USDA Is Under Fire For Freezing Rural Clean Energy Funding. It's Just a Bait and Switch.

The Department of Agriculture's announcement that they are releasing funding for rural energy projects is simply an attempt at crowd control.

Part 2 in today’s edition of USDA attempts to silence the masses as they withhold billions of dollars in funding from rural America.

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced March 25, 2025, that they will be releasing previously obligated funding for three rural clean energy programs: Rural Energy For America Program (REAP), Empowering Rural America (New ERA) and Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) programs. All three programs received billions of dollars in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Congress during the Biden Administration.

(NOTE—I would have linked to New ERA and PACE also, but the Trump USDA appears to have scraped those programs from their website)

But—AND THIS IS A BIG BUT—funding will be only be released if project proponents bend the knee and amend their contracts to the Trump Administration’s anti-clean energy agenda. (Clean energy is one of rural America’s fastest growing sectors, creating jobs and reducing energy bills throughout the countryside)

The Trump Administration is withholding billions in funding from these programs that benefit farmers, rural small business owners, and rural electric cooperatives as part of its witch hunt against what it calls “harmful DEIA,” “far-left climate,” and “Green New Deal” initiatives at the agency. They claim that projects will have 30 days to revise their contracts by updating their project plans under the Trump Administration’s terms or they will be “voluntarily terminated.”

The thing is, all of the grant applications and budgets and workplans were written, evaluated, and ultimately awarded on the volume of greenhouse gas reductions they were to accomplish. They also were awarded for creating jobs and lowering utility bills in socially disadvantaged communities (see “DEIA” above).

Many news publications are already running stories with headlines saying something like “USDA restores funding.” Don’t take the bait. USDA is just trying to confuse people and create a “he-said/she-said” situation. It’s misinformation, deception, and chaos designed to pacify the immense amount of pressure they’re under as they slash the federal government.

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins admits as much in the USDA announcement, saying the “announcement underscores the Trump Administration’s commitment to rural communities .including the farmers, ranchers, and small businesses at their core.”

You only have to “underscore” your “commitment” if those things are being questioned.

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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.