{"id":367161,"date":"2022-04-27T06:00:13","date_gmt":"2022-04-26T20:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=367161"},"modified":"2022-04-27T06:00:13","modified_gmt":"2022-04-26T20:00:13","slug":"usda-invests-nearly-800m-to-combat-climate-change-across-rural-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/usda-invests-nearly-800m-to-combat-climate-change-across-rural-america\/","title":{"rendered":"USDA invests nearly $800M to combat climate change across rural America"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON, D.C.<\/strong>\u2014In honor of Earth Day 2022, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Friday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is investing nearly\u00a0$800 million in climate-smart infrastructure in 40 states, Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands. These investments will strengthen the health and livelihoods of people across rural America. They include funding for 165 projects to expand access to safe water and\/or clean energy for people living in disadvantaged communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople in rural America are experiencing the impacts of climate change in many ways. This includes more severe droughts, more frequent wildfires, and more destructive and life-threatening storms,\u201d Vilsack said. \u201cWhen we invest in infrastructure in rural communities, we are investing in our planet, and we\u2019re also investing in the peace of mind families will have when kids are drinking clean and safe tap water in their homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 165 projects in Friday\u2019s announcement will help advance equity in rural communities, especially in those that have been socially vulnerable, distressed and underserved for far too long.<\/p>\n

Clean energy infrastructure and energy efficiency improvements<\/strong>
\nUSDA is investing $787 million in renewable energy infrastructure in 36 states to help agricultural producers, rural small business owners and residents lower energy costs and make energy-efficiency improvements. The department is making the investments under the\u00a0Electric Loan Program\u00a0and the\u00a0Rural Energy for America Program.<\/p>\n

Through REAP, the department is helping 157 rural businesses and agricultural producers get access to clean energy, while reducing their carbon footprint to make their business operations more cost-effective.<\/p>\n

The Electric Program funding includes nearly $67 million for smart grid technologies that improve system operations and monitor grid security.<\/p>\n

Infrastructure improvements for communities hit by severe weather<\/strong>
\nUSDA is investing $12 million to help rural communities hit by severe weather. The funds will benefit people living in 17 states, the Northern Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico. The department is making the investments under the\u00a0Community Facilities Disaster Grants\u00a0program and the\u00a0Water and Waste Disposal Disaster Loan and Grant Program.<\/p>\n

The funds will help communities build back better by mitigating health risks and increasing access to safe, reliable drinking water and sanitary waste disposal services. Funds also will purchase emergency response equipment to help communities be better prepared and more resilient in the face of disaster.<\/p>\n

For more information, visit\u00a0www.rd.usda.gov. (PR)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON, D.C.\u2014In honor of Earth Day 2022, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Friday that the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":367164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[117,1589],"class_list":["post-367161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-usda","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}