White House Will Recruit Rural Land For New Clean Energy Projects, Could it Create Too Much Competition for Land?

The Biden Administration is ramping up its efforts to deploy clean energy infrastructure across the country. The White House announced this week plans to utilize public lands and rural America for wind, solar and other clean energy projects, but admits it will be a balance to ensure the efforts don’t create too much competition for land.

The Biden Administration says the plan is designed to create jobs across rural America, while lowering the cost of energy. President Biden’s National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy did a one-on-one interview with AgWeb. She says by advancing wind, solar, transmission and other clean energy projects, America is one step closer to cleaner and cheaper energy. And they are doing so by utilizing help from multiple federal agencies, including the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Interior, Energy, as well as EPA.

“There were a lot of efforts announced, but most importantly, that seven federal agencies are working together to make sure that we're advancing clean energy across the country, not just in our public lands, not just on our coasts, but also in rural communities across the U.S.,” says McCarthy. “Because these issues are important, we've made a lot of progress in the first year. But we're not going to stop there, we have to do so much more.”

• Prioritize clean energy deployment in rural communities
• Provide financing for agricultural producers and small businesses to install solar arrays and other clean energy infrastructure
• Create new Rural Energy Pilot Program with $10 million in grants
• Build clean transmission lines
• Help local governments speed up approvals for rooftop solar in order to unlock economic and health benefits for their communities

Tapping into Federal Lands

The White House also announced plans to increase the use of solar, onshore wind, and geothermal energy on public lands by 2025. Officials say by realigning the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and its resources, the administration will be able to tap into  public lands for renewable energy project permitting.

Biden’s 30x30 plan also will rely on federal lands to conserve land and water. When asked if this would impede federal grazing permits, McCarthy said it’s not an either/or, vowing to work together.

“We have to be creative in that,” says McCarthy. “President Biden is sure if we work across the federal agencies, as we're doing on permitting and other things so we aren’t as slow as the federal government is known to be as we start making these smart investments, and we think about people first, then we'll be able to get over the problems of the past and really start grabbing that future.

"These challenges are big for our ag community. I know that, and we shouldn't shy away from that recognition," McCarthy says. "But we do have creative ways of advancing new job growth, doing job training, building hubs for manufacturing, building hubs for our supply chains. And we're going to start doing that. And we're doing it already. So these are exciting opportunities today.”

McCarthy says the Klamath River Basin is a great example of how all groups, whether it’s ranchers, environmental or tribal communities, can work together to achieve common goals.

The White House will use public lands, but also areas of rural America to deploy clean energy infrastructure. McCarthy points out the recently passed Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is the largest investment in the nation’s power grid. And she says by using that money to build thousand of miles of new transmission lines, it will provide clean and affordable electricity that’s reliable at a time when areas battle extreme weather, wildfires and other disasters.

Increased Competition for Farmland

The announcement also comes as farmland values soared in 2021, with little signs of a slowdown in 2022. More investors are also increasing the competition for land. 

The most recent Ag Land Survey conducted by the Chicago Federal Reserve, found overall, agricultural land values surged 18% year over year during the third quarter of last year. And just looking at “good” farmland values, those were up 6% across Iowa, portions of Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana.

One record land sale in Iowa last year brought $22,600 per acre, which was $300 over the previous record. And what sparked an investor’s interest was the fact it included a wind turbine, which the buyer saw as an investment that would help create cash flow from the land.

When asked how the White House is ensuring the announcements don’t create too much competition for land, McCarthy said competition for land is an ongoing challenge, but hopes clean energy projects can help create new revenue streams for farmers.

“We don't want over-development of clean energy, which means under-development of other opportunities, like protecting the species that we need, the biodiversity that we need, but we have to have that balance,” says McCarthy. “So, we're going to have to watch that carefully. I want farmers to know that the Department of Agriculture is focused, and frankly, all of us are on making sure that your best next hope isn't to have your land developed. But it's to allow you to farm that land in a way that's going to provide you the revenues that you need to know that you can be comfortable, and your family can have a future well into the next generation.”

Creating More Rural Jobs

USDA and Department of Commerce are rolling out a new pilot program that will award American Rescue Plan funds to support regional coalitions. The program will focus on deploying clean energy resources, like wind and rooftop solar, but also job training.

“As we move forward to address clean energy and climate change, we're going to do it in a way that creates good union jobs and puts people to work in in our rural communities,” adds McCarthy. “We know there's a lot of communities that have been left behind that need investment. We're going to focus on those communities and those families first, because it's really important that we don't just have farming communities that deliver good healthy food. We need to make sure all of those families have the kind of infrastructure that allows them to have access to clean and affordable energy. The time is now and we're going to be grabbing it.”

She says the White House is working to streamline permitting on land for clean energy opportunities, while also investing in ports and supply chain infrastructure to “build back more resilient” and “build back better."