The video above is set to begin at the point in Senator Whitehouse’s speech yesterday where he describes the potential impacts on the clean power industry, and power production in general, should this bill be approved.
Climate and clean energy advocates thought they had already seen the worst case scenario in previous versions of the Senate’s sweeping reconciliation bill. They were wrong.
The latest bill, released late Friday night, includes a new tax on solar and wind farms that analysts at Rhodium Group estimate will increase the cost of renewable energy projects by 10 to 20%. That’s on top of cost increases that will come from an aggressive phase out of tax credits that have led to a clean energy boom over the last decade.
“It’s a kill shot. This new excise tax on wind and solar is designed to fully kill the industry,” Adrian Deveny, founder and president of the policy advisory firm Climate Vision, told Politico.
The bill could become law as soon as this evening if the Senate succeeds at bringing it to the floor while most Americans are asleep.
North American Building Trades Unions – on the current No Good, Horrible Very Bad Bill before the Senate:
“If enacted, this stands to be the biggest job-killing bill in the history of this country. Simply put, it is the equivalent of terminating more than 1,000 Keystone XL pipeline projects.
In some cases, it worsens the already harmful trajectory of the House-passed language, threatening an estimated 1.75 million construction jobs and over 3 billion work hours, which translates to $148 billion in lost annual wages and benefits.
These are staggering and unfathomable job loss numbers, and the bill throws yet another lifeline and competitive advantage to China in the race for global energy dominance.”
The bill wouldn’t just dramatically slow clean energy’s growth. It would also provide subsidies to the fossil fuel industry. One provision in the bill would exempt oil and gas drillers from paying any corporate taxes. Another provision offers coal producers a production tax credit. These giveaways would add to the hundreds of billions of dollars of subsidies the industry has received from taxpayers over the last century.
The new fossil fuel subsidies in the bill come after a month of intense pressure from fossil fuel industry lobbyists and advocates. In a lunch with Republican Senators, fossil fuel advocate Alex Epstein successfully argued that Senate leaders should go further than the House did in slowing clean energy’s growth.
Last week, Epstein said wind and solar were “a cancer we have to get rid of” before referring to jobs created by the industry as “fentanyl jobs.” He told the New York Times his advocacy is funded by the fossil fuel industry.
If passed, the Senate’s bill would set America back significantly in its effort to address climate change. By 2035 the United States would emit one billion tons of additional carbon pollution compared to its current trajectory, according to modeling from Princeton University. That’s equivalent to the annual emissions of Japan, the fifth largest greenhouse gas emitter.
The bill would also lead to a massive wave of clean energy project cancellations at a time when America is already running out of electricity due to a surge in demand from AI data centers. Less electricity supply would boost prices for American families and businesses in every state, with some experiencing price increases of 25% as a result of the legislation.
Those project cancellations would result in job losses across the country. Yesterday, the trade union that represents three million construction workers in America came out against the bill for that reason. “If enacted, this stands to be the biggest job-killing bill in the history of this country,” they wrote in a statement.
North American Building Trades Union:
“The revised Senate draft released late last night is a massive insult to the working men and women of North America’s Building Trades Unions and all construction workers. This is not what they voted for.
“If enacted, this stands to be the biggest job-killing bill in the history of this country. Simply put, it is the equivalent of terminating more than 1,000 Keystone XL pipeline projects. In some cases, it worsens the already harmful trajectory of the House-passed language, threatening an estimated 1.75 million construction jobs and over 3 billion work hours, which translates to $148 billion in lost annual wages and benefits. These are staggering and unfathomable job loss numbers, and the bill throws yet another lifeline and competitive advantage to China in the race for global energy dominance.
“Our three million members are ready, willing, and able to build this country into the world’s undisputed energy superpower. But this bill takes their jobs away and undermines that mission. Slashing energy tax credits and layering on harmful restrictions is no way to power America’s future, economically or in terms of national energy security. Critical infrastructure projects essential to that future are being sacrificed at the altar of ideology.
“We are especially outraged because all of this, all of these job losses for hardworking Americans, is being done for one reason only: to make room for more tax breaks for the wealthiest corporations and individuals in America. Among other troubling provisions, this proposal will also raise healthcare premiums through the inevitable cost-shifting onto our members caused by the cuts to Medicaid.
I see you pulled that from Distilled, which I haven’t heard of before, and I’ve generally noticed that the major media are largely ignoring this issue. There’s plenty of coverage of politicians fighting – little real analysis of the bill itself and its impacts, and I’ve yet to see one in WP, NYT, etc., about the energy impacts. This will have long-lasting and significant impacts, and nada in the news about, just how Elon is fighting with Trump again.
Trump: “We’re doing coal”:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-windmills-solar-ramp_n_68622360e4b08e0b4a743a83
Just saw this, though:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/06/30/climate/china-clean-energy-power.html