The GOP fight for clean energy credits
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A new Republican-led lobbying group is trying to override its party's disdain for former President Joe Biden's clean energy tax credits in an effort to save trillions of dollars' worth of financial benefits headed to largely red districts.
Built for America — led by former West Virginia Lt. Gov. Mitch Carmichael (R) and former Trump campaign adviser Bryan Lanza — launched this month with a $2 million campaign, placing advertisements in conservative platforms like Fox News and Truth Social, writes Timothy Cama.
'Trump country is booming. We're building, hiring and winning in America, because energy tax credits put America first,' one of the ads says.
The effort comes as advocates run out of time, and avenues, to defend the clean power provisions before Republicans unravel them in President Donald Trump's megabill. The Senate Finance Committee released new text this week that would do little to save the solar tax credits, disappointing groups that had hoped senators would take a more tolerant stance than their House counterparts.
Some GOP senators say there's still time to salvage the credits they favor. But for House Freedom Caucus members, the Senate version doesn't go far enough to kill the tax breaks. They have vowed to vote against the bill unless it more closely mirrors the House-approved deep cuts.
Lobbying blitz: The new Senate text reinvigorated the clean energy lobbying effort, which included a rally Tuesday at the Capitol hosted by the Solar Energy Industries Association, the solar industry's biggest trade group.
'Time to storm the Hill!' said Abigail Ross Hopper, the group's CEO.
Companies and trade associations have beefed up their lobbying capacity in recent months to fight for the credits they support. They include battery-maker Energizer Holdings, chemical manufacturer Johnson Matthey, the Hydrogen Jobs Now Coalition, battery recycler Ecobat and the Clean Energy Buyers Association.
Advanced Energy United, which is backed by major technology firms such as Microsoft and automakers like Ford, launched a six-figure campaign targeting a handful of Senate Republicans with digital ads.
'Repealing these tax credits would devastate local economies, raise energy costs, and hand the keys of energy leadership to China — and the Senate now has a choice to make,' Harry Godfrey, the group's managing director for federal priorities, said in a statement.
The anti-tax-credit faction has its advocates, too. GOP lawmakers have publicly thanked fossil fuel activist Alex Epstein for his help in rolling back the credits in the House bill. Epstein, the founder of a for-profit think tank that promotes fossil fuels, wrote on X that the Senate version is a 'sad update.'
It's Wednesday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Arianna Skibell. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to askibell@eenews.net.
Programming note: We'll be off this Thursday but will be back in your inboxes on Friday.
Today in POLITICO Energy's podcast: Josh Siegel and Kelsey Tamborrino break down what the Senate proposed in its version of the megabill, how it compares with the House's version and what comes next in the tax credit battle.
Power Centers
EPA acted illegally in axing grants, court rulesA federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration's termination of $600 million in environmental justice grants issued by the Biden administration for low-income areas and communities of color was unlawful, writes Alex Guillén.
The ruling comes as the Environmental Protection Agency is separately appealing a ruling that its termination of $20 billion in Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grants was also unlawful. Congressional Republicans have proposed rescinding funding for both grant programs as part of their reconciliation bills.
Offshore wind's political tightrope walkIn an unusual move, Vineyard Wind declined to comment when the Supreme Court ended a yearslong battle in favor of the Massachusetts offshore wind developer, writes Benjamin Storrow.
The lack of comment illustrates how offshore wind companies are trying to navigate a politically tumultuous period under Trump, who has repeatedly voiced his disdain for 'windmills.' As executive orders and regulatory actions designed to halt offshore wind projects have piled up, many developers are advancing projects in relative silence. They are staying quiet even as opponents ratchet up criticism.
Death knell for carbon capture?In proposing to repeal Biden's climate rule for power plants, the Trump administration lampooned the measure's reliance on burgeoning technology that captures and stores pollution before it enters the atmosphere, writes Carlos Anchondo.
EPA said carbon capture and storage has not been 'adequately demonstrated' and that the cost of deployment is 'not reasonable,' delivering a major setback to a technology that's struggling to find a foothold.
In Other News
More megabill bites: Senate Republicans are seeking to reward oil drillers amid deep cuts to wind and solar.
Is fake grass safe? A manufacturer sues to stop a discussion.
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The Trump administration is shuttering climate.gov, which has for 15 years been a go-to source for information about climate change and the growing threats driven by atmospheric warming.
The Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling Wednesday that had threatened to stymie nuclear power plants' ability to store spent nuclear fuel away from their sites as they await a permanent solution for the waste.
The Brazilian government is taking bids from companies to explore for oil near the Amazon River as the country also prepares to host this year's international climate talks aimed at shoring up countries' climate commitments.
That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.
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