Energy Secretary Chris Wright visits Iowa to announce plans to end wind energy subsidies, despite Iowa generating 60% of its electricity from wind power that has become cheaper than fossil fuels. While the Trump administration pushes to revive coal and reduce renewable research funding, market forces continue driving utilities toward wind and solar.

Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard's StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes' YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us!

This week's news flash is about power and politics. And the two collided in Iowa of all places.

Iowa is farm state in the middle of America's heartland crucial for presidential hopefuls. It's the first major contest where candidates rise or fall. Smart politicians know: upset Iowa voters at your own peril.

But here's what makes this interesting. Iowa generates more electricity from wind than any other state. Sixty percent of their power comes from those spinning turbines. Wind energy has become Iowa's economic engine.

The irony? US Energy Secretary Chris Wright just visited Ames National Laboratory in Iowa. He praised the lab as a premier scientific institution. Then he dropped a bombshell: it's time to end government support for wind energy.

Wright says wind power has been subsidized for thirty-three years. Time to compete without training wheels.

But here's what he didn't mention: wind energy is now one of the cheapest sources of electricity in America. Even without subsidies, renewables cost less than oil, gas, and coal.

Energy costs are everything in America. What we pay for electricity determines what we pay for everything else. Manufacturing, artificial intelligence, keeping the lights on at home.

Energy Secretary Wright talks about reindustrializing America. He wants to win the race on artificial intelligence. Stop upward pressure on electricity prices.

Those are noble goals. But here's the twist: the cheapest electricity in America comes from wind and solar power. Not oil. Not gas. Not coal.

The Lazard LCOE analysis proves it year after year. Renewable energy costs have plummeted while fossil fuel prices remain volatile.

Iowa figured this out years ago. They didn't choose wind power because they love polar bears. They chose it because it's cheap, reliable, and keeps electricity bills low.

Wright's DOE budget would slash renewable energy research by more than fifty percent. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory would lose half its funding.

But markets don't care about politics. They care about profits. And the lowest-cost energy wins every time.

Here's where the story gets complicated.

Wright is absolutely right about one thing: America depends too heavily on China for critical minerals. Sixty percent of rare earth elements. Ninety percent of processing.

These materials power our phones, electric cars, and military equipment. China's grip on this supply chain threatens national security.

The Energy Department will invest one billion dollars to bring mining and processing home. Smart move.

But here's the irony: many of these critical minerals are essential for wind turbines and solar panels. The very technologies Wright wants to defund.

Alaska holds forty-nine critical minerals. Refining them increases their value by six hundred fifty percent.

So which is it? Do we want energy independence through domestic mining? Or do we want to slow the industries that need those materials most?

Wind turbines do need rare earth magnets. Solar panels need refined silicon. Energy storage needs lithium and cobalt.

You can't have domestic energy security without domestic renewable energy.