Rural News Clips, July 18, 2025
Local election officials worry about federal cuts to security; ACA insurance will cost the average person 75% more next year; How Trump’s anti-immigrant policies could collapse the US food industry
POLITICS AND ELECTIONS
The Nation
Commentary: This viral speech shows how we win back rural America
July 18, 2025
Kaniela Ing, whose People’s Hearing testimony recently went viral, argues that authentic local messaging calling out corporate greed and offering practical environmental and economic solutions can win back rural working‑class voters. He’s the national director of the Green New Deal Network and cofounder of Our Hawaiʻi.
He argues that rural voters respond to talk of community responsibility, pride in place and the right to clean air and safe water rather than to generic party talking points.
He recommends that Democrats propose commonsense policies addressing environmental harms on farms, protect local water sources and rebuild trust through direct engagement with small‑town realities.
Barn Raiser
Commentary: Voters not big money should choose Democratic Party nominees
July 17, 2025
Larry Cohen, board chair of Our Revolution, past president of the Communications Workers of America and a Democratic National Committee member since 2005, argues that blocking big‑money independent expenditures and empowering grassroots voters will deliver a populist alternative that resonates with rural working families.
He observes that rural communities, where the MAGA brand holds strong appeal, need an authentic progressive vision and that reducing corporate influence can rebuild trust among small‑town voters.
He calls on state parties and the Democratic National Committee to adopt rules limiting or penalizing outside spending, such as barring candidates who accept independent expenditures from debates or ballot access, to ensure that rural voices determine nominee selection.
Route Fifty
Local election officials worry about federal cuts to security, survey shows
July 18, 2025
A majority of local election officials expressed concern over federal cuts to election cybersecurity support following the suspension of key programs at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Rural election offices, which often have smaller budgets and fewer staff, rely heavily on federal guidance and shared threat information and now face greater difficulty maintaining security standards on their own.
Officials warn that without restored federal funding and coordination, state and local governments will struggle to replicate national security measures, leaving remote counties more vulnerable to cyber threats.
AGRICULTURE
The Guardian
‘Could become a death spiral’: scientists discover what’s driving record die‑offs of US honeybees
July 8, 2025
Researchers have identified a combination of factors including pesticide resistant Varroa mites carrying viruses, climate driven stress and reduced forage from widespread monocrop agriculture as driving successive colony losses across the United States.
Beekeepers in rural farming regions report average winter losses that exceed thirty percent, threatening pollination services crucial for fruit, vegetable and nut crops.
Scientists warn that this convergence of stressors poses broader risks to wild bee populations and highlights the vulnerability of rural agricultural communities that rely on healthy pollinators for economic and ecological stability.
APPALACHIA
The Daily Yonder
Q&A: Appalachian identity and the Tennessee Valley Authority
July 18, 2025
Historian Mark T. Banker explores how the Tennessee Valley Authority shaped rural Appalachian communities by bringing electricity, jobs and infrastructure to remote valleys while also disrupting traditional livelihoods and inspiring debates over regional identity.
Banker explains that Appalachia comprises diverse subregions such as coal‑mining Clear Fork Valley, agrarian Cades Cove and urban Knoxville, each reflecting economic legacies that continue to shape small‑town culture and self‑perception.
He warns that relying on simplistic stereotypes of poverty and “backwoods culture” overlooks the complexity of rural Appalachia and weakens efforts by farming, forestry and mining communities to define their own futures.
CRYPTOCURRENCY, AI, AND DATA CENTERS
States Newsroom
AI data centers are using more power. Regular customers are footing the bill.
July 18, 2025
Rapid expansion of AI data centers has driven up electricity demand on regional grids, leading to billions in additional costs that are distributed as surcharges to all ratepayers, including those in rural areas where energy options are limited.
Although many states offer tax incentives to attract AI facilities to rural locations, these developments often provide minimal local employment or lasting economic benefits while requiring expensive grid upgrades funded by consumers.
In response to rising grid costs, policymakers are considering rules to require AI data centers to invest in their own infrastructure or source renewable energy directly, aiming to shield rural communities from shouldering these expenses.
DISASTERS
Yale Climate Connections
U.S. socked with 15 billion‑dollar weather disasters during the 1st half of 2025
July 16, 2025
The United States experienced 15 inflation‑adjusted billion‑dollar weather disasters from January through June 2025, matching the ten‑year average but underscoring systemic vulnerabilities in rural communities that lack robust emergency resources.
Rural counties saw severe thunderstorms, droughts and flooding strain local infrastructure and overwhelm volunteer first‑responder networks in agricultural regions.
Communities dependent on farming and natural resources endured repeated crop failures, water shortages and damage to critical roads and utilities, undermining long‑term resilience and economic stability.
DROUGHT
The New York Times
The American Southwest faces a decades‑long megadrought aggravated by climate change
July 16, 2025
A persistent megadrought that began around 2000 has drained rivers and reservoirs, leaving rural farms and ranches struggling for water and putting local agricultural livelihoods at risk.
Rising temperatures have disrupted traditional weather patterns like the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, reducing winter precipitation and making it likely that drought conditions will continue through the end of the century.
Small towns and tribal communities that depend on well water and limited municipal supplies face higher costs for deep drilling, water hauling and wildfire prevention as fire seasons grow more intense and frequent.
ENERGY AND UTILITIES
The Associated Press
Trump offers regulatory relief for coal, iron ore and chemical industries
July 18, 2025
President Trump granted two‑year exemptions allowing coal‑fired power plants and taconite iron ore processors in rural mining regions to meet older Environmental Protection Agency standards.
Environmental groups warn that relaxing pollution controls could increase mercury, arsenic and benzene emissions in rural counties, exacerbating health risks where medical services are scarce.
Supporters argue that easing regulatory costs helps preserve jobs in underserved rural communities, but critics say the move deepens existing health disparities.
The New York Times
EPA delays required cleanups of toxic coal ash landfills
July 17, 2025
The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed extending compliance deadlines by at least one year for utilities to inspect and begin cleaning up hundreds of coal ash ponds, leaving rural communities downstream of aging power plants exposed to prolonged contamination.
Coal combustion residuals often contain arsenic, lead and mercury that can seep into groundwater and threaten drinking water supplies in rural counties where municipal filtration systems are limited or absent.
Environmental advocates warn that delaying cleanup will increase long‑term remediation costs and health risks for small towns that lack the funding or technical capacity to monitor and address toxic runoff on their own.
The Washington Post
Trump adds new level of scrutiny to wind and solar projects
July 17, 2025
The Interior Department will require that all wind and solar energy projects on federal lands undergo elevated review by the Office of the Secretary, effectively adding extra bureaucratic layers to the approval process.
The additional scrutiny is expected to slow the pace of renewable energy development, posing particular challenges for rural areas that rely on wind and solar projects to stimulate local economies and secure tax‑credit incentives.
Rural communities risk losing out on job creation and infrastructure investment as projects may miss construction deadlines needed to qualify for subsidies, undermining efforts to expand clean energy access in remote regions.
HEALTH CARE, PHARMACIES AND RURAL HEALTH
NPR
ACA health insurance will cost the average person 75% more next year, research shows
July 18, 2025
A Kaiser Family Foundation analysis finds that average premiums for Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace plans are set to increase by 75 percent in 2026 as enhanced federal subsidies expire.
Rural Americans are disproportionately likely to enroll in ACA plans, making these premium increases especially burdensome for communities that already face limited local provider options and longer travel distances for care.
Insurers attribute their proposed rate increases to rising costs for new high‑cost drugs, workforce shortages, and anticipated coverage losses without subsidy extensions, warning that middle‑income households could face severe affordability challenges.
Newsweek
80 percent of US counties contain ‘health care deserts’: report
July 17, 2025
Large‑scale pharmacy closures have created ‘pharmacy deserts’ in many rural counties, leaving residents without nearby access to essential medications and forcing longer, costlier trips for basic prescriptions.
More than fifteen million Americans now live in areas where the nearest pharmacy is over thirty miles away, straining rural health systems and increasing risks for people managing chronic conditions.
Experts warn that without targeted incentives to keep pharmacies open in underserved regions, rural communities will face growing health disparities as volunteer and mobile health services struggle to fill the gaps.
HOUSING
ProPublica
The USDA Wouldn’t Let Her Give Up Her House When She Couldn’t Pay Her Mortgage. Instead, It Crushed Her With Debt.
July 18, 2025
Since March 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture filed 56 foreclosures almost entirely against rural Maine homeowners with Section 502 direct loans, delaying action for an average of nine years and allowing debt to accumulate.
Long delays in initiating foreclosures added roughly $110,000 in extra fees and interest per borrower, leading to wage and Social Security garnishments and leaving abandoned properties that have deteriorated significantly.
Centralizing loan servicing away from local county offices weakened oversight of rural mortgages, undermining the program’s goal of supporting low‑income rural homeownership and intensifying financial hardship in remote communities.
IMMIGRATION
The Guardian
How Trump’s anti-immigrant policies could collapse the US food industry – visualized
July 17, 2025
Immigrant workers account for at least one in five jobs in the food industry and make up more than a quarter of agricultural and meatpacking roles, meaning rural farms and processing plants rely heavily on migrant labor to maintain production.
Fear of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids is leading workers in rural farming communities to stay home, putting upcoming harvests at risk and threatening local food supply chains.
If promised mass deportations of undocumented immigrants proceed, rural economies that depend on migrant families for labor and consumer spending will face severe disruptions as crops spoil, grocery shelves go unstocked and prices rise.
LGBTQIA+
Chalkbeat
Rural Colorado district takes aim at LGBTQ policy protections, seeks to join trans athlete lawsuit
July 17, 2025
A rural school board in southwestern Colorado removed explicit protections for sexual orientation and gender identity from its nondiscrimination policy, a change driven by federal pressure and conservative local sentiment.
The board also introduced a policy to ban transgender students from participating on sports teams that align with their gender identity and has joined a lawsuit led by a Colorado Springs district to challenge state anti‑discrimination rules.
Critics in this small‑town community warn that stripping these terms from district policy signals that LGBTQ students are less valued, undermining inclusion in an area where support resources are already limited.
PUBLIC LANDS
High Country News
The national parks are not OK
July 18, 2025
Staffing cuts across the National Park Service and Forest Service have hollowed out operations in many small and medium‑sized park units, leaving rural gateway communities with fewer personnel for essential resource preservation tasks.
By prioritizing visitor‑facing services, parks maintain clean campgrounds and facilities but neglect critical functions such as species monitoring and trail maintenance that support local rural economies.
Continued hiring freezes and loss of regional expertise threaten long‑term environmental monitoring, invasive species control and infrastructure upkeep in rural parks, undermining ecosystem health and community resilience.