Your weekly resource to learn what the environmental movement is saying about the news of the day and the political fight of our generation. This week, we’re covering Congress’ passage of the Big Ugly Bill and its disastrous impacts for people and the environment.
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“We will never stop fighting for our environment and for an equitable clean energy future that lowers costs and ensures access to clean air and water for all for generations to come. We thank all members who opposed this destructive bill, and we will ensure Republicans who voted for it are held accountable.”
— LCV President Pete Maysmith on Congress’ passage of the Big Ugly Bill, the most anti-environmental bill of all time.
“The Republican plan will raise your energy bills. If this passes, it is a death sentence for the wind and solar industries and hundreds of thousands of American jobs.”
— Senator Ron Wyden (OR) on the Republican Rate Hike during the Senate vote-a-rama.
“It’s an all out assault on the clean energy tax credits that many of my Republican colleagues promised in letter after letter after letter they would stand behind, but all chose to fold and abandon, fighting instead for special interests and opposing the ability for this country to stand up for a cleaner energy economy, which means cheaper energy.”
— Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08) during his nine-hour, record-breaking House floor speech opposing Republicans’ Big Ugly Bill.
MICHIGAN REPLACES LEAD PIPES AFTER OVER A DECADE: More than a decade after the water crisis began, Flint, Michigan has inspected 28,000 properties and replaced over 11,000 lead pipes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 100,000 residents were exposed to lead through their drinking water. This step finally addresses the serious health risks posed by lead contaminated water in the city, whose residents are majority Black and working class.
VERMONT ADOPTS UPDATED CLIMATE ACTION PLAN: The Vermont Climate Council released the state’s new Climate Action Plan that includes 52 recommendations to equitably and affordably cut planet-warming pollution, reduce energy costs, and enhance resiliency in a climate-changed world.
VCV TAKE: Vermont Conservation Voters Executive Director Dan Fingas said, “Over the course of the past year while updating the Climate Action Plan, more than 1,000 Vermonters weighed in. The message that was clearly sent is that Vermont must continue to advance policies and programs that significantly reduce fossil fuel consumption, build climate resilience, protect our invaluable farms and forests, and invest in creating a green workforce to ensure Vermont benefits economically from the transition.”
VNRC TAKE: Vermont Natural Resources Council Energy and Climate Program Director Johanna Miller said, “The high-cost status quo isn’t serving Vermonters well, and this Climate Action Plan outlines a broad suite of strategies to do better for Vermont households, communities and the planet. Beyond the dangerous, sometimes deadly, costs and consequences of climate change, there are huge economic benefits in climate action. Vermonters are vulnerable to a heavy reliance on high-cost, price-volatile fossil fuels, and there are more affordable, cleaner, and healthier solutions at our fingertips. The Climate Action Plan outlines various pathways to make them available to Vermonters.”
OREGON DOUBLES ENERGY COST ASSISTANCE FOR LOW-WEALTH COMMUNITIES: The Oregon Legislature passed a bill doubling the funding for the Oregon Energy Assistance Program from $20 million to $40 million a year. According to the Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board, over 70,000 households were disconnected from power sources for failing to make payments. The Oregon Energy Assistance Program provides much-needed relief for residents of low-income communities to pay their energy bills and avoid losing power.
NORTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR STEIN VETOES BILL THAT WOULD HAVE ELIMINATED CARBON EMISSION REDUCTION GOALS: North Carolina Governor Josh Stein vetoed a bill that would have eliminated a law mandating carbon emission reduction goals for utilities in the state. The proposed bill would strip requirements for utility companies like Duke Energy, the state’s main utility provider, to work to significantly reduce their carbon emission levels by 2030. Additional provisions in the bill would have allowed utilities to shift energy costs towards consumers, allowing them to profit while households foot the bill.
MARYLAND OFFSHORE WIND GETS FINAL APPROVAL: U.S. Wind’s proposed Maryland offshore wind project received its final permit and is cleared to begin construction after the Delaware legislature approved an electric substation necessary to bring the power onto the grid.
MASSACHUSETTS STRENGTHENS STATE SOLAR PROGRAM: Massachusetts revamped its solar incentive program to ensure the state’s solar industry continues despite federal cuts to clean energy initiatives. These changes will help the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) program adjust to market changes and will make solar more accessible to low-income households.
ADVOCACY GROUPS CALL ON TECH COMPANIES TO POWER DATA CENTERS WITH CLEAN ENERGY: LCV joined the Sierra Club, Public Citizen, and Amazon Employees for Climate Justice in urging CEOs of technology companies including Meta, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon to adopt clean energy to power their data centers. Data centers are one of the largest consumers of energy, and many use dirty fossil fuels to meet their extreme energy demands. As the data center industry expands, companies must commit to a clean energy framework to ensure utility rates do not spike for consumers and irreparable harm is not done to the environment.
OUR TAKE: LCV Senior Director of State Climate and Equity Policy Lashelle Johnson said, “Everyday people are going to pay for Big Tech’s unchecked expansion – both on higher utility bills and more pollution. If these tech CEOs don’t keep their commitments, step up, and lead on climate like they said they would, they risk responsibility for irreparable harm to people and the planet. Wind, solar, and batteries are the cleanest, cheapest and fastest sources of power and our grids need more, not less, to keep prices and pollution down.”
CONGRESS PASSES BIG UGLY RECONCILIATION BILL: Today, House Republicans passed their Big Ugly reconciliation bill. This bill is the most anti-environmental bill of all time and puts hundreds of thousands of clean energy jobs in jeopardy, allows polluters to defile our public lands, and will cause energy prices to skyrocket. In addition, this bill kicks over 17 million people off of lifesaving programs like Medicaid and SNAP, and empowers ICE to further terrorize immigrant communities.
OUR TAKE: LCV President Pete Maysmith said, “Every Republican who voted for this bill owns the consequences of this Republican Rate Hike. At a time of rising energy demand, we need clean energy – the most affordable and fastest to deploy- more than ever. Cutting off clean energy will cause utility bills, which are already too high, to skyrocket. Passing this bill will raise costs across the board from energy bills to groceries to healthcare. This bill is deeply unpopular with their constituents across the political spectrum, yet all but two House Republicans sided with billionaire executives and Big Polluters instead of our families and our communities. Republicans refused to be a check on the reckless and chaotic President Trump.
“By supporting this billionaire tax scam, Congressional Republicans have voted to increase utility bills by as much as $400 a year, eliminate hundreds of thousands of family-sustaining clean energy jobs that are disproportionately available to their own constituents, and poison our air and water. They voted to open up millions of acres of our public lands to drilling, logging, and mining, take us back to dirty coal, and put polluters first with corrupt new pay-to-play permitting schemes and other sweetheart deals.
“We will never stop fighting for our environment and for an equitable clean energy future that lowers costs and ensures access to clean air and water for all for generations to come. We thank all members who opposed this destructive bill, and we will ensure Republicans who voted for it are held accountable.”
Earlier this week, in a 51-50 vote, Senate Republicans passed Trump’s Big Ugly Bill after a 27-hour marathon vote-a-rama.
TAKE 2: LCV President Pete Maysmith said, “The Senate’s big, ugly bill is a big fat Republican Rate hike. This sweeping legislation is the most anti-environmental bill of all time and will do extreme harm to our communities, our families, our climate, and our public lands. At a time when people are deeply concerned about increased costs, this bill makes it harder for families to pay for everything from energy to food to healthcare.
“Clean energy is extremely popular — it is also the cheapest and fastest energy to bring online, helping keep costs low while tackling the climate crisis. President Trump, and members of Congress who vote for this deeply unpopular megabill, will have to answer for taking away affordable clean energy choices and raising everyone’s costs and there will be political consequences. As people struggle to make ends meet, the Republican-led Congress should be focused on lowering the costs of our energy bills, healthcare, and groceries, not providing tax cuts for billionaires and Big Polluters.
“Our fight does not stop here. House Republicans have one last chance to show their constituents where they stand: will they side with families or will they side with billionaires and oil and gas executives?”
Following the bill’s passage in the Senate, LCV published a memo outlining The Top 5 Polluter Giveaways and listing out all 69 Anti-Environmental Provisions in [the] Senate Big Ugly Bill.
TAKE 3: LCV Legislative Director David Shadburn said, “Here are the top five polluter giveaways in Senate Republicans’ Big Ugly Bill as it heads back to the House:
Ahead of the Senate vote, LCV released a memo making clear that “this Republican Rate Hike is going to bite those who vote for it.” The memo details how Republicans’ Big Ugly bill will raise energy costs, kill clean energy jobs, and cause economic pain across the country, particularly in Republican held districts.
TAKE 4: LCV President Pete Maysmith said, “If Congressional Republicans jam through the disastrous mess of a Big Ugly Bill—raising costs for families while giving billionaires another handout— they should expect a fierce backlash from their constituents. And we will be there every single day to remind people that Republicans in Congress chose Washington politicians and billionaires over American families.
“Congressional Republicans are breaking ‘one of the most durable rules of Congressional behavior: don’t vote against the economic interests of your own district.’ Between its unpopularity and negative impacts back at home, Republicans have arguably never made a more blatant choice to put Washington politics over the people they were elected to represent.”
LCV and Climate Power also launched a national ad campaign urging members of Congress to vote no on the Republican Rate Hike included in the congressional reconciliation bill.
TAKE 5: From the ad, “They promised to bring down costs. It’s only getting worse. First it was those tariffs. Now Republicans in Congress plan to cut Medicaid. Increasing medical costs for millions. And cut our energy production creating an energy shortage that increases electricity rates for everyone–all while blowing a four trillion-dollar hole in our deficit. It’s a lot of broken promises. And now for us, it’s lots of higher prices. It’s time to kill this bill.”
EPA SUBMITS PROPOSAL TO ROLL BACK ENDANGERMENT FINDING: EPA submitted its draft proposals to the White House Office of Management and Budget rolling back the 2009 Endangerment Finding, which affirms that greenhouse emissions are a threat to human health and safety. Rolling back this rule would weaken protections against climate pollution and allow Big Polluters to harm our communities and the environment with little accountability.
OUR TAKE: LCV Government Affairs Advocate for Climate and Clean Energy Darien Davis said, “The Trump administration and EPA administrator Zeldin are continuing their giveaways to Big Polluters by abdicating their responsibility to decrease the climate and toxic pollution harming the health and safety of all communities — especially those already experiencing the greatest harms from the climate crisis. The Republican Rate Hike in their Big Ugly Bill being pushed through Congress would already cut clean energy jobs and drive up utility costs — this rollback would only further help pad the wallets of their Big Polluter buddies. As people continue to experience more and more of the costly and damaging impacts of extreme heat and the fossil-fueled climate crisis, it’s more important than ever to protect pollution limits for our communities and our future generations.”
REPRESENTATIVE DWIGHT EVANS ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT: Pennsylvania Representative Dwight Evans (D-PA) announced his retirement after over four decades of public service. Representative Evans is a longtime climate champion and supporter of LCV and Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania.
OUR TAKE: Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld said, “LCV has been proud to support and work alongside Representative Dwight Evans to fight for clean air, clean water, and a safe climate for all communities. As the impacts of the climate crisis have only become more devastating, especially for communities of color and low-wealth communities, it has been critical to have champions like Representative Evans in office fighting to make our cities more sustainable, healthier and safer for all. We congratulate Representative Evans on his well-deserved retirement and are grateful for his longtime leadership, including his 97% lifetime score on LCV’s National Environmental Scorecard.”
CVPA TAKE: Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania Executive Director Molly Parzen said, “We want to thank Representative Dwight Evans for a lifetime of service to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and our nation. Representative Evans’ tireless work on behalf of communities harmed by pollution, fossil fuel companies, and industrialization at large has made an important difference to the places he has served. In particular, Representative Evans’ advocacy was a major reason that the Reconnecting Communities Pilot (RCP) Grant Program was adopted, providing $1 billion to rectify damage caused by highways predominantly built through communities of color. This work has had a direct positive impact on communities of color across our nation and is helping reconnect two Philadelphia communities, Nicetown and Chinatown, neighborhoods harmed and divided by highway expansion.”
ON THE BLOG: Congressional Republicans just passed the worst bill for our environment ever. Learn more about what’s in the bill and how it will harm our communities and environment on The Power Source Blog. And stay tuned to learn about what’s next and how we’re holding Republicans accountable for their horrible vote.
ON OUR SOCIALS: During the most hectic week of reconciliation to date, we kept you updated on why Republicans’ 1,000 page Big Ugly Bill is the worst bill for our environment ever. We’re pushing back and holding Republicans accountable for their horrible vote that harms our communities and our environment.
COMING UP:
JULY 4: Independence Day.
JULY 17: Good Trouble Lives On John Lewis Day of Action.
AUGUST: August Congressional Recess.
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