With the national debt topping $35 trillion, President Biden will visit the battleground state of Wisconsin on Thursday and pledge $7.3 billion in spending on “clean energy.”
President Biden and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack are scheduled to visit Westby, Wisconsin on Thursday to announce the Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program, which will provide more than $7.3 billion in funding to rural electric cooperatives to bring clean energy to rural areas across the U.S. The administration touted that New ERA and other investments in rural clean energy in the President's Controlling Inflation Act represent the largest rural electrification investment since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act in 1936 as part of the New Deal.
According to the administration, the 16 selections funded by Biden's Invest in America initiative will leverage more than $29 billion in private investment to build more than 10 gigawatts of clean energy in rural areas across the country, reducing and avoiding at least 43.7 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually — the equivalent of taking more than 10 million cars off the road each year.
“This is an exciting announcement that will have a major impact across 23 states, bringing the promise of clean energy and lower costs to nearly 5 million households, 20 percent of the nation's rural households, as well as farms and businesses in those 23 states,” Vilsack told reporters on a conference call previewing the announcement on Wednesday.
The announcement came as the U.S. Treasury Department puts the national debt at more than $35 trillion, but a White House fact sheet explained that it was part of the president's “series of efforts designed to demonstrate how the Biden-Harris Administration's 'Invest in America' policies will improve the lives of Americans across the country and sow the seeds of a better future for decades to come.”
President Biden speaks with virtual participants at the start of the Investing in America event, at the South Court Auditorium in the White House complex, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
“Manufacturing is coming back to life in communities across the country,” White House deputy chief of staff Natalie Killian told reporters Wednesday, touting Biden's “Invest in America” policies, which include the American Rescue Plan, bipartisan infrastructure legislation, the Semiconductor and Science Act and the Beat Inflation Act.
“Biden's policies have spurred more than $910 billion in private sector investment in manufacturing and clean energy,” Killian said of Biden. “We're building a clean energy economy that will lower costs for millions of families and businesses, and we're making the most ambitious infrastructure investments in a generation, including high-speed internet, clean water and clean electricity.”
“What's important is that in 2021, Trump talks about the need for good-paying jobs and opportunity for rural America, he talks about the need to address the climate crisis, and tomorrow he's announcing $7.3 billion from the Controlling Inflation Act for clean, affordable and reliable electricity,” the deputy chief of staff added. “This is the largest rural electrification investment since the Franklin Roosevelt administration, it will spur economic development and lower costs for millions of Americans, and it will create 4,500 full-time jobs and 16,000 construction jobs.”
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack testifies during a Senate Agriculture and Nutrition Committee Oversight Hearing on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Maryam Zuhaib, File)
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In Wisconsin, Dairyland Power Cooperative received its first New ERA award of approximately $573 million and plans to leverage it for a total project investment of $2.1 billion.
According to the White House, Dairyland plans to procure 1,080 megawatts of renewable energy through eight wind and solar power purchase agreements, four solar farms, and four wind farms in rural Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and Illinois. Dairyland estimates that its members' electricity bills will be 42 percent lower over 10 years than they would be without New Era's financial assistance.
A contractor installs solar panels in Rodeo, California, on July 31, 2024. President Biden is set to announce $7.3 billion in new clean energy spending on Thursday. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“This is a $573 million commitment that USDA is making using Inflation Control Act resources in the form of approximately $471 million in grants and approximately $102 million in loans,” Vilsack said Wednesday. “This creates an opportunity for this particular cooperative to purchase and finance eight power purchase agreements for solar and wind generating facilities across its Wisconsin service territory. This is an opportunity to lower electric bills for Dairyland Cooperative customers by approximately 42 percent over the next 10 years.”
The White House said the 16 cooperatives are intended to benefit rural communities in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
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He said the Dairyland Cooperative Association will also make its own investment in the project and fund community benefit plans. “The total cost of the project will be just over $2 billion,” Vilsack told reporters. “These benefit plans are designed to provide direct support and assistance to the farmers who will benefit from this clean energy, as well as to lead to job opportunities.”
