Donald Trump’s personal spite leads to more harm for South Dakota and the rest of rural America, as his toady Ag Secretary cancels the Rural Energy for America Program:
The USDA just issued a final ruling that will effectively end federal support for renewable energy projects on cropland. The program is The Rural Energy for America Program (REAP).
The decision is in keeping with President Trump’s long-standing hostility toward wind- and solar-energy projects. With regard to projects supported by REAP, the Trump administration, through Agriculture Secretary Brooke R. Rollins, calls them “unreliable” and adds that they “have not fully delivered on their stated goals.”
As to federal support, Rollins says, “as of today that ends.”
South Dakota has participated in the program, to the tune of millions of dollars, in scattered parts of the state. USDA has touted the success of its projects in South Dakota, one of numerous states that have seen similar REAP-funded success stories.
Given that backdrop, the USDA decision to drop the program seems arbitrary and contrary to its history of success [John Tsitrian, “Why Is Trump Gutting a Rural Renewable Energy Program?” South Dakota Standard, 2026.10.08].
I knew REAP money supporting solar power for Native radio would send someone in the Trump camp onto the warpath. You’d think a President interested in promoting the prosperity and independence of rural America would be all about helping South Dakotans spend less on electricity and make more of their own power. But the Trump Administration would rather keep South Dakotans dependent on his friends the petro-oligarchs.