in our backyard, we have big mountains. We have big, steep red rock canyons and kind of everything in between. So the physical geography is a huge draw for us, and it's not too busy either.
Corey Robinson:One of my favorite stats about Montezuma County, where we live, is there were more people living there a thousand years ago than there are today. That gives you a sense of kind of the rural nature of things, and and the evidence of those people are are everywhere as well. You know, whether it's at Mesa Verde or Canyons Of The Ancients, the archeological, sites in our area are are really remarkable. So while those are all really wonderful things for us as we live there, it's a really big challenge to serve, our member owners with electricity. So it makes me really proud, of the work that Empire does and Tri-State to affordably and reliably serve our member owners, and meet their electrical needs.
Corey Robinson:One of the other things that I love about where we live is that it is one of the sunniest places in the state, and that's a a resource that is in need now and, is is in demand. And so we're really proud in our service territory to host the Dolores Canyon Solar Project, which is one of Tri-State's first owned projects, and, certainly hope to, bring more of the tax dollars and jobs to our rural community in in smart, responsible development in in that area. So it's it's a it's a difficult area to serve, but we love it. We call it home. And we're really proud of the work that Empire and Tri-State does to keep it viable and affordable.
Elizabeth Schilling:That's great. Yeah, difficult to serve, but definitely beautiful. So when thinking about things like wildfire mitigation out there, why is that important to Tri-State's board and to the cooperatives?
Corey Robinson:Yeah. Wildfire is a big one. It's certainly an existential threat for any utility. We we worry about it from, you know, from financial reasons, but also because we're members of the community. And and if if we were to be responsible for a fire, that would be just devastating for our neighbors and our businesses and our on our economy.
Corey Robinson:So we take it very seriously, certainly. At Empire and Tri-State I know we have significant vegetation management policies that we adhere to and constantly are working on. We're also using, advanced technologies to try to prevent first spark from ever, ever happening. So, you know, one of the things that we're talking to our policymakers are about is, you know, this risk that all utilities face in providing reliable service. There there is risk of of fire all the time.
Corey Robinson:It's just in the nature of the business that we we are in. So we're hoping that by communicating the superior business model that we as a non-profit cooperative enjoy, you know, we we all of the benefits of this slide down to our member owners, but on the other side of coin, all the risk does it well. So we need to have a better policy framework in place to kind of hedge the risk and acknowledge that we need the systems to take care of the members at the end of the line just as much as everybody else when it comes to wildfire liability and risk and that sort of thing. So that's on the top of mind for us as well.
Elizabeth Schilling:So enhancing those local voices, it sounds like, is really important. And knowing you were just involved in Tri-State's first DC fly in, can you tell me a little bit about that experience?
Corey Robinson:Yeah, that was really unique. I've never done anything like that, so I really appreciate the opportunity. Thanks to Evan and Shelby for putting together a really productive, what ended up being twenty four hours for me there. And and also thanks to my in laws for watching my son, My wife works.
Corey Robinson:So it's like I think a lot of board members will say it takes a village to be able to travel up to Denver or DC wherever we're needed. So just shout out to them. But, yeah, we had a really compelling story to tell. We were there to talk about the new era of money as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. And, like I said, when it when it comes to the member benefits and the member risks, it's all our member owners.
Corey Robinson:That get to enjoy this. And and the new era money was one of the first large investments in in rural electric cooperatives in decades. And the benefits were gonna be felt by by our members, not by Wall Street, not by our investors. And it it really, the story of of being able to level the playing field for our rural communities as we compete against investor owned utilities was really strong for really anybody that listened. I yeah.
Corey Robinson:It was it was a busy day, but also a lot of hurry up and wait, which we learned. When you have the attention of the policymaker, you have to really pounce on that, and then you might get delayed for an hour or two. So I really valued getting to learn from the other member CEOs and board members that were able to go just in those little in between moments. I think that the you know, it's no secret that the board certainly has diverse opinions on a lot of different things. And while at times that gives me some major heartburn, I think there's a lot of times where there's a lot of value in that.
Corey Robinson:And and being in DC was absolutely one of those times. We we were able to get basically any door open for us and had a trusted messenger for whoever we were talking to across the political spectrum. And and it just comes back to this really strong story that we have to tell around the benefit of these dollars to all rural Americans when it comes to reliable and affordable energy. So I thought it very interesting, really eye opening to see kind of the halls of Congress and get to speak with these people that you read about in the newspaper tell them about the important work that our cooperative is doing for this essential service that we all enjoy. And I'm certainly ecstatic about the news last week that the money was unfrozen, and we'll be able to continue on as planned with those dollars in the mix.
Elizabeth Schilling:That's great to hear. I think that local perspective that you can share, that's just huge. And doing it face to face, it feels like really makes a difference.
Corey Robinson:That's what we were told. I more and more am a believer in that as well. I mean, just with the attentional economy these days, we're pulled in so many different directions, and a phone call, an email, even our lobbyists going to talk to them is is different than than spending the precious few minutes that you have in a day face to face with someone. There's some psychology piece there that gives it a much a larger outsized impact that I think I I initially guess, certainly. So I think that it was worth it.
Corey Robinson:It's a big lift for everybody, certainly, but I really do I'm coming to learn that those conversations make a bigger difference than you might expect.
Elizabeth Schilling:Sounds like they do. Well, on the topic of in person and the difference that it makes, speaking to things like the annual meeting and the membership meeting, why do you feel like these kinds of in person meetings are important as well?
Corey Robinson:Yeah. I think it comes back to my you know, what we choose to spend our attention on is really, you know, what we what we deem important, what how we, kind of manage our lives. And I think with our phones and emails and everything, it's just trying to be extracted from us in all of these terrible ways that waste a lot of our time. And by people investing the time into these really, really important decisions that are being made at both distribution co ops and at the G&T level, I think shows a deep understanding that these decisions matter a lot. And whether it's the conversations in the hallways or being able to ask a question from a staff member that you bump into, that that doesn't happen from a newsletter.
Corey Robinson:It doesn't happen from a Zoom call even. And there's certainly a time and place for that as well. We all have crazy lives. There are times when you just can't make it work to go in person, and I'm so thankful for the technology that we have available. But it makes a big difference certainly for me in the position of being asked to make some pretty weighty decisions around the future of the association.
Corey Robinson:I feel a lot more comfortable when I can have a face to face conversation with somebody, when I can have, you know, just a a small conversation in a hall where there was this one thing that I didn't quite understand, and I can bug Lisa Tiffin about it, and she's so gracious about answering all my questions. And it just makes me feel a lot more comfortable when I go to vote on something in the boardroom that I've I've I've explored every avenue that I I think is important when when considering these decisions that have a huge effect on on a a big population.
Elizabeth Schilling:Right. Well, we're glad to have you here for the event, and thank you for taking the time to chat with me today.
Corey Robinson:Yeah. Thank you very much.
Elizabeth Schilling:Thanks for tuning in to Western Watts. You can find us on Spotify, Apple Podcast, YouTube, or on our website at tristate.coop/wwpod. We'll catch you next time.