View source for Rural Utilities Service

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Short description|USDA electrical, water, telecomm agency}}
{{redirect-distinguish|The Rural Broadband Association|NTCA - The Rural Broadband Association}}
{{Infobox government agency
| name = Rural Utilities Service
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| chief1_name = [[Andrew Berke]]
| chief1_position = Administrator<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rd.usda.gov/about-rd/leadership/administrators/andrew-berke |title=Andrew Berke |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221012193524/https://www.rd.usda.gov/about-rd/leadership/administrators/andrew-berke |archive-date=12 Oct 2022 |website=Rural Development Website |publisher=U.S. Department of Agriculture |access-date=12 October 2022}}</ref>
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The United States '''Rural Utilities Service''' ('''RUS''') administers programs that provide infrastructure or infrastructure improvements to [[Rural America|rural communities]]. These include water and waste treatment, electric power, and telecommunications services.<ref name="rus">{{cite web|title=Rural Utilities Service|url=https://www.rd.usda.gov/about-rd/agencies/rural-utilities-service|website=USDA|access-date=3 March 2016}}</ref> It is an operating unit of the [[USDA Rural Development]] agency of the [[United States Department of Agriculture]] (USDA). It was created in 1935 as the '''Rural Electrification Administration''' ('''REA'''), a [[New Deal]] agency promoting rural electrification.

==Overview==
The RUS administers the following programs:

* Water and Environmental: provides financial assistance for drinking water, sanitary sewer, solid waste and storm drainage facilities in rural areas and communities with a population of 10,000 or less.<ref name="rus"/>
* Electric Programs: help maintain, expand, upgrade and modernize the rural electric infrastructure. It also supports demand-side management, [[Efficient energy use|energy efficiency]] and conservation programs, and on- and off-grid renewable energy systems.<ref name="rus"/>
* Telecommunications: helps deploy the rural telecommunications infrastructure.<ref name="rus"/>

==Financial assistance==
A total of 890 rural electric and 800 rural telecommunications utilities in 47 states, [[Puerto Rico]], the [[United States Virgin Islands|Virgin Islands]], [[Guam]], [[Marshall Islands|the Marshall Islands]], the [[Northern Mariana Islands]], and the [[Federated States of Micronesia]] have received financial assistance. Approximately 7,200 rural communities are served through financial assistance received from water and waste loans and grants.<ref>{{cite web|title=Rural Utilities Service|url=https://www.federalregister.gov/agencies/rural-utilities-service|website=Federal Register|access-date=3 March 2016}}</ref>

In 2023, RUS was in charge of the ReConnect Program; this Biden administration program is overseen by the Agriculture Department<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/press-releases/2023/08/21/biden-harris-administration-announces-nearly-700-million-connect-people-remote-and-rural-areas-high|title=Biden-Harris Administration Announces Nearly $700 Million to Connect People in Remote and Rural Areas to High-Speed Internet &#124; USDA|website=www.usda.gov}}</ref> to expand broadband Internet access to rural parts of America, including the [[Marshall Islands]].

== Rural Electrification Administration ==
{{multiple image
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| image1    = Light - Rural electrification administration - Beall. LCCN2010646236.jpg
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| caption1  = One of the posters designed by [[Lester Beall]] in the 1930s to promote the Rural Electrification Administration of the U.S. Department of Agriculture
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| image2    = Trempealeau-Electric-Cooperative-Arcadia-Wis.jpg
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| caption2  = Farmer watching a lineman at work in [[Trempealeau County, Wisconsin]] (c. 1936)

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The RUS originated with the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), one of the agencies created under the New Deal in 1935 to promote [[rural electrification]]. The REA was created by [[s:Executive Order 7037|executive order]] on May 11, 1935, by President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]].<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-7037-establishing-the-rural-electrification-administration |title= Franklin D. Roosevelt: Executive Order 7037 Establishing the Rural Electrification Administration, May 11, 1935 |author1=Peters, Gerhard |author2=Woolley, John T |publisher = University of California – Santa Barbara |work= The American Presidency Project |access-date=February 10, 2021}}</ref> Enacted the following year, the [[Rural Electrification Act]] provided federal loans for the installation of [[electrical distribution]] systems to serve [[Rural America|rural areas of the United States]].

In the 1930s, the U.S. lagged behind Europe in providing electricity to rural areas. In 1934, less than 11% of U.S. farms had electricity. That same year, in France and Germany, nearly 90% of farms had electricity.
Backed by the 1936 [[Rural Electrification Act]] the REA gave loans and other help to rural organizations setting up their own power systems and was one of the [[New Deal]]'s most successful programs.<ref>{{cite web|last1=McChesney|first1=Paul|last2=Podesta|first2=John|title=Let There Be Wi-Fi|date=2 January 2006 |url=https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/januaryfebruary-2006/let-there-be-wi-fi|publisher=Washington Monthly|access-date=3 March 2016|ref=washingtonmonthly}}</ref> By 1937, hundreds of new municipal power utilities were created nationwide. In 1939, 288,000 households had their electricity provided by rural electric cooperatives. Most of these electric co-ops had applied for and received loans from REA. By 1942, nearly 50% of US farms had electricity, and by 1952 almost all US farms had electricity.<ref>''FDR: The New Deal Years, 1933–1937'', pages 491–92, by Kenneth S. Davis. Published by Random House, 1986</ref>

In 1949, the REA became authorized to provide loans to rural telephone cooperatives.<ref>{{cite web|title=History of Rural Telecommunications|url=https://www.ntca.org/ruraliscool/history-rural-telecommunications|website=The Rural Broadband Association|access-date=3 March 2016}}</ref>

Under the [[Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994]] the REA was absorbed by the Rural Utilities Service (RUS).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |author=Laurence Malone |title=Rural Electrification Administration |encyclopedia=EH.Net Encyclopedia |editor=Robert Whaples |editor-link=Robert Whaples |publisher=[[Economic History Association]] |date=March 16, 2008 |access-date=July 31, 2016 |url=https://eh.net/encyclopedia/rural-electrification-administration/}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant and Loan Program]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Rural Utilities Service}}
* {{Official website|https://www.rd.usda.gov/about-rd/agencies/rural-utilities-service}}

{{ES Government}}
{{USDA agencies}}
{{New Deal}}
{{Electricity grid modernization}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Government agencies established in 1935]]
[[Category:1935 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:Utility cooperatives in the United States| ]]
[[Category:Energy in the United States]]
[[Category:Rural development in the United States]]
[[Category:New Deal agencies]]
[[Category:United States Department of Agriculture agencies]]
[[Category:Federal assistance in the United States]]
[[Category:Rural electrification in the United States]]