SENATOR NEEDLEMAN EXPRESSES EXTREME CONCERN AS FEDERAL BUDGET COULD SPIKE ENERGY COSTS, POLLUTE AIR, HARM POWER GRID
As the federal Senate continues to consider the federal budget proposal put forward by the Trump administration and national Republicans, State Senator Norm Needleman (D-Essex) today expressed extreme concern over its energy policies, which he said could lead to higher energy bills, higher rates of pollution and increased pressure on the American power grid.
In addition to concerns over the federal budget’s billions of dollars of cuts for programs like Medicaid and SNAP, removing health care for more than 10 million Americans and committing tens of billions of dollars of investment into immigration prisons, Sen. Needleman, Senate Chair of the Energy and Technology Committee, noted the bill emphasizes increased use of fossil fuels and harms clean energy investments, even penalizing use of clean energy.
“At a time when the impacts of pollutive emissions become more apparent around our country and our world, for the federal government to purposely de-emphasize renewable energy in favor of fossil fuels moves us backward,” said Sen. Needleman. “Combined with recent rulings from the Environmental Protection Agency, this budget will make our air dirtier. It will put increased pressure on our power grid and take direct aim at solar and wind energy, raising energy costs in the process. Among the countless concerning aspects of the bill that continue to be discovered, as this budget threatens to increase the federal debt by trillions of dollars, its ill-guided energy policies are uniquely harmful to our nation and world.”
Yahoo Finance reported the bill seeks to eliminate clean energy credits for use of renewable resources, with changes as extreme as eliminating all credits for electric vehicle purchases. The bill also seeks to de-emphasize use of renewable energy sources like solar panels and wind farms in favor of fossil fuels; one aspect goes so far as to make wind and solar projects more expensive if they use supplies sourced from foreign countries like China.
Connecticut utilizes significant amounts of solar and wind power and has projects underway to expand state energy capacity; the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection most recently announced three solar projects delivering more than 500 megawatts to Connecticut.
The American Clean Power Association said the bill would have a negative impact of hundreds of billions of dollars in coming years through frozen and wasted investments. De-emphasizing clean and renewable energy use, with AI data centers expected to come online and increase demand on the energy grid in coming years, may also cause consumer energy costs to grow significantly in years to come. Some experts are concerned the lack of energy could harm the reliability of the power grid itself, possibly contributing to power outages or rolling blackouts.
The Clean Energy Buyers Association said in February that removing those tax credits would raise the average household utility bill by more than $110 per year. Across the continental United States, the average increase in electricity prices would be at least 8.4%.
Such an increase would nullify gains achieved by Connecticut legislators in passing legislation this year reducing power bills by 5% statewide.
The Council on Foreign Relations noted the bill’s consequences could include threatening the country’s ability to weather heat waves by reducing overall power entering the grid. Should the bill pass, it could increase global annual emissions by up to 2%, with a potential ripple effect of causing other countries to pull back from their own climate efforts.
The loss of those clean energy credits also stand to threaten hundreds of thousands of clean energy jobs.
