WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today led 31 senators in calling on the Trump administration to immediately restore the Solar for All program — a landmark initiative Sanders wrote to help working class families afford rooftop and community-based solar energy.
In a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin, Sanders and his colleagues condemned the administration’s decision to cancel $7 billion in Solar for All funding in August. 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% for more than 900,000 households and saved working families more than $8.7 billion in electric costs over the lifetime of the panels.
Joining Sanders as cosigners on the letter are Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
“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. Indeed, electricity bills are 6.2 percent higher than this time last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,” Sanders and the senators wrote. “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. Further, it disrupts workforce training initiatives, such as those in West Virginia, Alaska and across the Midwest where solar career pathways and apprenticeship programs are already underway.”
Sanders wrote and passed into law the Solar for All program to slash utility bills, promote clean energy job training and invest in American manufacturing. Vermont was slated to receive more than $62 million to help households install residential solar systems through the initiative.
“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,” Sanders and the senators concluded. “The American people deserve transparency, accountability, and a government that honors its commitments.”
Read the letter here.
