Each month, LCV shares five stories about the impact of our work. This month, we’re focusing on how we opposed the Big Ugly Bill and what’s next — along with more than a dozen state-level clean energy wins, new commitments in Maine and Ohio, and new clean water protections in Texas.

This Month’s Stories

1. Big Ugly Bill: How We Fought It — and What’s Next

LCV and the Conservation Voters Movement (CVM) will never stop fighting for our climate and for an equitable and just clean energy future. Earlier this month, Republicans in Congress passed their so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” — and it will have extremely ugly impacts for our environment and our communities. LCV and our CVM state affiliates ran robust grassroots engagement, mobilization, and advocacy efforts across the country to try to blunt the worst components of this Big Ugly Bill.

Despite our best efforts, the bill narrowly passed the House and Senate. Said LCV President Pete Maysmith, “This law is a disaster, and the Republicans in Congress who voted for it have demonstrated that they don’t care about our families, our environment or our future. Their hope is that in the long term, we’ll forget about this. That is not going to happen.”

How We Fought

Leading up to the final votes, LCV and our state affiliates worked across the country to pressure leaders to block the worst parts of this bill. Collectively, we:

• Generated tens of thousands of phone calls to congressional offices.
• Facilitated 158 in-person meetings between constituents and legislators or their offices, including 21 with Republican members or their staff.
• Advocated directly with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in support of clean energy investments and environmental justice.
• Mobilized thousands of LCV members to send emails to key lawmakers.
• Ran ads targeting critical votes on the bill’s impacts to energy prices and good jobs.
• Helped organize mass mobilization events like the recent nationwide Good Trouble Lives On protests.

What We Stopped

• The sell-off of 3 million acres of public lands by working across the aisle to engage communities and bipartisan lawmakers.
• A provision that would have expanded liquefied methane gas approvals by automatically approving projects without public review. We worked with frontline leaders across the country to elevate this dangerous provision.

What’s Next

• Accountability: We’ll be launching large-scale programs in key states and districts with our state affiliates and other partners. Plans include running in-district ads calling out lawmakers who voted against their constituents’ best interests, publishing the next National Environmental Scorecard to provide the public with detailed voting records, holding events and other earned media opportunities in communities, and working with social media influencers to shine a light on lawmakers’ actions and drive the narrative about this bill raising costs for hard-working families.
• Mobilization: Through nationwide outreach, we’ll be educating and mobilizing a fierce backlash from constituents against the lawmakers who voted for this unpopular bill and working to blunt anticipated ongoing attacks on public lands and clean energy. Expect to see more protests, op-eds, phone and email campaigns, town halls, and more.
• Midterms: The 2026 midterm elections are just around the corner, and key U.S. House and Senate seats are up for grabs. We’ll be supporting pro-climate, pro-democracy champions running for those seats.

Climate champions in the House and Senate stood strong in their attempts to soften the blow of this legislation, and this solidarity provides a foundation for future work.

LCV and our state affiliates will never stop fighting for clean air and water, lower energy costs, and the safe and equitable climate future we all deserve. And we stand side by side with others who vow to do the same.

As we push onward at the federal level, we also continue to make great gains in the states, as demonstrated in the stories below.

Dig Deeper: Learn more about how the Big Ugly Bill impacts clean energy, electricity costs, the environment, and more.

2. Continuing Clean Energy Progress in States Across the Country

When Trump won the White House back in 2016, we knew federal climate action was unlikely. So, LCV pivoted and began investing heavily in winning and implementing state-level policy solutions. Thanks to the work of LCV and our state affiliates in the Conservation Voters Movement (CVM), today, more than 40% of people in the U.S. live in states and cities committed to 100% clean energy — up from 1% when we began this work.

Since then, we’ve built the CVM into a nationwide powerhouse that helps state affiliates learn from each other’s strategies, adapt them to their unique settings, and win big on climate and clean energy progress. Today, despite federal setbacks, our progress protecting communities and advancing clean energy continues, thanks to the growing strength of the CVM.

Recent Legislative Wins

Recent Regulatory and Energy Deployment Wins

Thanks in large part to state and local action, clean energy production continues to rise. This year in the U.S., wind and solar energy generated more electricity than coal for the first time, accounting for 17% of the nation’s power mix.

3. Maine Accelerates Clean Energy Commitment

LCV’s state affiliate, Maine Conservation Voters (MCV), used a multipronged approach to accelerate the state’s timeline for achieving 100% clean energy by 10 years, moving the statutory deadline to 2040 from 2050.

The Big Picture

• In the face of increasing attacks on renewable energy from the federal government, Governor Janet Mills signed the legislation in June, fast-tracking Maine’s transition to 100% clean energy.
• State leadership like this is increasingly important as the federal government upends investments in clean energy and climate action.

Energy Savings for Consumers

• Maine’s current renewable energy policies saved ratepayers $21.5 million between 2011 and 2022, according to testimony from the state.
• The state estimates that achieving 100% clean energy by 2040 could lower energy costs for households by $1,300 per year.

How the Law Works

• The legislation requires utilities that provide power to Mainers to increase the percentage of renewable energy included in their energy portfolios over time.

How We Won

Maine Conservation Voters (MCV) and its sister organization, Maine Conservation Alliance (MCA), played pivotal roles in this win through legislative and administrative advocacy respectively, including:

• Meeting regularly with the governor’s energy office to secure robust standards for how the law defined clean electricity.
• Serving on the steering committee and in working groups of the Maine Climate Council, responsible for developing Maine Won’t Wait, the state’s four-year climate action plan that informed the updated clean energy goal.
• Mobilizing Mainers to contact their legislators more than 400 times by phone and email.
• MCV held two lobby days with environmental, business, and labor allies, which turned out over 200 supporters.
• Spearheading the Maine Environmental Priorities Coalition for more than two decades and coordinating collective action among partners in support of the accelerated 100% clean energy timeline.

Dig Deeper:

• Read details about the legislation.
• See how Maine’s fast-tracking of clean energy will prioritize projects built on PFAS-contaminated land.

4. Chispa Texas Wins Clean Water Protections

By engaging and mobilizing communities, Chispa Texas, a program of LCV, helped secure legislation that addresses the state’s burgeoning water crisis by protecting access to clean water and increasing water affordability.

The Problem

• Texas loses 88 billion gallons of water per year to broken and old pipes. At the same time, the population is exploding, and the state’s lakes and reservoirs are at historic lows. Communities are experiencing repeated and prolonged droughts, residents are facing increasing water restrictions and costs, and farmers are watching their crops wither.

What Chispa Texas Did About It

• Hired a policy consultant to guide a successful engagement and mobilization strategy.
• Started a legislative committee that met with key lawmakers to review, research, and make policy recommendations.
• Hosted multiple trips to Austin with community members who shared their powerful personal stories with elected officials and their staff.
• Generated hundreds of emails and phone calls along with 500 handwritten postcards to targeted legislators.

What We Won

This legislation will meet the needs of communities, cities, farms, ranches, and businesses through a $20 billion investment over 20 years to:

• Repair aging water infrastructure
• Conserve existing water resources
• Create flood mitigation plans

The legislation also gives the state’s water development board greater oversight to measure performance and accountability and will increase water affordability for Texans.

What’s Next

• Voters will need to approve a related constitutional amendment in November to put the legislation into action.
• More action will be needed, as reports show that the state needs nearly $154 billion in investments in water infrastructure by 2050 in order to meet its coming water challenges.
• Chispa Texas plans to continue working with legislators in the interim to secure future progress on salinity standards, water conservation efforts, and increased funding for water infrastructure projects.

Dig Deeper:  Read more about the recently signed legislation.

5. Ohio Combines Utility-Scale Solar and Agriculture

Ohio’s recently approved 120-megawatt solar project marks another milestone in advancing responsibly developed clean and renewable energy in the state. The Frasier Solar project, a priority of LCV’s state affiliate, the Ohio Environmental Council (OEC), will help address increasing demand on the electricity grid and help ensure that Ohioans benefit from reliable, affordable clean energy.

A Win for Farmers, Business, and Labor

• The facility will combine sheep grazing with solar panels, diversifying the economic benefit of the facility while also providing vegetation management.
• The final agreement was supported by a broad range of community partners, including OEC, the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, Ohio Chamber of Commerce, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Unions 688 and 1105.

How We Won

• OEC is a leading legal advocate for clean energy in Ohio, and they’ve pursued this case for a year and a half — defeating heavily funded opposition from the fossil fuel industry.
• OEC presented three key witnesses to the Ohio Power Siting Board, which is responsible for reviewing applications and issuing permits for major utility facilities.
• Those witnesses provided expert testimony about the benefits of solar for mitigating climate change, outlined the cost of climate change to local communities, and reviewed the substance of public comments.

Why It Matters

• Innovative agrivoltaic practices allow solar energy generation and sheep grazing to thrive together.
• This creates a replicable model for how clean energy can support both the environment and rural economies, while making the electricity grid more reliable.
• Clean energy projects such as Frasier Solar help reduce air pollution and combat climate change — creating a healthier, more sustainable future for generations to come.