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Tuesday, November 15th, 2022

President Biden’s Infrastructure Act is bringing electricity to areas left out for the last 90 years

Author:     Mark Sumner
Source:     Daily Kos
Publication Date:     November 12, 2022 | 11:02 AM PST
 Link: President Biden’s Infrastructure Act is bringing electricity to areas left out for the last 90 years
Stephan:   One of the reasons this election is so important is that the Democrats are the only party interested in infrastructure that is not immediately profitable to corporations. America's infrastructure for water, electricity, roads, bridges, and sewage is antiquated and inferior. Anyone who has driven a car in Europe, Japan, or China remembers how far superior the roads and bridges were compared to where they came from, no matter what state it was. Biden and his administration, and the Democratic members of Congress, well most of them, realize this and are trying to rebuild what is so dilapidated. Meanwhile, the Republicans are trying to block these expenditures, particularly at the state level. It is going to be critical to getting through climate change and as time goes on living in a Red state is going to become increasingly difficult.
The road to Kayenta, AZ in the Navajo Nation. Credit: Getty

In 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt signed an executive order creating the Rural Electrification Administration. A year later, Congress followed up with the Rural Electrification Act. By funneling federal funds through local electrical cooperatives, the government brought electricity to areas of the country where big power companies were not interested in investing.

In bringing power to rural communities and individual homes across the country, rural electrification made businesses feasible in areas where they could not have bloomed before. The act made it possible for farmers to both farm and store more food. Rural electrification even fostered the invention of new technology that made the entire electrical grid more stable and made possible decades of growth. It was an indisputable good that, as a side benefit, also just happened to increase support for Democrats.

To say that infrastructure funding for the Navajo Nation (and for other communities of American Indians) is insufficient is like saying that there’s not enough water in Death Valley. It’s not just falling short, it’s just barely clear of nonexistent.

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2 Comments

  1. Rev. Dean on Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 2:56 pm

    As long as this does not lead to commercial “profit systems” only, I will be happy. We need small farms growing organic crops for people, not animals.

    • Rev. Dean on Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 7:51 pm

      Growing beef for slaughter takes more water and land on which grain or other crops for people would save a lot of water, and also eliminate a lot of methane from the beef feces.