Trump’s rural energy freeze hits Midwest, GOP districts hardest

This story was originally published by Canary Media Ongoing delays and disruptions to a federal rural capacity campaign threaten to disproportionately impact Midwest farmers and Republican congressional districts experts say For more than two decades the Rural Potential for America Venture REAP has helped thousands of farmers install solar energy-efficient grain dryers biodigesters wind turbines and other cost-saving clean vigor improvements Since Illinois has benefited more than any other state with over million in REAP grants according to federal records obtained by the Chicago-based Environmental Law Framework Center through a constituents records request Minnesota Iowa Michigan and Ohio are also in the top states receiving grants during that period REAP proponents say the numbers show what s at stake as the project faces chaos and uncertainty under the Trump administration It s popular with all different stripes not just political stripes any type of farmer reported Lloyd Ritter who helped draft the initiative as senior counsel for former Sen Tom Harkin D-Iowa It could be poultry corn soybeans wheat everybody benefits because the project is so flexible and innovative you can utilize the initiative for your type of requirements in your area Related Conservative clean potency advocates keep Trump s rhetoric at arm s length Carmen Fernholz and his wife are among the success stories The couple has run an organic farm in Minnesota for more than years Last summer Fernholz used a REAP grant to install a -kilowatt solar array It powers everything on the farm from the electric lawnmower to the heating and over the last year he s earned an additional a month on average by sending electricity on the grid back to his rural electric cooperative Since REAP has provided more than billion for more than solar projects making up about of the total REAP dollars More than million went to potency efficiency including for windows lighting heating and efficient grain driers Millions more were awarded for biogas biomass biofuels wind strength hydroelectric power and other projects This has created crucial potency savings and revenue for farmers as well as significant business for solar developers energy-efficiency auditors and various types of contractors Farmers raising livestock and poultry and growing corn soy and other crops are the largest part common recipients of REAP but funds have also gone to small rural businesses including distilleries breweries a car wash a mental wellbeing clinic a newspaper publisher and a moving company More than of the grants went to congressional districts represented by Republicans Ritter noted that REAP was a deeply bipartisan effort from the start led by both Harkin and former Republican Sen Richard Lugar of Indiana These are their voters Ritter noted of Republican leaders The thing that is so great about REAP is it lowers power costs and saves farmers money which ties into the Trump administration agriculture secretary s up-to-date announcements about building rural prosperity and farm guard REAP s IRA boost is likely to end under GOP The operation was turbocharged by the Inflation Reduction Act IRA Under the federal Farm Bill REAP grants covered up to of a project s costs The IRA created an additional funding source and allowed grants to cover up to of a project s cost More than billion in REAP grants have been promised or obligated under IRA in just the past two years while since Farm Bill REAP grants have totaled million More than of the IRA REAP grants totaling million were awarded to solar projects more than of them nationwide Those arrays are expected to generate over gigawatt-hours of clean ability annually according to the federal input REAP grants are paid as reimbursement after a project is completed About million worth of IRA-funded REAP grants have not been paid out yet according to the input That s not surprising given that projects may still be under construction but after President Donald Trump froze IRA funds earlier this year a few farmers and clean strength advocates are worried about whether promised grants will be paid in full Andy Olsen senior procedures advocate for the Environmental Law Procedures Center has done extensive figures analysis on REAP Given the Trump administration s hostility toward clean strength he wonders what REAP will look like in the future Will they encouragement solar and wind projects Olsen sought This is a crew that likes refineries likes ethanol big centralized ability technologies I could see them only making awards to biomass ethanol maybe specific capacity efficiency In addition to grants REAP provides loan guarantees for projects That money does not go directly to the recipient but the guarantee helps them secure private financing since the executive promises to back up the loan if the recipient were to default More than billion worth of loan guarantees have been made under REAP since the material shows While the majority of REAP grants go to solar and capacity efficiency REAP has also obligated over million to biogas biofuel and biomass projects over million to wind and more than million each to hydroelectric and geothermal projects Battery projects are also eligible for REAP though only a inadequate of those grants have been made thus far Fernholz the farmer in Minnesota hopes he can tap such a grant in the future The next step for people like myself should be looking at resource storage stated Fernholz who grew up on his parents farm as one of nine siblings He uses sustainable practices like conservation tillage and a tiling system to keep water from running off into nearby rivers He also has acres of native grassland and wetlands in a conservation reserve initiative Solar is a major contribution to these efforts When the REAP grant came through that was a blessing the frosting on the cake Fernholz mentioned How a Trump initiative to preserve farmland could backfire A contemporary U S Department of Agriculture approach document which outlines a strategy to Make Agriculture Great Again says that going forward REAP will disincentivize solar on productive farmland Ritter is worried that means limited ground-mounted solar arrays will receive grants though he imagines panels on barn and farmhouse rooftops will still be awarded I can understand there are selected concerns about the loss of farmland It s an emotional issue Ritter mentioned But he notes that housing advance is the largest cause of farmland loss Indeed the American Farmland Trust shared in that between and the country is on track to convert over million acres of farmland and ranchland to low-density residential growth like scattered houses and subdivisions with big lots Another roughly million acres could be lost to higher-density residential enhancement commercial buildings and industrial sites the trust says Ritter reported installing solar can authentically help prevent such conversions by providing farmers revenue and force savings that increase the financial viability of their farms Meanwhile agrivoltaic practices like grazing livestock between rows of panels mean solar and farming can coexist There are a lot of great approaches to do solar on prime farmland Ritter disclosed You can build strength dominance and farm at the same time Since Bill Jordan has helped close to farmers write REAP grants to install solar with his company Jordan Resource in upstate New York Electric bills are dependably in the top expenses of running a farm business mentioned Jordan Any business that s going to run itself well will look at those costs Behind-the-meter solar is a way of offsetting the cost of your own electricity and it s a wise diversification of farm revenue Jordan disclosed he has met farmers who are milking cows and making more money on the solar farm than on milk production It s also a diversification that the next generation gets As farmers do family succession planning the younger generation gets excited about solar Jordan hopes solar funding under REAP doesn t diminish because of partisan politics emphasizing that it drives solar manufacturing and installation jobs along with helping farmers These are good American jobs he stated Let s not throw out the baby with the bathwater Creating force independence is really what this is about The post Trump s rural capacity freeze hits Midwest GOP districts hardest appeared first on MinnPost