NE Ark. electric coops land $49.7 million in USDA loans

The Farmers Electric Cooperative in Newport and the Clay County Electric Cooperative are getting nearly $50 million in U.S. Department of Agriculture loans to pay for hundreds of miles of new and improved power lines and thousands of miles of fiber-optic line for communication. Farmers Electric, which has 994 miles of electric line for 5,100 members in Independence, Jackson, Poinsett and Woodruff counties, is getting $19.7 million for 151 miles of line to connect 866 consumers. That loan includes $4.3 million for smart grid technology with 161 miles of backbone...