Last week, Donald Trump signed his “Big Beautiful Bill” Big Ugly Bill into law, marking one of the most harmful, costly pieces of legislation this country has ever seen. We already know that the nearly 900-page bill is filled with policies that will slash healthcare, food assistance programs, and clean energy—but what exactly can we expect from the environmental impacts of these cuts?
Slashing Clean Energy Investments & Tax Credits
By passing this bill, Trump and Republicans in Congress have intentionally debilitated our capacity to address climate change as a country. They reversed vital policies that we use to reduce emissions and build infrastructure–stopping us from creating a more reliable grid that would prioritize making energy more affordable.
This Big Ugly Bill is set to:
- Penalize people for buying electric cars by canceling federal tax credits of up to $7,500 for purchasers of new electric vehicles (EVs) and up to $4,000 for purchasers of used EVs.
- Eliminate the $3,200 energy efficient home improvement tax credit that the federal government gives Americans for making energy-improvement changes like solar panels, heat pumps, and efficient water heaters to their homes.
- End the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), which provided vital funds to upgrade America’s energy systems with local clean solar power and pollution-reducing projects across the country.
These cuts will not only increase our energy demands for polluting fuels—making it harder to address climate change—but will also make life more expensive for everyday people.
Trump is Making Us Poorer…
Because of this Big Bad Bill, California residents can expect to see our energy bills increase up to $400 per year—worsening the affordability crisis families are facing.
It’ll become harder for families to install clean energy systems in their own home, like solar and battery storage, without the help of tax credits. These credits cover the upfront costs that make it possible for families to choose long-term solutions that lower energy costs and reduce household emissions.
Making Us Sicker…
Without tax credits to make electric cars more affordable, the air we breathe will get more polluted with emissions from transportation—the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
And Making Us Less Safe.
This bill cuts money for wildfire prevention programs like forest management services and hiring firefighters—pouring that money into additional funding for Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Undermining the American Energy Grid
This bill also makes it more expensive to get renewable energy projects off the ground. Right now, nearly a quarter of U.S. electricity comes from renewable sources like hydroelectric, solar, and wind. This bill changes all that, making it harder for large-scale solar and wind projects to qualify for tax credits. Without these tax credits, some companies won’t be able to afford to build the renewable energy sources that are so vital in meeting the nation’s renewable energy goals.
The clean energy manufacturing industry has been one of America’s fastest growing over the last few years. With the Trump Bill’s slashes to clean energy tax credits, new and existing projects may be forced to shut down, driving workers in the clean energy manufacturing industry to unemployment.
Trump is making the grid less reliable and the U.S. more dependent on foreign oil with this bill. And this comes at a time when extreme weather events and record demand are putting unmatched pressure and strain on the grid, forcing blackouts across the country.
How You Can Help
Trump and Republican lawmakers chose to side with corporate polluters, Big Oil, and billionaires. In voting yes on this bill, every Republican in California made the choice to make California’s families poorer, sicker, and less safe in order to give billionaire polluters a tax cut at the expense of everyday people. And they’re working as we speak to further defund essential programs like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Interior (DoI), and other vital services we rely on.
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