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Save our Farms, Not Solar Fields

August 29, 2025

Need to know

 

 

Common Sense

ANOTHER SOLAR SCAM BITES THE DUST: Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced the USDA will no longer use taxpayer funding for solar panels on productive farmland or allow solar panels manufactured by foreign adversaries to be used in USDA projects.

Why it matters: This is another great example of ending a Green New Scam subsidy that bilked taxpayers and stripped away precious acres of farmland. Much like other leaders in the Trump administration, Secretary Rollins has taken aim at wasteful, fraudulent, and inefficient programs, such as the Rural Energy for America (REAP).

It’s important for two reasons:

First, the move is the latest in a series of actions to stall development of wind and solar energy, which Trump correctly claims are unreliable, expensive, and dependent on Chinese supply chains. As a result, this helps keep American energy production strong and no longer empowers foreign dictatorships to exert leverage over American business interests.

Consider: Subsidized solar farms have made it more difficult for farmers to access farmland by increasing the cost and reducing availability.

  • Family farms comprise 95% of all US farming operations, reports the 2022 Census of Agriculture.
  • The “family farm” is defined as any farm where the majority of the business is owned by the producer or relatives.

Since 2012, the number of solar panels on farmland nationwide has increased by nearly 50%, a concerning trend.

“Millions of acres of prime farmland is left unusable so Green New Deal subsidized solar panels can be built. This destruction of our farms and prime soil is taking away the futures of the next generation of farmers and the future of our country,” Rollins said on X.

Bottom line: It’s foolish to replace productive American farmland with solar fields when we could be placing them on warehouses or parking lots. It’s even more foolish for taxpayers to have to fund it. Kudos to Secretary Rollins for ending the practice.

 

Nonsense

INTERMITTENT ENERGY IS THE OPPOSITE OF RELIABLE: The operator of New England’s electric grid warned Monday that the Trump administration’s move to halt a nearly completed offshore wind farm will cause risks to the reliability of the electric grid.

Why it matters: This is ridiculous. The real threat comes from “experimental and expensive wind projects that are proven failures,” as one Interior Department spokesman said.

With the burgeoning AI and data center boom, we need energy that is affordable, reliable, clean, and built to last — as this example from Louisiana shows.

Meta Platforms Inc.’s intention to build the largest data center in the United States has taken a significant step forward after Louisiana approved a landmark agreement allowing an electricity provider to construct three combined-cycle natural gas generators, two of which will fuel the site.

Consider: There are dozens of headlines from media outlets proclaiming “Trump is killing projects that keep our lights on.”

Wrong.

He’s saving billions in taxpayer dollars that were being funneled to expensive and unreliable projects under the previous presidency.

  • Some extremist groups like Climate Power spread misinformation daily, and much of the media assists.
  • Natural gas keeps the lights on and the cost down. Using Texas as an example, natural gas is approximately one-tenth the cost of solar energy in dollars per megawatt-hour.
  • Wind and solar are costly, subsidy-driven window dressing — despite the noise.

The Inflation Reduction Act took hundreds of billions of your dollars and handed them over to unreliable wind and solar companies. It did so at the expense of affordable, reliable baseload power, such as natural gas.

Full stop.

“Intermittent power sources,” as Energy Secretary Chris Wright said, “are a parasite on the grid.”

Americans demand Affordable, Reliable, and Clean energy like ARC Energy Security legislation promises. Natural gas will power the grid long into the future, not costly and unreliable wind projects.

Bottom line:  The reliability of New England’s grid is threatened by regional policies that block pipelines and access to natural gas, not canceled offshore wind farms.

 

A look ahead

Hearing On Mining Legislation: On Wednesday, September 3, the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources will have a hearing on several mining bills.

 

Quote of the week

“Your electricity bill has been climbing for 20+ years. Why? Politicians prioritized ideology over reliability. Now AI is exploding power demand, yet we’re shutting down plants that could handle it.”

— Daniel Turner, Executive Director of Power the Future, on X.