Good afternoon,
This morning, actor and Oscar-winning filmmaker <a href='[link removed]'>Robert Redford</a> passed away. He starred in hit movies for decades before transitioning to a director of feature films. Redford was involved in politics, both on and off screen. Redford was particularly involved with issues of environmental protection and Native American civil rights. He produced the film <a href='[link removed]'>Public Trust: The Fight for America's Public Lands</a>, and was a loud advocate for the protection of public lands. One Country Project honors Robert Redford and commemorates his legacy as an advocate for environmental justice.
Here are a few important updates...
NATIONAL PUBLIC LANDS DAY
Later this month, the United States will celebrate <a href='[link removed]'>National Public Lands Day</a>. On September 27, national parks around the country will offer free admission while thousands of volunteers will help to restore and preserve public lands. The event provides an opportunity for outdoors enthusiasts to connect with new communities, using America's public lands for education, recreation, and physical and mental health. The celebration began over 30 years ago, and last year, over 130 national parks hosted events with 7,600 volunteers donating over 40,000 hours of service.
This year, the celebration of public lands is especially important as they are under attack. The Trump Administration has repeatedly looked to reduce federal spending in any way they can, including with public lands. USDA Secretary Rollins rescinded the '<a href='[link removed]'>Roadless Rule</a>,' which protected 58 million acres of public lands from logging and other uses. The Department of Justice <a href='[link removed]'>released an opinion</a> that said Trump can abolish national monuments that are meant to protect historical and archaeological sites. Additionally, Trump's cuts to the federal workforce have <a href='[link removed]'>gutted the agencies</a> that manage federal lands. While the government continues to attack the nation's public lands, it is more important than ever to come together to celebrate National Public Lands Day and show the administration just how valuable our public lands are.
RURAL HEALTH CLINICS IN DANGER
In July, Trump's Big Beautiful Bill was signed into law, laying the groundwork for massive cuts to Medicaid in the coming years. Shortly after the bill was passed, <a href='[link removed]'>Axios reported</a> that the Medicaid cuts threatened Virginia's hospitals and free clinics – and could create a domino effect through increasing costs and wait times while staff risk being laid off. Free clinics in rural areas were already overwhelmed, and as over 300,000 Virginians are projected to lose coverage, those free clinics would not have the capacity to provide care for an influx of people.
Axios predicted that Virginia's healthcare system would suffer, and just two months later, we are seeing the ramifications of these cuts. <a href='[link removed]'>Three health clinics</a> in rural Virginia have announced that they will close, citing Trump's bill as the reason for their closure. The closing of these clinics means that patients will have to travel more than <a href='[link removed]'>15 additional miles</a> to receive care. The rural clinics still open will see increased demand and longer wait times. As a result, people will <a href='[link removed]'>delay getting preventative care</a>, leading to worse health outcomes as they forgo care until it becomes a crisis. The Big Beautiful Bill will lead to big, beautiful bills, leaving people without healthcare coverage in medical debt.
SOARING ENERGY RATES
Prices for residential electricity have been rising at <a href='[link removed]'>twice the rate of inflation</a> throughout 2025. At least 41 states have already seen price hikes or announcements of significant rate increases planned for 2026. These price increases are being driven by a combination of poor policy choice and the tech sector's rapacious appetite for data centers, consumers are poised to see those rate increases explode in 2026.
First, the policy choices. The Trump Administration has prioritized older outdated fossil fuel technology. In several cases, the Trump policy choices have <a href='[link removed]'>forced energy producers</a> to keep polluting fossil fuel plants on the grid past their planned end-of-service date, producing energy less efficiently and at a higher expense than other options. While China is transitioning to a cleaner, more efficient energy grid <a href='[link removed]'>driven by wind and solar feeding on-grid battery storage</a>, the U.S. is doubling down on outdated, inefficient, heavily polluting energy production that will leave the economy in a competitive disadvantage.
Second, the data center issue. There are plans to build up to 1,000 hyperscale data centers across the U.S. by the end of the decade. Hyperscale data centers are different from the enterprise level data centers that power cloud computing services and other parts of the web. Hyperscale data centers are the kind used to power AI systems that run on notoriously power-hunger GPUs that consume significant amounts of electricity in their operation and in the required cooling systems that keep the chipsets functioning. This growth is driving up demand for energy. At the current rate of growth, <a href='[link removed]'>at least 12%</a> of all electric demand will come from data centers. In 2023, that was less than 3%.
The energy rate projections for 2026 in many states are for prices to jump by 20-25%. This is another sector of the economy seeing inflationary growth driven in large part by policy choices that prioritize ideology over outcomes.
NUMBER OF THE WEEK
<a href='[link removed]'>3.3%</a>: the rate of hiring in June and July, the slowest for any two-month period since 2013.
This lower rate reflects the '<a href='[link removed]'>no hire, no fire</a>' state of the current economy. One Country Project has been reporting on this economic stasis in our monthly <a href='[link removed]'>social media analysis reports</a> on the economic anxiety in rural America as part of the '<a href='[link removed]'>wait and see economy</a>'. It appears the longer we wait, the more we see an economy suffering from poor policy choices.
LOOKING AHEAD
September 27th– National Public Lands DayOctober 1st – The Deadline for passage of a Continuing Resolution, or full annual budget, to prevent a government shutdown. Currently, no path to a Continuing Resolution exists, and a full budget is months away from passage.
WHAT WE'RE READING
POLITICO: <a href='[link removed]'>Lawmakers are weighing a farm labor bill. Pennsylvania's farmers are telling them to hurry up</a>
The Hill: <a href='[link removed]'>Trump administration considering economic aid for farmers: Agriculture secretary</a>
Oregon Capital Chronicle: <a href='[link removed]'>Oregon missed out on $48 million in rural school, community funds since act expired, report finds</a>
The Daily Yonder: <a href='[link removed]'>Rural Health Care Summit: Future Looks Grim for Rural Hospitals </a>The Guardian: <a href='[link removed]'>Trump at first says he is 'not familiar' with Minnesota Democrat's assassination </a>KWCH: <a href='[link removed]'>Kansas agriculture producers push for 'skinny farm bill'</a>
Be sure to follow the One Country Project on <a href='[link removed]' target='_blank'>Bluesky</a>, <a href='[link removed]' target='_blank'>Twitter</a>, <a href='[link removed]' target='_blank'>Facebook</a> and <a href='[link removed]' target='_blank'>Substack</a>, and listen to <a href='[link removed]' target='_blank'>The Hot Dish</a> podcast.
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