06/02/2025
We encourage people interested in large scale economic development and how it will effect local energy availability
to attend this event.
For decades, South Dakota's electric cooperatives have kept the lights on through blizzards, heat waves, and hailstorms. They've been reliable, affordable, and locally governed--owned by us, not Wall Street. But today, these same co-ops--our co-ops--are being squeezed into projects they didn't ask for and, in many cases, don't want.
So who's really benefiting? Not us.
A Timeline of the "Green Gold Rush"
1994: Rushmore Electric, the wholesale power supplier for many West River co-ops, sells its coal plants at Osage and Kirk. This marks a turning point, moving co-ops away from local generation and toward total reliance on Basin Electric Power Cooperative and federally managed hydropower from the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA).
2000s-2010s: Federal tax credits fuel a surge of wind development across the Midwest. States like Iowa and Minnesota become dominated by wind turbines--many built on or near working farmland.
2012-2020: Tech giants such as Google, Amazon, and Meta begin demanding massive amounts of "green energy" to power their data centers--each one drawing as much electricity as 30,000 to 50,000 homes. The resulting demand drives up land prices and transmission congestion across rural areas.
2022: The federal Inflation Reduction Act supercharges these trends by expanding key incentives:
- The Investment Tax Credit (ITC) covers 30% of solar project costs.
- The Production Tax Credit (PTC) pays developers up to 2.75 cents per kilowatt-hour generated by wind or solar.
- A new Direct Pay option allows non-profit co-ops to cash in on federal credits.
But here's the catch: these incentives overwhelmingly benefit billionaires, multinational developers, and financial institutions--not the rural families who live near the projects.
2023-2024: The Wild Springs Solar Project near New Underwood is developed on more than 1,400 acres of ranchland. The power it generates does not stay in our community. The profits certainly don't. What remains is lost grazing ground, inflated lease markets, unresolved fencing issues, and a community divided.
A New Threat: Philip Wind Partners LLC
Now another large-scale project looms. Philip Wind Partners LLC, operated by Invenergy, has requested interconnection to the regional power grid through Western Area Power Administration (WAPA). The proposed wind farm would cover more than 68,000 acres in Haakon County and install 90 wind turbines with a generating capacity of 300 megawatts.
While only about 117 acres would be permanently disturbed, the real story is the sheer volume of land placed under lease and tied up for decades--not for food production, but for tax-advantaged electricity shipped out of state. This raises serious concerns for local producers, county planning boards, and co-op members.
Once again, the land is ours--but the power and the profit aren't.
As the Money Flows, the Grid Weakens
While subsidies flowed to Wall Street and foreign-owned firms, another problem emerged: the grid began to falter.
Coal and natural gas plants--once the bedrock of reliable electricity--are being retired faster than replacements can be built. Wind and solar may be cheaper on paper, but they are intermittent. They don't deliver power on demand during peak use.
In 2022, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation warned that the Midwest faced a 1,200-megawatt electricity shortfall during peak summer conditions. That includes South Dakota. We saw it during winter storms and heat waves--when the sun doesn't shine and wind turbines freeze, it's coal and gas that save lives. But under pressure from federal policy and ESG investors, we're dismantling those assets too quickly.
Who's Really Winning?
It's not the family rancher or the rural co-op trying to keep rates low. It's:
- Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, profiting from tax equity financing
- National Grid Renewables, a U.K.-owned firm building solar farms on South Dakota soil
- Billionaires like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, growing energy portfolios while preaching green virtue
- Big Tech companies, buying 24/7 power contracts we help subsidize through inflated local utility rates
Defending Our Co-ops and Ag Producers
Let me be clear: I stand with our local co-ops. They've been pulled into a system built in Washington, D.C. and Wall Street--not in Martin, not in Valentine, and not in New Underwood.
They've been offered carrots--grants, tax credits, loan forgiveness--but face federal sticks if they don't comply with renewable mandates.
Co-ops like Lacreek Electric, deserve our support, not our criticism. They need us to:
- Demand transparency before new power purchase agreements are signed
- Require local member input on long-term energy deals
- Pass state legislation protecting agricultural land from large-scale energy industrialization
- Block subsidies that reward corporate land grabs and weaken food and energy security
What Needs to Happen Next
Declare ag land a protected economic asset, not just vacant ground for energy companies
- Audit every utility-scale renewable project: Where's the power going? Who profits? Who pays?
- Restore balance to our energy mix: Keep baseload power until equivalent, reliable systems are proven
- Stop letting Wall Street dictate South Dakota's land and energy policy
A Final Word
I'm not anti-innovation. But we are pro-landowner, pro-rancher, pro-co-op, and pro-common sense.
South Dakota's energy future must be built by us and for us--not handed off to outsiders chasing subsidies on land they'll never have to live next to. That's why I'm joining community members and stakeholders at a public Town Hall Meeting to discuss these issues directly. It will be held:Thursday, June 6, 2025 6:30 PM New Underwood Community Center
The organizer's are inviting all South Dakota State Legislators, city and county leaders and elected officials. Everyone is welcome--especially landowners, ranchers, co-op members, and citizens concerned about the direction of energy and land policy in our state. Bring your questions, your stories, and your voice.
