Empowering Rural America Program Delivers Billions to Support Clean Energy.
15 Rural Electric Co-ops have landed almost $9 billion so far in USDA support to build clean energy projects and storage, improve the grid, and reduce pollution. Funding will benefit 1 in 5 Americans.
Rural Electric Cooperatives (RECs) and their supporters are celebrating nearly $9 billion in U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) support for clean energy development and pollution reduction. The funding is provided through the Empowering Rural America Program, (New ERA), established by the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act. USDA says that the investments make up the largest investment in rural electrification since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act into law in 1936.
The selected projects range from wind, solar, and nuclear energy production to REC-owned energy storage. Some RECs will use funds for improvements to energy grids and coal debt retirement. USDA says that the investments will collectively support 25,000 jobs, build 13 gigawatts of clean energy/coal plant retirements, and remove 55 million metric tonnes of polluting greenhouse gases per year.
USDA estimates that federal funds will leverage a total of $35 billion in REC investments once state, local, and private funds are included in projected New ERA outcomes.
The Cocklebur created the following table using USDA information to profile the 15 REC grant recipients and their reported emission reductions and clean energy benefits.
The Cocklebur covers rural policy and politics from a progressive point-of-view. Our work focuses on a tangled rural political reality of dishonest debate, economic and racial disparities, corporate power over our democracy, and disinformation peddled by conservative media outlets. We aim to use facts, data, and science to inform our point-of-view. We wear our complicated love/WTF relationship with rural America on our sleeve.
So important to highlight this investment, Bryce. Thanks!