Dive Brief:
- As part of the State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force on Climate Preparedness, the government has released a new set of proposals designed to help rural communities cope better with the potential effects of climate change on the grid.
- The main proposal is an award from the Department of Agriculture of $236.3 million in funding to help improve the electricity infrastructure in rural areas across eight different states.
- A further $10 million is being allotted to tribal communities in order to further prepare them for possible effects of climate on the energy supply.
Dive Insight:
The new proposals are the latest in a series of climate change and environmental policy points issued by President Obama over the last year. One of the largest initiatives was launched in June, when the Environmental Protection Agency released draft carbon reduction legislation designed to help states cut their emissions and modernize their electricity supply to increase reliable, clean energy.
A government study published in May of this year highlighted how large an effect climate change could have on the reliability of the nation's grid. Certainly, the previous winter was a perfect example: The so-called Polar Vortex brought with it storms and adverse weather to the whole country, spurring an unprecedented spike in the cost of power and numerous outages.