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Biden Announces $7.3 Billion for Rural Energy Infrastructure

NTD Newsroom
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NTD Newsroom
Published: 9/5/2024, 11:08:13 PM EDT

President Joe Biden visited a small western town in Wisconsin on Thursday to tout his administration's rural investments.

Biden announced a new investment of $7.3 billion in grants for clean, affordable energy projects while delivering remarks in Westby, a town located about 30 miles outside of La Crosse.

“This is the most significant, transformative investment in electricity and electrification and clean energy for rural America since [Franklin D. Roosevelt's] New Deal nearly 90 years ago," Biden said.

$580 Million for Cooperative

Dairyland Power Cooperative in the area will receive $580 million in grant money to buy energy from newly built solar and wind projects, the president said.

Dairyland provides the wholesale electrical requirements for 24 distribution cooperatives and 27 municipal utilities who, in turn, supply the energy needs of members and consumers in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois, its website states.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack joined Biden in touting the half-billion-dollar investment.

“One in five rural Americans will benefit from these clean energy investments, thanks to partnerships with rural electric cooperatives like Dairyland,” Vilsack said. “Put simply, this is rural power, for rural America.”

Dairyland, in a statement, said the investment will allow it to advance clean energy plans, which would, in turn, result in lower costs for families. It estimates that electric rates will be 42 percent lower over 10 years, ultimately saving members more than $130 million.

Power will be delivered to about 240,000 homes, and carbon emissions will be reduced by 70 percent, according to Dairyland President and CEO Brent Ridge.

Dairyland said it will also create career opportunities and sources of tax revenue for local communities.

Ridge said construction of the solar and wind sites could begin in the next six months.

Inflation Reduction Act

The grant money comes from the new Empowering Rural America (ERA) program of the Inflation Reduction Act, a signature policy of the Biden-Harris administration.

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris has repeatedly told voters on the campaign trail that she cast the tie-breaking vote for the Inflation Reduction Act.

The Biden-Harris administration has called it "the most significant legislation in U.S. history to tackle the climate crisis and strengthen American energy security."

Trump on Rural America

In the Republican campaign, nominee Donald Trump earlier this month launched the "Rural Americans for Trump" coalition.
"During President Trump’s first four years in office, he negotiated over 50 agreements with countries across the globe to increase foreign market access and boost exports of American agricultural products, supporting more than 1 million jobs and putting rural Americans first," according to the a Trump campaign statement.

Trump held a rally in the central Wisconsin town of Mosinee the weekend following Biden's visit to the battleground state.