President Joe Biden will be in Westby today to announce $7.3 billion in federal investments to produce clean energy for rural America.
The White House called it the largest investment in rural electrification since the New Deal.
As part of Biden’s stop in southwestern Wisconsin, he will announce the first round of rural electric cooperatives in 16 states that have been selected for the awards through the Inflation Reduction Act. The White House said the funding will help reduce the costs for consumers while cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsak told reporters in a call previewing Biden’s visit that the impact will be felt in 23 states with clean energy and lower costs to about 5 million rural households, as well as farms and businesses.
“The impact of his investment cannot be overstated,” he said.
In Wisconsin, Dairyland Power Cooperative will receive nearly $573 million. The White House said the cooperative will leverage that money for a total project investment of $2.1 billion. The cooperative plans to procure 1,080 megawatts of renewable energy through wind and solar power projects across rural portions of Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois.
The White House said Dairyland estimates its rates for members will be 42% lower over 10 years than they would’ve been without the federal funding.
Senior administration officials told reporters during a briefing that the money for Dairyland includes $471 million in grants and more than $101 million for loan refinancing that is expected to create savings that the co-op can put back into new clean energy.
Overall, the White House projects the investments in the 16 cooperatives will support more than 4,500 permanent jobs and more than 16,000 construction jobs while preventing at least 43.7 million tons of greenhouse gas pollution annually. The cooperatives are expected to leverage the $7.3 billion in federal money to a total investment of more than $29 billion.
Under the Inflation Reduction Act, everything financed through the grants has to be built and dispersed by Sept. 30, 2031.
It will be Biden’s sixth trip to Wisconsin of 2024, but his first since he announced July 21 that he was dropping his reelection bid. He was last in the area in 2021, when he touted a $973 billion infrastructure package that was working its way through Congress.
State GOP Chair Brian Schimming knocked the president’s return to Wisconsin as “the comeback tour that no one wanted.” He used Biden’s visit to slam the administration for “runaway inflation and mayhem at the southern border” while accusing Vice President Kamala Harris of misleading the public about Biden’s decline and inability to serve.
“This visit is not a celebration, but a somber reminder that a vote for Harris and Tim Walz this November is a vote for another four years of Joe Biden,” Schimming said.
Donald Trump’s campaign will have surrogates in Milwaukee this evening. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil of Janesville and former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson will do a town hall with Monica Crowley, a former Fox News contributor who served in the former president’s administration.
