On Thursday afternoon, President Joe Biden stood in front of a solar panel array on the grounds of Vernon Electric Cooperative in Vernon County to announce $7.3 billion that will go to expand clean power sources for rural electric co-ops across the country.
It was a big chunk of change, yet just a slice of what has been a major economic priority for Biden since he took office in January 2021: pushing the U.S. toward more clean and renewable sources of energy.
Provisions in two of the Biden administration’s signature pieces of legislation have sought to address climate change on several fronts, but with an emphasis on hastening the country’s conversion to solar, wind and other forms of power that advocates hope can supplant the fossil fuels blamed for accelerating climate change.
The efforts began with the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, which included measures to expand electric…
