How this Nebraska activist is making sure rural America gets on board with renewable energy development

Nebraska-based organizer and activist Jane Kleeb believes that rural America is where the future of green energy will be built. He just wants to make sure that rural America is involved, compensated, and celebrated during this massive infrastructure change.

“Rural people bear the responsibility in a small area to feed the whole world,” he said. “They can also rule the world in that same world. That can be a great source of pride. How do we create a sense of cultural pride in giving the world clean energy?”

Kleeb rose to prominence in environmental circles by leading opposition to oil pipelines, notably starting the progressive advocacy group Bold Nebraska in 2010 to help organize ranchers, farmers, and Native Americans to oppose the Keystone XL Pipeline. The work led to her winning the 2023 Climate Breakthrough Prize, which comes with a $3 million grant to fund continued advocacy.

Now, as part of the new Bold Nebraska vision, Kleeb wants to be an advocate for rural communities to increase renewable energy production and demand better public benefits from developers and power companies. This summer and fall, Kleeb and his team will begin organizing in rural areas of several states—Nebraska, North Dakota, Illinois, and Arizona—to help grow renewable generation. Bold is currently hiring and will begin work on projects later this year, targeting an annual budget of $2 million, provided by Kleeb’s Climate Breakthrough award and funding from sources such as the Wallace Foundation, Patagonia, and the Equation Campaign.

All four states are home to growing renewable energy sectors that have yet to reach their full potential. Nebraska, ranked in the top five states for wind power and top 15 for solar, already gets 35% of its energy from renewables. Arizona, which has been stymied by turbulent state laws, could increase its solar capacity by up to 150% in the next five years. North Dakota’s wind sector, which has doubled between 2015 and 2021, has room to grow, and its solar market, which doesn’t actually exist, could add more than 600 megawatts in five years.

Kleeb sees his goal, in part, as correcting the imbalance in political investment and information (or misinformation). In general, investments made by environmental groups are concentrated in blue states—or blue cities in red states—as opposed to the vast expanses of rural land where wind and solar power are most suitable. Climate activists and environmental groups often misunderstand and despise even rural Americans, Kleeb said. Their practical concerns are dismissed instead of answered.

That leaves an information gap. Factor in the party’s deep divide, which pits rural, often Republican voters against renewable energy, and leaves those districts vulnerable to misinformation and propaganda. Pew Research found that rural Americans are now more skeptical of renewable energy than the average voter, and currently about 15% of US states have banned or stopped new renewable development.

Kleeb himself remembers sitting in a county board meeting in Nebraska, hearing community members fight against data centers and wind power. It was then that he clicked that there must be a different way to promote clean energy that respects rural communities and provides wider benefits.

“Why are we leaving behind the communities we will build for the next 100 years? We’ve been focused on messaging 100% clean energy by 2030, and there’s no holding back on that,” Kleeb said.

Bold will hire three advisers to assist Kleeb on the national team, and a full-time employee in each of the four regions who will coordinate with unions, climate groups, agriculture, and industry, and focus on three to five projects each. Kleeb wants his group to be a trusted third party that helps rural communities not only see the benefits of renewables but also harvest them. Bold will not accept money from green groups; it wants to remain neutral and play the role of facilitator and advocate.

When renewables developers come to rural communities looking to make deals and build wind and solar projects, Bold employees will collaborate and organize community groups, seeking to build unity and fight for a community-benefit agreement. These deals can include local benefits that provide significant benefits for hosting renewable energy sites, and counter the growing perception that the benefits of renewable energy are either oversold or undervalued.

A fair deal, Kleeb outlined, might include making developers pay $250,000 to $500,000 a year in community benefit agreements that would fund local nonprofits or daycare centers, and $250,000 to $500,000 in dividend payments to residents within 3 miles on a larger scale. . renewable installation. Bold has signed similar deals in the past. Earlier this year, it pushed developers of the Tallgrass Pipeline, which will transport carbon dioxide as part of a carbon sequestration program, to sign a public benefit agreement that promised $600,000 to train first responders in affected communities, $500,000 for local nonprofits along the route, and annual cash checks to neighboring landowners.

Clean energy developers often believe that with land payments, tax revenue, and the huge public benefit of providing clean energy, they are already doing a good thing, Kleeb said. He argues that rural residents should see direct benefits, which would make clean energy more politically popular in areas where it works best.

“We really believe that if there is a lot of money in people’s pockets and they feel like they have a hand in it, there will be a lot of pride,” he said. “In the oil communities, you see the oil rig turning into a real mascot. I hope that in 10 years from the start, our small towns are so proud of wind and solar and the role they play that it becomes embedded in rural culture.