WESTBY - President Biden will arrive in Westby, Wisconsin, today to announce $7.3 billion in funding for clean, affordable and reliable electricity for rural America, part of a series of events designed to show how the Biden administration's Clean, Affordable and Reliable Electricity for Rural America program is being funded by his Inflation Reduction Act. Harris Investing in America is improving the lives of Americans across the country and planting the seeds of a better future for decades to come. The investment announced today is the largest investment in rural electrification since the New Deal and is part of the President's Investing in America program that is lowering costs, creating jobs, and bringing new opportunities to communities and families across the country.
The President will announce the first round of selected rural electric cooperatives and the first award of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program, which is funded through the Inflation Reduction Act. This program helps rural electric cooperatives transition to clean, affordable and reliable energy and distribute it to communities, businesses, farms and families in rural America. These investments will reduce energy costs by up to hundreds of dollars a year for millions of homes and businesses, solve the climate crisis by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and create thousands of jobs and new economic opportunities in rural America.
President Biden to announce $7.3 billion from new ERA program
USDA announced today that 16 rural electric cooperatives have been selected to receive up to $7.3 billion in clean energy funding to provide cleaner, more affordable and resilient electricity to approximately 5 million rural cooperative members, representing 20 % rural households, farms, businesses and schools. These 16 cooperatives will serve rural residents in 23 states, farmers, small businesses and 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.
These first 16 co-ops will receive $7.3 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act, representing a total investment of more than $29 billion in rural communities across the country. Through the New ERA program, the cooperatives will build or purchase more than 10 gigawatts of clean energy and make investments in areas such as transmission, substation upgrades and distributed energy management software that will lower energy costs for rural Americans and improve grid performance, resiliency and reliability.
This funding will reduce electricity bills for rural families and businesses, which have for too long faced higher energy costs than the rest of the country due to the challenges of securing electricity in rural and remote areas. The New ERA program helps rural cooperatives overcome barriers to infrastructure upgrades and invest in newer, lower-cost electricity projects.
These New ERA investments will support more than 4,500 permanent jobs and more than 16,000 construction jobs. It will also prevent at least 43.7 million tonnes of greenhouse gas pollution per year, equivalent to removing pollution from more than 10 million gas-powered cars per year.
In Wisconsin, Dairyland Power Cooperative receives its first New ERA award of nearly $573 million, which it will use for a total project investment of $2.1 billion. Dairyland plans to acquire 1,080 megawatts of renewable energy through eight wind and solar power purchase agreements, four solar installations and four wind farms in rural parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois. Dairyland estimates that electricity rates for its members will be 42 % lower over 10 years than they would have been without New ERA funding.
President Biden's Investing in America program cuts costs and represents the largest investment in rural electrification since the New Deal
The Inflation Reduction Act invests nearly $13 billion in rural electrification across multiple programs - the largest investment in rural electrification since the New Deal. In addition to today's announcement of the new ERA:
The Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) program, created by the Inflation Reduction Act, funds new clean energy and energy storage projects in rural America. The program provides low-interest loans with forgiveness for up to 60 % loans to renewable energy developers, rural electric cooperatives, and other rural energy providers for renewable energy storage and projects using wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, and biomass. By using renewable energy, PACE projects will make it more affordable for people to heat their homes, run their businesses, and power their cars, schools, hospitals, and other facilities. To date, USDA has announced more than $665 million in investments selected for implementation under the PACE program.
The Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), which was expanded through the Inflation Reduction Act, provides grants and loans to agricultural producers and rural small businesses for renewable energy systems - such as solar panels - or energy efficiency improvements. During the Biden administration, the REAP program has invested $2.2 billion in more than 7,600 projects across the country.
These investments in rural electrification will help build new power generation projects and meet growing demand, helping to support the manufacturing renaissance that the Investing in America program is supporting.
President Biden's Investing in America program secures a better future for Wisconsin communities and families
Today's announcement builds on historic progress across Wisconsin thanks to the Biden and Harris Administration's Investing in America program. Since the President and Vice President took office, the Administration has announced $7.2 billion in federal funds, spurring an additional $5.1 billion in private sector commitments to invest in manufacturing and clean energy across the state. The Investing in America program rebuilds roads and bridges using Made in America materials and American workers. It returns jobs to industries that have been outsourced for decades and reaches communities in all corners of the state, including those that have too often been neglected.
Early in his term, President Biden came to La Crosse, Wisconsin - just outside Westby - to present his plans for a better future to the American people. Now, three years later, the President has fulfilled the vision he outlined, laying the groundwork for a better future for all Wisconsinites for decades to come:
The President talked about the need to fix roads and bridges to improve safety and save Americans time and money. Since then, the administration has announced more than $4 billion in transportation investments for more than 350 specific projects, including the construction of three new roundabouts at U.S. 14 and South Avenue and a bridge on County Road M over the La Crosse River that is being replaced in West Salem.
The President spoke of the need to eradicate lead pipes. Since then, we have announced $9 billion in lead pipe replacement across the country, including more than $200 million in Wisconsin. This funding is already accelerating efforts in cities like Milwaukee, which is now on track to replace all lead pipes within 10 years instead of 60 years thanks to funding from the Bipartisan Biden Infrastructure Act. We have also issued a draft ordinance that aims to achieve 100% lead pipe replacements nationwide within ten years.
The President spoke of the need to expand high-speed internet so that children can do their homework from home and farmers can grow their businesses with easy access to the internet. Since then, an additional 72,000 households and small businesses have been connected (nearly 30 % of the total unserved households in the state) and the state has received $1.6 billion for high-speed internet to finish the job and connect all remaining unserved households and small businesses by 2030.
The president spoke of the need to address the problem of hazardous chemicals known as PFAS or "perpetual chemicals" that plague communities like French Island in La Crosse. Since then, President Biden has created the first-ever national standard to address PFAS in drinking water and, through his bipartisan infrastructure bill, has made $9 billion available nationwide to address PFAS and other emerging contaminants.
The President spoke of the need to bring good paying jobs to rural communities so that families can build wealth and opportunity in their rural hometowns and their children do not have to leave to work. Since then, we have expanded our network of rural partners to better provide federal resources to five community-based networks in rural Wisconsin. By employing federal workers from these communities to work with local leaders, federal investments of more than $320 million are now helping to build strong and vibrant rural economies.
The President spoke of the need for investment to move America into the future and bring economic opportunity to all regions of the country. Since then, the Biden-Harris administration has designated 31 technology centers across the country, including the Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub, which has received $49 million to make Wisconsin a world leader in personalized medicine while expanding support for workers and entrepreneurs from underrepresented communities.
Wisconsin's progress is just one example of the progress being made in every state in the country. To learn more about progress under the President's Investing in America program, visit invest.gov.
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