CEOs Warn Republican Budget Will Jeopardize Job-Creating Projects, Hurt American Families, Workers, and Businesses

Clean Energy Entrepreneur Steph Speirs: “If we want to keep our economy U.S.-based […] then we need to create that capacity at home.”

Earlier today, less than a day after Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives passed their budget, Clean Energy for America joined Project Vanguard Founder and CEO Kevin Doffing, Clean Energy Entrepreneur Steph Speirs, and CleanCapital Co-Founder Jon Powers to outline how efforts to gut job-creating investments in clean energy will hurt American families, workers, and businesses and stifle America’s energy dominance.

The clean energy leaders, based all across the country, emphasized how the budget being pushed by congressional Republicans and efforts by the Trump administration to halt projects have  already  tens of thousands of clean energy jobs made possible by federal funding and preventing businesses like theirs from creating good-paying jobs. Speakers urged Republican lawmakers in Congress and Trump administration officials to protect clean energy investments and programs that are helping businesses like theirs boost economic development and create jobs directly in their community—including for tens of thousands of veterans.

Here’s what these clean energy leaders had to say about Republicans’ priorities:

Kevin Doffing, Founder and CEO, Project Vanguard:

• “Clean energy jobs are starting…These are amazing economic opportunities for veterans, and it is the highest growth opportunity inside the sector. […] We do not need to slow this down. We need to speed this up. I’ve been in oil and gas. I’ve seen what the boom bust cycle looks like and feels like. This is not it. This is onwards and upwards. But we need economic and policy certainty to move forward. ”

• “There are projects that have been pulled: Kore Power in Arizona, Freyr Battery in Georgia—it’s revitalizing northern Georgia with the IRA tax credits, with manufacturing opportunities in these towns. […] [The funding freeze is] going to hit people really hard in some of these rural communities where these manufacturing jobs and these renewable energy projects were really incentivizing and building up these stronger economies.”

Steph Speirs, Clean Energy Entrepreneur:

• “If we cannot create clean, cheap electricity in the United States, some of our largest tech companies are already being courted in other countries where they’re being offered cheaper electricity that’s clean. If we want to keep our economy U.S.-based, and have our tech companies not go abroad, then we need to create that capacity at home.”

• “If you yank away all the federal incentives for this, what we’re going to see is a widening of the outcomes between states that support clean energy and states that do not support clean energy, which is not good for Americans—when those who live in states that support clean energy get to enjoy these benefits and get savings on their bills, and others don’t, simply because programs that were legislated are taken away.”

• “Cutting clean energy in America is in fact making Americans less safe. So not only are we setting ourselves back on addressing climate changes—72 percent of Americans report experiencing catastrophic natural disasters last year—but it’s threatening the livelihoods of everyday Americans that desperately need financial relief.”

Jon Powers, Co-Founder, CleanCapital:

• “One of the most important things that we should be hearing from Washington is certainty to continue on that scale. American-made clean energy is a massive part of the American energy dominance. It’s happening today, and we want to continue that growth, continue supporting putting private dollars into projects all across the country, supporting the demand of the growing data center movements, and helping to create and support good American jobs here at home.”

Russ Bates, Founder and CEO, NXTGEN Clean Energy Solutions:

• “The Trump tax cuts really benefit the top 1 percent with 93 percent of the benefits. In contrast, the IRA has already generated $230 billion plus in private sector clean energy investment and lowering energy costs for millions of Americans. So the choice is really very clear in my mind—you can either invest in America’s future or we can give another handout to billionaires and big corporations that really don’t need that.”

• “Clean energy tax credits really drive private sector investments. They don’t provide upfront cash. […] The numbers really tell the story. On average, the U.S. government provides about $20 billion per year in fossil fuel tax breaks, but whenever you factor in pollution, health impacts, other costs, the real price of taxpayers is closer to seven or $60 billion annually. Meanwhile, clean energy is driving private sector investment and job growth.”

Tell Your Representatives: Protect American Energy Jobs