Category: United States of America

Source: United States Senator for Washington State Patty Murray

Elimination of clean energy tax credits in Republican legislation recently signed into law could cost WA over $8.7 billion, raise household electricity costs by 12 percent; cost 21,800 jobs in Washington state

***WATCH FULL EVENT HERE; PHOTOS AND B-ROLL HERE***

Washington, D.C. –  Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, held a roundtable discussion at the Seattle City Light Denny Substation in downtown Seattle with Washington State Commerce Director Joe Nguyễn and labor, clean energy, and business leaders to discuss how cuts to critical clean energy tax credits in President Trump and Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act—which was recently signed into law—will raise energy prices for Washington state households, kill thousands of clean energy jobs, and put billions of dollars in new investments for Washington state projects at risk.

Joining Senator Murray for the event were Joe Nguyễn, Director, Washington Department of Commerce; Dawn Lindell, CEO of Seattle City Light; Christine Reid, Political Director for IBEW 77; Gregg Small, Executive Director of Climate Solutions; and Brandon Provalenko, General Manager of Western Solar in Bellingham.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act rapidly phases out critical clean energy tax credits that Democrats passed in the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, and will slow the construction of solar, wind, and battery projects, which made up over 90 percent of new electricity connected to the grid last year. So far in Washington state, the clean energy tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act have generated at least $978 million in new private-led investment across seven energy manufacturing facilities in the state. $8.75 billion in outstanding investments to 27 facilities in Washington are at risk under the cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The U.S. Climate Alliance estimates 21,800 Washingtonians will lose their jobs by 2030 due to the reconciliation bill’s cuts to clean energy and manufacturing tax credits, and Washington households will face a $115 annual increase in their energy bills by 2029. The legislation threatens Washington’s energy security and electric grid reliability by stifling renewable energy development at a time of soaring electricity demand. A one-pager from Energy Innovation on how the energy provisions in the Republican bill will affect Washington state is HERE.

“The fact is, we need clean and renewable energy now more than ever. It’s critical to secure our grid, tackle the climate crisis—and lower costs! That’s why I worked hard to secure clean energy tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act. Then, Trump and Republicans came in like a wrecking ball—with truly shortsighted and destructive cuts. The harm to our clean energy sector is really immense,” Senator Murray said. “It’s an uphill battle to reverse so much damage, but I am not going to stop fighting. Everyone should know, Trump and Republicans are trying to make even more cuts to clean energy right now in our government funding bills. I’m using every bit of leverage I have as Vice Chair of the Appropriations Committee to fight back and reject these cuts. And I’m using my voice—and urging everyone to use theirs as well—to shine a spotlight on what these shortsighted, damaging policy changes mean for businesses and families.”

“This is an attack on Washington’s workers, our economy, and our values. It threatens the jobs we’ve built, makes energy more expensive for families, and puts our competitiveness at risk. These tax credits have brought real investment and real savings to communities across our state. Gutting them now would do real damage — and Washington won’t stand by and let it happen,” said Joe Nguyễn, Director for the Washington Department of Commerce.

“The passing of the Reconciliation Bill directly impacts City Light and its customers by removing critical clean energy tax credits and incentives necessary for public and private investment in new renewable energy and energy efficiency projects,” said Dawn Lindell, General Manager and CEO, Seattle City Light. “It strips away essential support needed to keep pace with load growth forecasts. Every new megawatt of generation we add will cost significantly more than our current energy portfolio. These are costs that we must now pass on to our customers in the electric rates.”

“At a time when we have rapidly rising energy costs and increased needs for power due largely to AI and data centers, we need more energy than ever,” said Gregg Small, Executive Director of Climate Solutions. “Renewables like solar and wind and batteries are the cheapest and fastest energy that we can build. We need to double down and accelerate the building of these resilient power sources. The Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress’ policies do the exact opposite, increasing energy costs for everybody and making it much more likely we will have blackouts at critical times.”

“IBEW 77’s highly trained workforce stands ready to meet the clean energy challenge of the future. Our members—experienced in every facet of utility work, from generation, transmission, safe delivery, and all of the critical supporting classifications—have the skills, adaptability, and drive to build and maintain the advanced energy infrastructure our communities need. But the reduction in clean energy projects threatens this progress. When projects stall, it’s not just jobs at risk—it’s the pace of innovation and the reliability of our energy system that suffers. Our union believes we need to keep building. Investing in clean energy isn’t about today’s economy alone; it’s laying the foundation for a safer, more resilient, and more sustainable future,” said Christine Reid, Political Director for IBEW 77.IBEW 77 is one of the largest outside utility locals in the country, representing about 8,800 members across 34 Washington counties, Northern Idaho, and parts of Montana. Overall, IBEW represents over 20,000 workers in WA state alone. “Our members are on the front lines of energy infrastructure, ensuring the lights stay on and our communities remain connected and safe. In short, these cuts make it harder for new workers to enter the field and for the industry. Our IBEW members are trained and ready to build. We need to build now.”

“This bill will accelerate rising energy costs across Washington, every household and business will feel it in their utility bills,” said Brandon Provalenko, General Manager of Western Solar in Bellingham and a member of the Washington Solar Energy Industries Association (WASEIA). “Fewer families will go solar, fewer small businesses will reduce or eliminate their bills, and we’ll face a slower, more expensive path to producing the power we need to meet our state’s growing energy demand. That’s the wrong direction, especially when solar and storage remain the fastest, cleanest, and most cost-effective solution on the table.”

The cuts to clean energy tax credits in the legislation come at the same time as Trump and the Department of Energy’s decision to illegally cut investments provided by Congress to support the research and development of wind and solar energy, in defiance of legislation President Trump himself signed into law in March. In fiscal year 2024, Congress provided $137 million for the Department of Energy to support wind energy initiatives and provided $318 million to support solar energy. The fiscal year 2025 full-year CR that House Republicans wrote, and President Trump signed into law continued these fiscal year 2024 funding levels. But in a spend plan made public by DOE, the Trump administration revealed it is steering hundreds of millions of dollars designated by Congress to support wind and solar energy to other, favored industries—jeopardizing critical progress and ceding ground on key energy solutions of the future—among other harmful cuts. Instead of funding wind energy initiatives at $137 million, the administration is funding them at $29.8 million (a 78 percent cut), and instead of funding solar initiatives at $318 million, it is funding them at $41.9 million (an 87 percent cut).

Senator Murray has held constant recent events—including multiple events in Washington state—to sound the alarm on Republicans’ devastating reconciliation bill and encourage constituents to raise their voices and call on their Members of Congress to oppose the legislation. Senator Murray and Democrats forced Republicans to take dozens of tough votes over a nonstop 30-hour “vote-a-rama,” which came after Democrats forced a full reading of every word of Republicans’ 940-page bill. Senator Murray spoke repeatedly on the Senate floor during debate over the bill, laying out in detail the harm the legislation would cause. Senator Murray also spoke out repeatedly on the Senate floor against Republicans’ use of a depictive so-called “current policy baseline” to hide the true cost of their deficit-busting tax cuts for billionaires.