In a Times Picayune story of August 9 Louisiana was notified that the fund, already approved and granted to Louisiana was cancelled by the EPA and that the funds no longer existed. The $156 million for Louisiana was part of a $7 billion program for solar energy. The monies were part of the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund approved by the Biden administration's signature climate legislation, The Inflation Reduction Act passed by the democratic controlled congress.
Thanks to Trump and the GOP's recently passed One Big Ugly Bill, the solar energy funds were cancelled. Louisiana voters elected Trump and the GOP representing Louisiana in congress even though they were aware of their opposition to Biden's policy on solar energy. This decision comes only weeks after Trump announced he was cancelling wind farms in the Gulf of Mexico that Louisiana was depending on to develop.
The Times Picayune article disclosed that approximately 15,000 Louisiana households were expected to benefit from the program and Louisiana's Energy Department had earlier stressed how the program to generate 112 megawatts of solar power would positively impact the state. States with democratic leaderships and other organizations across the country are signaling they will fight the EPA's termination of the funds.
Everyone in Louisiana understands how important alternate energy resources are to the people and the state and how alternate energy can reduce the toxic pollution industries are known to produce. The $7 billion investment in solar energy for the nation and Louisiana's portion of $156 million is a reasonable and productive venue. But Trump and the GOP's one big UGLY bill changed all of that.
Louisiana may be a Trump and GOP state for politics, but that does not make it a good state for the people's needs and well being. It is playing out front and center and the worst is yet to come.
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
