Clean energy rollbacks come with high costs
Listen to the story here
By Judith Ruiz
Aug 27, 2025
Clean energy advocates in Wisconsin are warning federal tax incentives and funding rollbacks will raise energy costs, cut jobs and deter necessary efforts to address climate change.
Under the new federal budget, tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act available to Wisconsin businesses, utilities and school districts are now ending much earlier than intended.
Casey Hicks, federal government affairs manager for the group Wisconsin Conservation Voters, said incentives for homeowners are being canceled even sooner than other entities, creating uncertainty which leads to project delays and cancellations.
“Without the tax credits, the grants, the incentives to help those projects along, we’re going to be in a bind where we have way more demand for energy because of things like AI data centers,” Hicks pointed out. “And not being able to meet that demand.”
ojects fueling good jobs
Listen to the story HERE
Aug 28, 2025
Ohio labor leaders say renewable energy is not just powering homes, but creating thousands of good-paying union jobs.
Despite the current administration’s focus on fossil fuels, clean energy jobs are growing twice as fast as the overall labor market and Ohio ranks in the top 10 states for clean energy employment.
Pat Hook, business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 683 in Columbus, said his members have already worked on several utility-scale solar projects in central Ohio, with more underway.
“It has provided hundreds and hundreds of jobs, millions of dollars in wages and benefits, opportunities for a large number of people to enter the electrical industry, join our apprenticeship programs,” Hook outlined.
PA farmers warn federal cuts harm families, food producers
Listen to the story HERE
By Danielle Smith
Aug 28, 2025
Pennsylvania farmers warned cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to safety net programs will hurt both low-income families and the growers who feed them.
About 144,000 people in Pennsylvania are at risk of losing SNAP benefits and more than 310,000 would lose Medicaid coverage.
Jane Kaminski, co-owner of John Paul Farm in Indiana County, said SNAP cuts could be the biggest hit to her organic farm under the bill.
“My farm serves people in a community where there are folks who depend on SNAP to purchase fresh healthy food from my farm and other farms in the area,” Kaminski explained. “A reduction in benefits could very well mean a reduction in revenue.”
Expert: Closing global EV sales gap could help manufacturing in AZ
Listen to the story HERE
Aug 24, 2025
The U.S. is falling behind in the global race to sell electric vehicles according to a new report, and losing that race could harm states with EV manufacturing plants, like Arizona.
The nation still has the chance to catch up with China, its biggest competitor, according to Katherine Yusko – report lead author and research analyst with the American Security Project.
She’s written about the EV race, highlighting some of the ways the U.S. can close the gap with China – as well as some of the biggest barriers.
She said funding from the climate legislation passed under President Joe Biden provides clean manufacturing credits that enable the U.S. to build out a more resilient domestic battery supply. “Unfortunately, with these credits being phased out by 2033 – this is a new development, as of the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ – this is likely to slip,” said Yusko. “And there have been billions of dollars in cancellations in battery factories and battery manufacturing since the first months of the Trump administration.”
New Mexico’s acequia system eyed for Colorado River Basin solution
Listen to the story HERE
Aug 20, 2025
Drought and climate change across the Southwest have made water the “great equalizer,” and as a future usage agreement is hammered out, New Mexico’s ancient acequia system is getting a second look.
The Colorado River Basin provides water to seven states and some 40 million people, but the usage is not equal and states have until next October to find a solution before the federal government steps in.
Camilla Bustamente, a Santa Fe County Commissioner, said the state’s 700 gravity-fed acequia irrigation ditches provide a democratic model meant to benefit entire communities over any individual user. “The ones in northern New Mexico are among the few in the world,” Bustamente pointed out. “This system has worked now for hundreds of years to assure people are able to have food where they live.”
Acequias have been a cornerstone of agriculture and community in the Southwest since the arrival of Spanish settlers in the 17th century. They carry water from rivers or streams to fields and gardens. A channel at the bottom returns a significant amount of water to the original stream or waterway.
Report: Trump EV policies threaten PA’s electric vehicle industry and favor China
Listen to the story HERE
Aug 24, 2025
A new report said federal policy is making it difficult for the U.S. electric vehicle industry to compete with China.
Research from the nonpartisan American Security Project found globally, China now produces 70% of EVs and 80% of EV batteries. The “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” signed by President Donald Trump last month rolls back Biden-era EV tax credits and experts warned the move could stall sales and hit Pennsylvania hard.
Katherine Yusko, research analyst at the project and the report’s lead author, said the cuts threaten the nation’s economic growth and progress on climate change. “The international market is beginning to demand more and more electric vehicles,” Yusko pointed out. “If the U.S. doesn’t keep up on EV innovation and production, it’s going to see enormous lost profits, lost global influence, and will essentially hand over these enormous strategic assets to China.”
Pennsylvania now has more than 70,000 registered electric vehicles. Under Trump’s budget bill, Biden-era federal EV tax credits will end Sept. 30. Yusko warned ending the credits will weaken demand in the U.S. and give China a bigger share of the global auto market. Pennsylvania’s EV industry has drawn $284 million in private investment, boosted by about $187 million in federal funding.
Yusko argued it is important for the U.S. to boost production and invest in next-generation solid-state batteries for EVs, which are nearing commercialization.
Veterans who are elected officials warn cuts to clean energy undermine U.S. national security
Listen to the story HERE
Aug 17, 2025
Some U.S. military veterans are urging President Donald Trump to restore clean-energy investments that were rolled back under the GOP’s signature tax and spending law.
Former Nevada state senator and retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Pat Spearman said energy security is national security.
And she said the new law, which also cuts social safety net programs, will not make Nevada’s sons and daughters serving in the armed forces any safer.
Spearman noted that the United States spends $81 billion a year protecting oil supplies across the globe.
“There’s an extreme absurdity for spending that much money on fossil fuels,” said Spearman, “while simultaneously cutting programs that provide food for children and families, cutting Medicaid for our most vulnerable citizens.”
As Grand Canyon burns, officials say federal cuts could raise wildfire risk in Arizona
Listen to the story HERE.
Aug 18, 2025
Officials warned federal cuts to clean energy and public lands protections will increase extreme weather risks throughout Arizona.
Crews continue to battle the Dragon Bravo Fire in Grand Canyon National Park as the state experiences a megadrought.
Rep. Aaron Márquez, D-Phoenix, pointed out cuts to firefighter health programs and reduced spending for wildfire response and prevention increase the odds more people will be exposed to hazards.
“Yet this administration cuts back the very crews who could have prepared us while investing and inviting more fossil fuel extraction that will make the crisis worse,” Márquez contended.
The Dragon Bravo Fire is the largest wildfire in U.S. history, burning more than 140,000 acres, including more than 70 structures. It also triggered a toxic chlorine gas leak caused by a burning water treatment facility. Márquez added Arizona temperatures remain in the triple digits and this year alone, Maricopa County has seen 29 weather-related deaths. He believes relying on fossil fuel extraction for energy will make the crisis worse.
“Extreme heat kills more Americans than floods, tornadoes and hurricanes combined,” Márquez noted. “And who suffers most? Working class folks, Black, Latino and Indigenous communities, forcing people to choose between food, medicine or running their air conditioner.”
Vehicle pollution hurts health, ecosystems and is clouding skies at Saguaro, other AZ parks
Listen to the story HERE
Aug 17, 2025
A new study showed Phoenix-area vehicle emissions are significantly degrading air quality in Saguaro National Park and other protected areas, reducing scenic views and harming delicate desert ecosystems.
Called “Driving Dirty Air,” the study identified Phoenix as the nation’s second-worst vehicle pollution “hot spot” affecting national parks.
Ulla Reeves, clean air program director for the National Parks Conservation Association, said the problem stems from a mix of pollutants traveling far beyond city limits.
“It literally can travel hundreds of miles away,” Reeves pointed out. “Even though our study finds that these urban areas, with concentrated vehicle emissions is having an outsized and disproportionate impact on particular national parks, the reality is that air pollution can travel very far and wide.”
Despite federal incentive investment cuts, advocates push electric vehicles in Arizona
Listen to the story HERE
Aug 17, 2025
In the face of the Trump administration’s elimination of a host of alternative energy tax incentives, policy analysts in Arizona say cities and towns in the state could still save taxpayers as much as $100 million in fuel costs, and provide health benefits over the next decade, by investing in electric vehicles.
State and local governments in Arizona own more than 100,000 vehicles, with more than 7,500 in the state’s fleet.
Arizona Public Interest Research Group Education Fund Executive Director Diane Brown said most of the savings would come from towns and cities replacing gas-burning SUV’s, light trucks, and cars with electric powered ones.
“Most of Arizona’s fleet vehicles, from sedans to pickup trucks to construction vehicles,” said Brown, “are internal combustion engine vehicles that use gas or diesel.”
Former ME State Rep. Cornell du Houx promotes clean energy for global security
Listen to the story HERE
Aug 12, 2025
A group of veterans and elected officials said the war in Ukraine highlights the risks of fossil fuel dependence.
For three years, the Russian military, fueled by Russian oil, has targeted Ukrainian oil and gas plants, resulting in widespread power outages and further human suffering.
Alex Cornell du Houx, president of Elected Officials to Protect America, a veteran and a former Maine state representative, said less centralized and cleaner energy sources are not only more resilient but better for the planet.
“The number one thing we can do to take out the financing from Putin and others is to create a clean energy economy that creates prosperity, creates security and protects our health for everyone,” du Houx contended.
He argued a Clean Energy Marshall Plan is needed to help Ukraine rebuild despite ongoing attacks. Experts noted even with strict sanctions, Russia continues to earn hundreds of billions of dollars each year from oil and gas. It is unclear whether Russian oil will come up in this week’s meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Three years into the war, Ukraine is already working to build its clean energy infrastructure, including 19 wind turbines just 60 miles from the front line.
AZ veterans group calls for clean energy, public lands protection
Listen to the story here
Aug 12, 2025
A coalition from the United States, the United Kingdom and Ukraine is pushing for a more secure energy future by calling for investment in cleaner sources of power. They said in Arizona, it also means protecting public lands.
As the Trump administration shifts its energy policy to rely more heavily on fossil fuels, extreme weather events and environmental pollution are on the rise. The group Elected Officials to Protect America said what is happening now in Ukraine is an example of the need for more resilient energy sources, as Russian troops have focused on destroying the nation’s energy infrastructure.
Alex Cornell du Houx, president of Elected Officials to Protect America and a former Marine, said when fewer countries rely on Russian oil, the world will be safer.
“The number one thing we can do to take out the financing from Putin and others is to create a clean energy economy that creates prosperity, creates security and protects our health for everyone,” du Houx contended.
In Arizona, a state working to ramp up solar power production, officials said investing in alternative energy would also protect the state’s vast public lands. The Trump administration has said it is shaping policy to become more energy independent.
From CA to Ukraine, officials say clean energy is how to achieve global security
Listen to the story HERE
Aug 12, 2025
A group of veterans and elected officials said the ongoing war in Ukraine highlights the need for a global clean energy transition, including in California.
Despite economic sanctions, Russia continues to earn hundreds of billions of dollars from oil and gas as it carries out military strikes on Ukrainian oil refineries.
Katheryn Napier, a member of the Blue Lake City Council and an Army veteran, said even her small community north of San Francisco is taking steps to reduce oil dependence and its harmful effects.
“Our energy dependence on fossil fuels is not a problem that gets solved somewhere else, by someone else,” Napier contended. “It starts in small places like Blue Lake.”
She pointed out her town is generating more solar power, building a battery energy storage system and converting old sawmills into logistic sites for offshore wind power. President Donald Trump, who has criticized clean energy development, meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week.
EPA changes endanger plans to lower emissions in CA national parks
Listen to the story HERE
Aug 18, 2025
A new study showed vehicle emissions from the Los Angeles area are degrading air quality in nearby national parks but plans to scuttle Environmental Protection Agency regulations to reduce carbon emissions could make the air quality even worse.
Called “Driving Dirty Air,” the study identified the Los Angeles and Southern California metro region as the nation’s worst vehicle pollution “hot spot” affecting national parks.
Ulla Reeves, clean air program director for the National Parks Conservation Association, said Los Angeles was only one of a dozen metro areas sending noxious emissions into parks and nature preserves.
“We found the places like Los Angeles and Phoenix, Las Vegas, Miami, Chicago, Denver, Seattle, New York, Washington, D.C., and even the Asheville, Knoxville Metro areas surrounding Great Smoky Mountains National Park,” Reeves outlined.
Georgia officials tout EV growth amid federal rollbacks
Listen to the story HERE
Aug 7, 2025
Local officials and clean-energy businesses in Georgia are making the case for continued investment in electric vehicles.
They shared the message at an event in Savannah hosted by the Electrification Coalition, part of a national “Freedom to Drive” summer campaign. Speakers said communities in Georgia are already seeing benefits – and warned that cutting back federal EV programs could put job growth, cost savings and clean energy progress at risk.
Bryan County Commission chairman Carter Infinger said Hyundai’s new MetaPlant is a prime example of how EV investments can create jobs and reshape local economies. “Hyundai in itself has 8,500 jobs at the site, and it’s a $7.6 billion investment into our community,” he said. “When you add the suppliers, it’s about $10 billion and about 15,616 jobs.”
Infinger said most workers at the Hyundai facility are Georgia residents, and the ripple effects benefit nearby counties including Bulloch, Chatham, Effingham and Laurens. He said he believes EV production is driving long-term transformation and providing well-paid jobs in the region.
Michigan lawmakers, advocates unite to power the future of EVs
Listen to the story HERE
Jul 30, 2025
As Michigan works to hold its place in the electric vehicle market, clean energy advocates said more investment is urgently needed.
Lawmakers and supports at a press event, part of the national Freedom to Drive Electric tour in Lansing’s Ranney Park, warned without action, the state could fall behind the global competition. Michigan currently builds six electric vehicle models and has drawn more than $20 billion in investment, supporting 34,000 jobs.
Gabrielle Lawrence, an Ingham County Commissioner, said at the event she has been working with local leaders to make the area more EV-friendly.
“I don’t want people to struggle to find charging stations in the Lansing area and in Ingham County,” Lawrence emphasized. “So, the county has committed itself to making sure that these charging stations are available, they’re accessible and they are within a radius whenever you need one.”
The 2026 federal budget proposal slashes renewable-energy funding, including $6 billion for EV chargers. Some skeptics, including United Auto Workers members, are concerned more EVs could mean fewer jobs. Gas-powered cars take more hands to build than electric ones, raising fears of layoffs and lower wages.
Federal grant funds fight for Benton Harbor, Michigan not stopping clean energy efforts
Listen to the story here.
July 16, 2025
Elected Officials to Protect America and the Climate Action Campaign are joining Benton Harbor leaders, highlighting how climate-smart policies improve quality of life and urging continued funding for clean energy, cleanups, and resilience projects. The work is funded by a $20-million EPA grant through the Inflation Reduction Act. Part of that funding will renovate the Bobo Brazil Community Center, turning it into a pilot microgrid alternative energy project.
Marcus Muhammad, Benton Harbor mayor, led a panel of speakers at a recent press event.
“And I stand today to preserve and protect, not just energy, but protect our democracy – because checks and balances is the glue that keeps this government together,” he contended.
Those opposed to the projects argue the billions spent on clean energy would be better used for immediate economic needs, saying the projects offer little return and may do little to slow climate change.
Rep. Joey Andrews, D-St. Joseph, stressed that the impact of the budget cuts is far reaching.
“It might be small town Benton Harbor that’s feeling this impact right now, but it’s going to be Detroit, Grand Rapids, it’s going to be Lansing, it’s going to be everywhere else that’s feeling this tomorrow, because this budget isn’t just a small hit. It’s a heat-seeking missile,” he said.