The proposed budget makes tax changes that wipe out good-paying renewable energy jobs and raise energy costs for families by gutting the historic progress made in the bipartisan Inflation Reduction Act. Since enacted, over 150 businesses in Utah have taken advantage of energy tax credit programs, allowing them to cut energy costs, invest in their business, employ Utahn’s, and bring needed renewable energy onto the grid. Utah is one of the fastest-growing states, and already, energy companies are seeing massive layoffs as federal support is threatened.
These changes will roll back clean energy manufacturing credits that have helped drive job growth in solar, wind, electric vehicles, and battery production. The Inflation Reduction Act was expected to create approximately 11,500 jobs annually in Utah between 2025 and 2035.
The decimation of the Inflation Reduction Act would eliminate the Community Change Grant, a grant we applied for last year in collaboration with the Navajo Nation that would weatherize homes on the Utah portion of the Navajo Nation to improve indoor air quality. While conversations with the Utah delegation on our proposed plan have been generally supportive, we need your help in protecting clean air in Utah.
Meanwhile, Republicans are proposing new tax loopholes for fossil fuel giants and pushing to lower the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15%, delivering even more handouts to Big Oil billionaires despite years of record profits. An increase in investment in fossil fuels would be disastrous for air quality along the Wasatch Front and throughout our public lands.
