According to the U.S. Dept. of Energy, the Justice 40 Initiative’s policy plan includes increasing job energy resiliency and energy democracy and decreasing environmental exposure for disadvantaged communities. Photo from Adobe Stock.

By Terri Dee
Indiana News Service

INDIANA — Indiana will soon get a dedicated person to help farmers, ranchers and other landowners apply for federal grants to help fight pollution and climate change.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it would hire 40 individuals as Climate Change Fellows. They will be assigned to Indiana and other states to help people apply for the Rural Energy for America Program, which has $2 billion in funding for clean-energy projects.

Anthony Kirkland, director of business and cooperative programs at the USDA’s Rural Development office in Indianapolis, said Indiana’s Fellow will have specific tasks.

“Helping to provide guidance to the grant recipient, or to the grant writer,” Kirkland outlined. “They’ll also be helping with evaluating the process of an application and helping with monitoring, making recommendations, providing advice to the coordinator.”

USDA officials said they saw a need to hire the Climate Change Fellows after seeing an increase in applications. Kirkland noted in Indiana, just one person is processing more than 60. The program is part of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.

The funding is expected to help transform rural power production, with new energy sources through net metering and power purchase agreements. The Fellows will also work with USDA employees on climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. Kirkland acknowledged there is much work to be done, and his office will have its Fellow for a designated time period.

“The short-term goal is to be able to work directly with our REAP coordinators on a daily basis,” Kirkland explained. “(The) long-term goal is that this is a two-year position. After that, then it would be probably reevaluated.”

The positions can have one-year extensions, for a maximum of four years, depending on the duration of projects. The Rural Energy for America Program is also part of the Justice40 Initiative, an administration goal to direct 40% of federal investments to marginalized communities.