USDA can't fund solar on farmland without local approval and soil restoration
H.R. 1592 — SOLAR Act · Filed by Mike Bost (R-IL) · 5 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 26, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill prohibits the USDA from funding ground-mounted solar projects that convert farmland to energy production, with narrow exceptions: projects under 5 acres, projects under 50 acres where most power is used on-farm, or projects with county/municipal approval. For approved projects, applicants must develop and fund a soil-restoration plan and post decommissioning bonds; failure to restore farmland triggers repayment of all USDA funds.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a funding prohibition on USDA support for solar projects that convert farmland, paired with soil-restoration requirements for approved projects. It is fundamentally a land-use and environmental-protection measure, not a renewable-energy promotion bill, despite the stated purpose of 'securing lands and resources.'
What the text implies
- The 50-acre on-farm exception may incentivize distributed solar on individual farms rather than utility-scale projects, shifting deployment patterns and potentially raising per-unit energy costs.
- Requiring county/municipal approval for larger projects gives local governments veto power over renewable infrastructure, which may enable NIMBYism and delay climate-mitigation projects in rural areas.
The full analysis lists 4 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
agricultural landowners (reduced risk of farmland conversion); soil-conservation and environmental-remediation contractors (farmland restoration work)