Iowa clean energy groups see ‘uncertainty’ in second Trump presidency

For Kerri Johannsen and other clean energy advocates, the economic benefits of renewable energy are undeniable.

But with Donald Trump winning the presidency this week, she and others are uncertain about what comes next for Iowa’s clean energy future.

Before the election, Trump pledged to dismantle the Inflation Reduction Act, the 2023 law that provided major federal investments in clean energy, and would instead boost production of fossil fuels, like oil, natural gas and coal.

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Bob Keefe, the executive director of E2, a nonpartisan environmental research group, said the Inflation Reduction Act has done more to drive the return of manufacturing and manufacturing jobs to the Midwest than any other policy in recent history.

And Johannsen, energy program director for the Iowa Environmental Council, said the act’s investments in clean energy “go to families, small businesses and communities to help them save money on energy,” rather than providing corporate tax breaks for utilities.

“Renewables are winning on a cost basis, and they are a tool for cutting toxic pollution in our communities,” Johannsen said. “We see the economics continuing to be a driving force for renewable energy.”

It’s important, she said, that “cost-reduction tools continue to be available” to Iowans struggling with escalating energy prices. “We will certainly be advocating for that outcome,” though it’s unknown what the next four years will bring.

Positives ‘too big’ to ignore

Andy Johnson, executive director of the Clean Energy Districts of Iowa, said although there is both uncertainty and concern about what could be upcoming, the “prosperity (and) benefits” of clean energy “are too big” to ignore.

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Renewable energy is “pretty universally popular because they are a key toward prosperity,” Johnson said. “The IRA renewable energy tax credits are fundamentally, for Iowa, about prosperity and lower electric rates. That is the impact we're having.”

According to data from the Department of Energy, Iowa had about 84,737 energy workers sin 2022. Of those jobs, 10,644 were in electric power generation, 9,731 in fuels, 13,066 in transmission, distribution and storage; 19,393 in energy efficiency and 31,952 in motor vehicles.

The Clean Jobs Midwest report, released in October by E2 said more than 760,000 people across the Midwest are working in clean energy jobs, including nearly 33,000 in Iowa.

Those clean energy jobs in Iowa grew by 4.5 percent in 2023, propelled by federal incentives. And E2 expects that number will be duplicated in 2024, as growth in that sector continues to outpace the state’s overall economy.

As an example, Johnson said, Winneshiek County in northeast Iowa has saved about $20 million due to energy investments throughout the past decade.

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“With what the economics look like, it makes sense. … It's not a theoretical issue, it's real,” Johnson said. “It’s prosperity in communities across Iowa, and so I think our congressional (representatives) would be cautious about trying to do away with or allowing any efforts to do away with that.”

Jason MacDuff, president of the Iowa Energy Fund, said he, too, is not too concerned about the future of renewable energy in Iowa.

“I think the big message from the election is that voters feel like things are too expensive,” MacDuff said. “Renewable energy is a way — particularly for low- to moderate-income Iowans — a really important way, to reduce cost.”

MacDuff said energy prices are expected to increase, in some cases by double digits every year. Renewable energy is a way to combat those hikes, he said.

In 2023, about three-fifths of Iowa’s total electricity generation came from renewable resources, making the state the second largest wind power producer, after Texas. Specifically, wind energy powered nearly 60 percent of the state’s net electric generation in 2023.

“Historically in Iowa, we've grown renewable energy in (both) conservative and more liberal administrations,” MacDuff said. “It really hasn't swayed the needle that much, so we don't anticipate there being much change, and certainly our focus is not going to change.”

MacDuff said although the fundamentals of renewable energy haven’t changed, the “tactics“ behind it might. He cited incentive programs and tax rebates as the ”tactics“ that might see some change.

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Less optimism

Other advocates aren’t as optimistic.

“There’s huge concern that this president will derail the record-breaking jobs and investments in clean energy that were just getting started in Iowa and beyond,” said Keefe, the executive director of E2.

Keefe said that many of the states and communities that are benefiting the most from the “economic renaissance” of renewable energy are red states and communities.

“More than 60 percent of those 350-plus major factories and projects announced since the (Inflation Reduction Act) are in Republican congressional districts in red states,” Keefe said.

“It’s not liberals in California or New York who are going to get hurt if these policies get rolled back. It’s working-class Americans in Republican states.”

Olivia Cohen covers energy and environment for The Gazette and is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.

Comments: (319) 398-8370; olivia.cohen@thegazette.com