WASHINGTON– House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member David Scott today released the below statement, following an announcement by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is using nearly $11 billion in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act to invest in rural clean energy projects.
"When House Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act last year, I was adamant that it include ample funding to help rural America embrace a clean energy future," said Ranking Member Scott. "By making $11 billion in Federal funding available to rural electric cooperatives and other power providers that have invested in clean energy production and storage, the Biden-Harris Administration is keeping its word to help lower energy costs in rural communities and transition to renewable energy sources. I thank Secretary Vilsack for ensuring this critical funding gets to the people and businesses that need it, and President Biden for his continued commitment to rural communities across the country."
The funding will be distributed via two programs administered by the USDA Rural Utility Service:
Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) Program: This program, authorized under Section 22001 of the IRA, makes available $1 billion in budget authority for partially forgivable loans for solar, wind, biomass, hydropower, and geothermal projects and energy storage projects.
New Empowering Rural America (New ERA) Program: This program, authorized under Section 22004 of the IRA, makes available $9.7 billion in budget authority for loans, grants, loan modifications, and other financial assistance to rural electric cooperatives. This program will support the purchase of renewable energy systems, zero-emission systems, and carbon capture systems. The program also allows funding to deploy these systems or make energy-efficiency improvements to eligible entities’ generation and transmission systems.
