The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved more than $7 million in taxpayer funding for renewable energy and energy efficiency investments at farms and businesses throughout rural Maine.
This funding comes as part of a $124 million nationwide dispersal from the USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) program, which was spread across a total of 541 projects in 44 states.
Funding for the REAP program came, in part, from the Inflation Reduction Act which — according to the United States Department of Energy (DOE) — made “the single largest investment in climate and energy in American history, enabling America to tackle the climate crisis, advancing environmental justice, securing America’s position as a world leader in domestic clean energy manufacturing.”
A statement from the White House describes REAP as a program designed “to help agricultural producers and rural small business owners make energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy investments to lower energy costs, generate new income, and strengthen the resiliency of their operations.”
The USDA explained in a statement Friday that REAP is also part of the Biden Administration’s Justice40 Initiative, which “set a goal to deliver 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.”
According to a press release published Friday by Sen. Angus King (I) and Rep. Jared Golden (D), the $7 million being sent to Maine will be distributed across 10 farms and small businesses located in the state’s second district, primarily for the installation of roof-mounted solar power systems.
Funding will also be directed toward the construction of an energy efficient grain dryer on a family farm in Fryeburg.
This program also provided a nearly $6 million federally guaranteed loan for the installation of a ground-mounted solar power system in Belfast.
“Our small businesses and farms are pillars of our rural communities,” Sen. King and Rep. Golden said in a joint statement Friday. “These investments will create jobs, expand clean energy, and increase savings for Maine people.”
“We are proud to have voted for the Inflation Reduction Act which provided more than $2 billion for [REAP] that made this funding available to Mainers,” King and Golden said.
Click Here to Read Sen. King and Rep. Golden’s Full Press Release
In recent months, Maine has seen an influx of federal tax dollars being directed toward various projects related to climate change and renewable energy.
In February, Gov. Janet Mills (D) announced that the state had received $10 million in federal funding to subsidize the installation of heat pumps in mobile and manufactured homes throughout the state.
[RELATED: Maine Pols Tout $10M in Tax Dollars to Subsidize Heat Pumps]
That same month, Maine also received $4.4 million to “increase electrical grid resistance” and support the state’s “climate and clean energy goals,” with portions of this funding being made available to electric utilities, electricity generators, and storage operators.
Maine also recently received a $1 million grant from the federal government to install electric vehicle (EV) charging stations and rooftop solar panels at the the new Acadia National park maintenance complex.
Late last year, more than $7 million in federal funding was sent to Maine to make the Linconville and Iselboro ferry service more environmentally friendly by replacing the thirty-five year old vessel with a new plug-in hybrid-electric ferry, as well as by making a handful of upgrades to the terminals themselves.
The USDA is continuing to accept applications for REAP funding and will continue to make quarterly distributions through September 30 of this year.
According to the program’s website, REAP will distribute more than $1 billion worth of federal tax dollars in total.
What’s it going to do for my family? Increase inflation and my grocery bill. Just so a bunch of liberals can congratulate themselves.
Printing 1 trillion dollars everyday, thanks Golden and King. It must be election season, buying votes.
Solar panels are a blight. Those things are ugly and detract from our beautiful state. People didn’t want the power corridor from Canada but put up with this shit. Most would never know it was there. Ugly solar is everywhere for all to see. And where will they go in 30 years once they are no good anymore?
I heard the democrat party is going to change is symbol from a donkey to a Maytag.
Solar panels…. almost as bad as windmills… look at the massive solar fields in Texas, recently DESTROYED by hail storms! So what happens to those destroyed panels now Janet! And the ret of you “smart” progressives??? Who’s landfill gets the honor of taking those? We can just pile them in your yard!!
Maine sits 1/2 way to the north pole,….
Solar panels are worthless this far north,….
Go Nuclear,….
Those solar panels will work great during the 3 months per year that the rooftop isn’t covered in ice, and snow…….Have they learned nothing from Texas ?
7 million for a scam. Where did that money come from? Oh yeah, the printing press. Seven mil is small potatoes when you consider the fed gov’t is $34,000,000,000.00 in debt with know possible way of paying it off. Sooner rather than later something has to give. They can’t raise rates any more because the feds won’t be able to service the debt, so they have to keep printing away or default. They are in a bind. Printing prolongs the day of reckoning. The pols don’t have the willpower to tighten the belt and go through the pain of getting back to balanced budgets. Welcome to the third world shit hole.
Wow, 10 farms. Really efficient use of $700,000. Who profits from our loss of income? How many more fields will be no longer used for food? And will they become “carbon credits” for some foreign person or country and never connected to the grid? Like the Gray solar farm on !conservation! land off 95.
Can you think of anyone who could be put in place to accomplish the feat of funding essential federal government duties while eliminating the income tax?
I can’t be the only person who finds it funny that we can find money to install solar/wind and high speed internet into the outback of Maine, people can’t afford to live here, but they have internet no matter where they go, and with solar/wind, the feds have control of it all.