Analyses found that 87% of U.S. clean-energy generation occurred outside urban centers as of last year, while more than 60% of counties with renewable-project restrictions are rural. Projects can add tax revenue and lease income to rural communities and farmers.
The 87% figure comes from a Rural Climate Partnership analysis; the restrictions finding comes from a Daily Yonder–Canary Media analysis of USA Today and Columbia University's Sabin Center for Climate Change Law data. The Trump administration has gutted the Rural Energy for America Program, which for more than a decade helped farmers pay for solar panels that cut power bills. Utility-scale solar occupies 0.07% of U.S. farmland; an Illinois 300-megawatt wind project is expected to generate $81 million in taxes over 30 years.
Other items in the roundup: the Energy Department announced $1.9 billion in grants for advanced transmission deployment in 26 states. Eight eastern states sued to block Interior Department deals worth almost $4 billion in payments to developers who gave up offshore-wind leases, and California is bringing a separate challenge. A federal judge ruled that the administration acted illegally when it terminated the $7 billion Solar for All program, intended to support solar projects serving lower-income communities.
