Intercounty Electric Cooperative Association will receive more than $1.1 million to offset the costs to repair its electrical distribution system in six counties after electrical services were knocked out in May 2009 due to high winds, heavy rain and tornadoes.
Sen. Claire McCaskill announced $1,121,372.27 in federal grant money will be given to Intercounty through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency. Intercounty had repaired its systems in Dent, Maries, Phelps, Pulaski, Shannon, Texas and Wright counties following the May storms.
McCaskill believes that federal grants and loans are a positive alternative to earmarks, which in the past have frequently had too little accountability. Competitive merit and need based federal grants and low-interest government loans bring federal assistance to Missouri in an honest and fiscally responsible manner.