Originally published by Sierra Nevada Ally; Written by Alex Couraud.
Editors note: Scougal Rubber chose Freedom Solar Power to partner on their solar panel installation. We are proud of this successful collaboration between the USDA, our client, and Freedom Solar, which resulted in one of the largest REAP program grants and significant investment in the community.
The USDA is investing big in rural communities, including in one manufacturer east of Sparks.
At Scougal Rubber, a corporation in McCarran, Nev. east of Sparks, machines apply more than 1 million pounds of pressure at 280 degrees Fahrenheit to create giant bearing pads used in buildings and bridges to help transfer weight throughout the entire structure. The company is headquartered in Seattle, but has been at this location since 2011. It recently got a more than $700,000 grant grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to install solar panels on the property to cut energy costs and operate more sustainably.
Why here? Why is the federal government investing in this Seattle-based manufacturer? And what does it all have to do with rural development in northern Nevada?
Eva Price has lived in rural America most of her life.
“I am from rural Nevada. I live in Fernley, Nevada. Two years ago, 2021, or now three years now, we moved from California, and I used to live in a rural part of Oroville, California,” she said.
Now, she’s working as the controller at Scougal Rubber Corporation.
“I joined the company a year ago and one month, basically. One year and one month ago.”
In her job, Eva is head of the financial and HR departments.
“I oversee accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll, HR. Um, I do the general ledger and financial statements with Rob [Scougal President Rob Anderson]. So I report directly to Rob, the president,” she said.
Rob Anderson brought around 11 people with him from Seattle to start Scougal Rubber in 2011. The company now employs about 90 people in northern Nevada. He thinks the grants USDA provides help to the economy of rural Nevada.
“Their ideas, it would be very valuable for this area,” he said. “Um, “Especially if they can get into the residential and multiple family housing and that sort of thing, to bring workers closer to the manufacturing environment.”
For Eva, a resident of rural Nevada, this sort of aid directly benefits employees like herself.
“A grant like this is really very helpful to manufacturing companies like ours, because we never thought we never thought that a grant will be available to us,” she said.
The grant she’s referring to comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA. The agency is giving Scougal Rubber nearly $730,000 to install solar panels to help with electricity costs and reduce the pollution that comes from using fossil fuels. It’s part of a push by the Biden/Harris administration to invest in more clean energy projects, like this one at Scougal Rubber or the large-scale Thacker Pass lithium mine in northern Nevada.
And it’s what brings Basil Gooden to northern Nevada. He’s the undersecretary for the USDA.
“I really enjoy getting out in these communities and seeing the partners, seeing the workforce in rural development, but seeing the people on the ground that actually benefit from our programs and hearing their stories,” Gooden said.
Gooden is fairly new in the job, being sworn in as undersecretary in February. But…
“This is my second stint with USDA Rural Development. I worked previously in the Obama Administration as a State Director,” he said.
To him, this is more than just a job, though.
“Rural is in my blood,” he said. “I went to Virginia Tech as an undergrad. My dad took me to college back in the 80s. When he dropped me off, he told me three things. He told me, ‘Hey, study hard, get good grades, stay out of trouble.’ But the third thing he told me was, ‘Don’t come back to the country because there are no opportunities in the country.’”
This idea has persisted through the 1980s to today. According to the Rural Policy Research Institute, rates of poverty are 3 percentage points higher in rural areas than in urban areas, which can lead many to leave the country for city life. It’s this kind of “rural brain drain” that is forcing Gooden and the Biden/Harris administration to rethink development in rural America.
“I am passionate about making sure that the opportunities are in the country, that we are making sure that rural kids can come back to their areas, because there are either jobs or housing,” Gooden said.
There have been some signs that the federal government is making rural investments a priority. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill is investing 3.5 billion in Nevada in 2024 for 275 specific projects, including expanding broadband in rural America.
In that bill, more than $117 million were earmarked for clean energy projects, like the one at Scougal Rubber. Gooden said his role with the USDA is about supporting these efforts.
“We have in rural development an awesome, awesome opportunity to really focus on rural energy,” he said. “This administration, the Biden/Harris administration, has really, really pushed a lot of funding in renewable energy, knowing that it will help reduce the cost of operations for rural businesses, for farmers, ranchers.”
Not everyone is on board, though. Some farmers and ranchers are concerned how these investments could uproot their way of life.
“It’s not as simple as people saying, ‘We don’t want this in our backyard. We don’t want this disturbing us.’ These communities in rural areas of Nevada and throughout the West have suffered immense impacts from historical mining in the area, from Superfund sites to mercury contamination, and they still are greatly impacted by those,” said Susan Frey, a third-generation rancher who lives in Orovada, Nevada.
Frey is the spokesperson for the Thacker Pass Working Group, a collection of residents dedicated to protecting their community against impacts from the Thacker Pass lithium mine that was approved for construction in 2021. Frey said she loves rural Nevada, but federal officials don’t always understand the full impact of rural development on life in these areas.
Take jobs for example. Frey said most people in her community are employed by local farms and ranches, so any new employees would be coming from neighboring cities.
“With that growth comes problems with infrastructure and housing and things like that, that communities have to deal with as these things are coming online,” Frey said.
That’s part of the reason Basil Gooden from the USDA visited northern Nevada. He says he wants to hear directly from rural residents and businesses about the challenges they face and how his agency can help make rural life more vibrant and sustainable.
“One of my favorite quotes comes from Vernon Johns, who is a civil rights leader back in the 1960s. He would always say, ‘If you see a good fight, get in it. If you see an area that is really trying to fight to either level the playing field or fighting for equity, get in it and help them,’” Gooden said.
For people like Eva Price, that means being able to work in the rural areas they grew up in, which is pretty unique.
“We have deer that are coming through our property as well, in the neighborhood where I live. Here, we see horses a lot. They have the right of way, so we have to stop when they cross the street,” Price said, laughing.