Today, the League of Conservation Voters and Natural Resources Defense Council led 41 environmental organizations in sending the below letter to the House of Representatives urging Members to oppose H.R. 4553, the Fiscal Year 2025 House Energy and Water Development and Related Appropriations Act, when it comes up for a vote this week. LCV will strongly consider scoring votes related to H.R. 4553 in the 2025 National Environmental Scorecard.

***

September 2, 2025
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Representative,

On behalf of our millions of members and supporters, the 41 undersigned groups urge you to oppose the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies (Energy and Water) Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26). The bill contains reckless cuts, which—in concert with the Administration’s rampant staffing reductions—will decimate American innovation on the next generation of clean energy technologies while doing nothing to address high energy bills faced by families and businesses nationwide.

The Energy and Water appropriations bill is our opportunity to invest in the next generation of clean energy technologies that will drive down energy costs for consumers and keep the United States at the forefront of clean energy innovation. Unfortunately, the House FY26 Energy and Water proposal shows Congress’ insistence upon doing the exact opposite: letting other nations invent and manufacture the cutting-edge clean energy technology the world is demanding while the United States stays reliant upon expensive and dirty fossil fuels. Among the cuts proposed is a devastating 47% cut to the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), which plays a pivotal role in accelerating research, development, and demonstration of technologies and solutions that boost American economic competitiveness, clean energy independence, families’ energy savings, and job creation.

Furthering the attempts to stymie home-grown clean energy, the proposed legislation also cuts the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office (LPO), which already has resulted in more than $50 billion in total project investments and the creation of over 47,000 jobs while delivering a return on investment for US taxpayers; the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), which has helped companies in their pursuit of advanced geothermal energy and new batteries made with less mined material; and the Grid Deployment Office, which is responsible for lowering energy costs and improving the reliability and resilience of our grid. The challenges we face on energy, from increased demand due to the rise of Artificial Intelligence and data centers to grid resilience in the face of climate-exacerbated weather events, will worsen significantly if the House adopts the current FY26 Energy and Water proposal. Make no mistake: the attempt to cut these programs will have long-lasting consequences that will harm American families and businesses for decades to come.

In addition to the woefully low funding levels proposed in this legislation, the bill includes numerous poison pill policy riders, including a rider that would cost tax payers money – prohibiting the Department of Energy from implementing an energy efficiency program that would save taxpayers $134 million by mid-century. Poison pill riders like this and the many exclusionary and discriminatory riders in this bill were removed from the last Energy and Water
Appropriations bill enacted into law; by going down this path again, we fear Congress is wasting valuable time that could be better spent producing bipartisan legislation that has a realistic chance of becoming law.

We also want to be clear that we support efforts by Congress to protect and assert its rightful Article I authority through the FY26 appropriations process. Despite our concerns about the substance of this bill, we recognize that this process is iterative and that legislation is painstakingly negotiated on a bipartisan basis. Any administration’s faithful execution of appropriations bills in their entirety is a necessary prerequisite to an end-of-year funding agreement.

Again, we urge you to REJECT the Energy and Water appropriations bill for FY26, which would reverse progress on clean energy, stall clean energy innovation, raise energy bills for consumers, and harm communities already disproportionately impacted by pollution and the climate crisis.

Sincerely,

Alaska Wilderness League
Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments
Californians for Western Wilderness
Carbon180
CEED
Center for Biological Diversity
Change the Chamber
Chesapeake Climate Action Network Action Fund
Church of the Brethren, Office of Peacebuilding and Policy
Clean Water Action
Climate Action Campaign
Climate Justice Alliance
Creation Justice Ministries
Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action
Earthjustice Action
EDF Action
Elevate
Endangered Species Coalition
Environmental Law & Policy Center
Evergreen Action
GreenLatinos
Hip Hop Caucus
Inland Ocean Coalition
Kettle Range Conservation Group
Kids for Saving Earth
League of Conservation Voters
Mennonite Central Committee U.S.
Natural Resources Defense Council
Next 100 Coalition
Ocean Conservation Research
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Plug In America
Sierra Club
Southwest Research and Information Center
The CLEO Institute
Turtle Island Restoration Network
Union of Concerned Scientists
Voices for Progress
WE ACT for Environmental Justice
Wildlife for All
Wyoming Wildlife Advocates