Residents of [Randolph County] on Indiana’s eastern border have been showing swine, sheep and cattle on this site since the 1950s. But the fairgrounds had wilted under the weight of so many feet — and hooves. Now, it has a new life, thanks to a $2.8 million renovation largely funded by a renewable energy company that operates wind and solar farms here and across the country.

Renewable energy money has changed more than just the fairgrounds; it has transformed this economically stalled county from corner to corner.

This same story of economic reinvigoration is playing out across the country in dozens of rural counties that have embraced renewable energy projects, delighting taxpayers, enriching county coffers and making previously unaffordable public works projects possible.

Despite deep-red voting records and conservative dispositions, many of these counties have few regrets about allowing towering wind turbines and lines of solar panels to dot bits of their countryside.


[…] A USA TODAY investigation has found that as of September 2025, about a quarter of U.S. counties had placed moratoriums, bans or restrictive rules on utility-scale wind or solar projects.

Some fear rural places like Randolph County and Benton County in western Indiana may be among the last to see a financial revitalization from renewables, as developers engulfed in regulatory confusion pause projects they worked — sometimes for years — to bring to fruition.

  • LadyMeow@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    5 days ago

    The politically popular thing is so dumb. Like quit sucking oil baron dick you fuckwipes. Wind and solar are… fucking free and come from the damn sky? Oil destroys the planet and is increasingly difficult to obtain? Fuck off repubes, eat shit and die.