Contributed Article
WASHINGTON D.C. – Arizona Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego joined 30 of their Senate colleagues in sending a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin, demanding the Trump administration immediately restore the Solar for All program, which helps working-class families afford rooftop and community-based solar energy, helping to lower their home energy costs.
This joint letter, led by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), follows a letter from Senators Kelly and Gallego, Governor Katie Hobbs, and Representatives Greg Stanton (AZ-4) and Yassamin Ansari (AZ-3) when the program cancellation was first announced in August. They condemned the administration’s decision to cancel $7 billion in funding.
The program would have created tens of thousands of good-paying jobs in communities across the country, lowered residential electricity bills by at least 20 percent for more than 900,000 households, and saved working families more than $8.7 billion in electric costs over the lifetime of the panels.
“Your agency’s decision to terminate Solar for All is not only unlawful—given this funding was congressionally appropriated and fully obligated—but also ill-timed. Energy bills are soaring across the country, and millions of families are facing higher living costs. Electricity bills are 6.2 percent higher than this time last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. EPA’s reckless decision to terminate Solar for All directly undermines efforts by Congress to reduce energy costs and improve grid resilience. It jeopardizes economic investments and inflicts severe job losses across the country while undermining the trust and financial certainty that communities, businesses, and local governments have placed in the federal government,” the senators wrote.
“The EPA’s illegal termination of Solar for All has left states, communities, and businesses across the country in limbo, with critical projects stalled and vulnerable households facing higher energy costs. We demand the EPA immediately reinstate the Solar for All program, rectify the damage caused by this termination, and ensure grantees can proceed with the swift implementation of residential solar projects to slash utility bills and create many thousands of good jobs. In the meantime, we require a full accounting of how the EPA will rectify the damage caused by this program’s disruptive termination,” the senators concluded. “The American people deserve transparency, accountability, and a government that honors its commitments.”
In addition to Kelly, Gallego, and Sanders, the letter was signed by Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR.), Patty Murray (D-WA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Tina Smith (D-MI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Mark Warner (D-VA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Peter Welch (D-VT) and Ron Wyden (D-OR).
