For many of us, the two issues that have been particularly concerning over the past month are the dismantling of federal programs designed to address climate change and inequality. We have done as much as we can by calling and writing our senators and congressional representatives. What other avenues are open to us to reverse some of the negative effects of the President’s actions?
One possible answer to both of these problems comes in the form of “Solar for All”, a federal program created under the Inflation Reduction Act, that has awarded $156 million to the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority [PEDA] and the Philadelphia Green Capital Corp., to fund solar installations for 14,000 households throughout Pennsylvania over the next five years, in historically disadvantaged areas as well as communities where a significant number of jobs and local tax revenue are tied to fossil fuel-related energy production.
Currently, the flow of that money has ceased under order of the President, but Governor Shapiro filed a lawsuit on February 13 aimed at freeing those funds. In all likelihood, the governor will prevail, but even if the funds are released, the state cannot access them without legislative approval.
Since such funding will not only help to lower energy costs for low-income Pennsylvania residents while creating new green jobs, such approval should be a no-brainer. There does appear, however to be Republican opposition. House Representative Jamie Barton of Berks and Schuylkill counties, for example, has expressed
the concern that fossil fuel plants would close as a result of this funding. Why that is a problem is anyone’s guess. Barton also called solar an
unreliable, weather- dependent power source; which is somewhat true, but improvements in battery technology, as well as supplemental energy from wind and other energy sources could also be available as needed. Fossil fuel in all likelihood won’t totally disappear, but our reliance on it could be substantially reduced, if programs like Solar for All were allowed to flourish.
Representative Liz Fiedler, the chair of the House Energy Committee, has therefore introduced State House Bill # 362, which will authorize the release of these funds. The problem is that this bill needs to be enacted by May 1.
You can help expedite this process by writing or calling your state representative and senator, and asking them to support this bill. You can find your state house representative and state senator by clicking here. One sample message that you may want to leave is:
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Hello,
My name is [name]. I live at [address, town, zipcode]. I am a constituent of [Representative/Senator] [politician’s name], and I would like to ask [politician’s pronoun] to support House Bill # 362. Enacting this bill will help to bring the type of funding necessary to reduce the energy costs for low-income households while helping to reduce the carbon footprint in the state. Please support this important piece of legislation. Thank you.
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Thanks,
Coleman
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