Washington, D.C. — House Republicans passed a budget reconciliation bill this month that slashes energy tax credits, “effectively halting the US clean energy boom.” These energy tax credits are already delivering major benefits across districts nationwide: thousands of jobs, lower energy costs, and billions in investments going to tax revenues for constituents – mostly in Republican-led districts. The House budget threatens to undo all of these gains, resulting not only in lost jobs, higher electricity bills, and cancelled investments, but also weakening America’s national security and energy independence.

The budget now moves to the Senate, where Senators from states that have benefited from billions in clean energy investments, job creation, and lower energy costs for constituents are voicing strong opposition to the House’s proposed rollback.

See coverage below on how gutting clean energy tax credits will hurt state economies — killing jobs, hiking up energy costs, and upending major economic growth across the country:

Courier Journal: Thousands of Kentucky jobs at stake as Congress hashes out the ‘one big, beautiful bill’

In Kentucky, more than 11,000 jobs and billions of dollars in economic development hang in the balance as Congress considers axing clean energy tax credits approved in the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act, according to an analysis from Rhodium Group and MIT — threatening a key pillar of what’s widely considered the most comprehensive climate legislation in U.S. history.

Dozens of projects are still pending or under construction around the state, from battery manufacturing to solar facilities and more, the analysis found. If Congress decides to slash tax incentives for these industries, the companies behind the incomplete projects could scale back plans for investment.

Modifying or repealing the tax credits “is a huge risk,” said Hannah Hess, an associate director at Rhodium Group who worked on the analysis — and is piling on uncertainty for companies already facing tariffs and other macroeconomic headwinds.

Tampa Bay Times: Congress could kill rooftop solar tax credits used by Florida homeowners

The solar industry in Florida has been booming. For the first time last year, the state surged past California for the amount of utility-scale solar that was plugged into the grid, according to industry data analyzed by energy news outlet Canary Media.

Florida produces enough energy from the sun to power more than 2 million homes.

But now local solar companies worry that progress could be undone. Part of the omnibus tax bill passed by the U.S. House last week would eliminate the tax credit homeowners use to help offset 30% of the cost of adding panels to their roofs at the end of this year — a sudden removal of one of the most commonly used tools to help make solar more affordable.

“I can’t speak strongly enough about the impact such a drastic drop will have on the industry,” said Steve Rutherford, president and owner of Tampa Bay Solar, a company based in Tampa that has sold and installed panels on homes and businesses for more than a decade. “The market is going to drop tremendously.”

Minnesota Star-Tribune: Congressional budget bill could kill solar industry in Minnesota just as it was gaining momentum

Now, however, Congress is on the cusp of passing a budget bill that effectively vaporizes green energy tax credits, including those used to finance solar panel manufacturers to wind farms and geothermal home-heating systems.

Morud, TruNorth’s CEO, said the change in course makes his head spin.

“A vast majority of our customers are now middle-income, even low-income,” he said. “That’s because [the government] figured out they could pay everyone’s electric bill for the next 30 years or invest in a cheaper version of energy.”

Across Minnesota, a nascent solar industry — sprung from the ashes of the Great Recession with millennial optimism — is reconciling with the emergence of the budget bill, which companies say will crush the industry.

The credits provided both sustainability and job creation, Morud and other supporters said.

Utah News Dispatch: Curtis defends clean energy tax credits his House GOP colleagues voted to remove

After Utah Republican Sen. John Curtis toured a battery module manufacturing facility located about 30 miles from the Salt Lake City airport, among open lands and farms in Tooele County, he reflected on an oil embargo in the ’70s that had deep impacts on the country’s economy.

Since then, he thinks of energy independence as a national security issue — one that may ultimately need the help of energy tax credits that his party is considering removing in the version of the “big, beautiful” bill the U.S. House passed last week.

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“A lot of Republicans don’t like (the Inflation Reduction Act) because we weren’t included in it. We didn’t get a chance to vote for it,” Curtis said. “And one of my missions right now in Washington is to point out that there are a lot of Utah-slash-Republican-slash-conservative principles in that, that we want to make sure that we make good decisions on, and part of that is this energy independence that I want for our country.”

That, he says, includes the discussion of “be very careful with the decisions that we make and what we do, so we don’t do anything that messes with that energy independence that’s so important,” Curtis said in front of the staff of Fluence Energy, a Virginia energy storage production company with a Utah location.

Michigan Live: GOP cuts to clean energy tax credits would deal a blow to Michigan, businesses warn

That’s because Republicans in Washington have begun to make good on President Donald Trump’s campaign promises to gut his predecessor Joe Biden‘s signature climate law, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.

In Michigan, their efforts have prompted industry and environmentalists to launch full-court press to save a sweeping set of tax credits available under the law. It’s not just their green appeal. Yanking them away would force layoffs, boost household energy costs and stifle economic growth, they contend.

“That’s essentially an energy tax hike on Michigan families, and it’s happening just as new energy projects are beginning to deliver real savings and job opportunities in our state,” said Laura Sherman, president of the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council, an industry group for the advanced energy sector.

WRAL: Federal spending cuts could pull the plug on NC’s clean energy boom

North Carolina is among the top states in the country for clean energy technology, from solar panels and battery plants to electric vehicles and public chargers. But changes at the federal level could slow down that boom.

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“Here in North Carolina, there’s more than $1.5 billion of announced or in progress investments in clean energy deployment,” Stein said. “That is on top of $4 billion of energy projects that are clean since 2018.”

Stein said a repeal of the tax credits in the IRA could pose a major threat to the state’s economy.

“Repealing these credits would cost the state tens of thousands of jobs by 2030, and billions of dollars in investment that is ready to be made,” Stein said Wednesday at a renewable energy forum.

Stein said cuts could endanger projects that are already underway, too. He said business investors need certainty, and they’re not getting that from the current federal government.

Utah News Dispatch: Tax bill proposal terminating clean energy credits may increase Utahns’ energy costs

Some pointed out that repealing these energy incentives would drive up electricity prices in Utah. According to a study by Rhodium Group, an independent research provider, energy bills would rise between 2.5% and 5.5% in Utah if the tax credits were to be repealed. Another study from Energy Innovation, an energy and climate policy think tank, indicates that the action could increase energy costs for an average Utah household by $20 annually in 2030, and more than $120 a year in 2035.

“Current federal policies, such as clean energy tax credits, grants, loans, and standards accelerate clean energy project deployment and electric vehicle sales in Utah,” Energy Innovation wrote in the report. “But repealing these policies would force Utah households to pay higher electricity bills because less low-cost clean energy is being built, while fewer EVs on the road would force consumers to spend more on gasoline.”

Simultaneously, phasing out the clean energy tax credits would eliminate the prospects of supporting 3,200 jobs annually, and $50 million in local tax revenue by 2032, according to BW Research and the Nature Conservancy.

KAWC: Could clean energy tax credits cease to exist? AZ advocates say much is at stake  

The Republican backed tax-package being considered in Congress includes provisions that would repeal clean energy tax credits that some say have been transformational for a state like Arizona.

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Christian Stumpf, director of external affairs of The Nature Conservancy, said billions of dollars and thousands of jobs in Arizona are in jeopardy.

“The IRA has truly been a catalyst for infrastructure investments across Arizona. We’ve really increased our state’s leadership position in the clean energy economy and we are providing good paying jobs that are putting Arizonans to work. We just can’t afford to let that go away,” he explained.

Since the passage of clean energy investments in 2022, companies have announced dozens of clean energy projects and created over 13,000 jobs in rural and urban Arizona communities – many of which are ‘red’ districts. But some provisions in Trump’s “big, beautiful” bill have sparked concerns among Republicans who feel the repealing of credits would negatively impact energy production and the economy […]