Virginia Cramer, virginia.cramer@sierraclub.org, 804-519-8449
Reporting from Reuters reveals that the Trump administration has chosen this moment -- in the midst of historic economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic that’s decimating the clean energy industry -- to squeeze clean energy companies for millions of dollars.
The administration has sent rent bills totaling $50 million to renewable energy companies operating on public lands. At the same time, the administration has approved royalty relief for fossil fuel corporations leasing public lands at a scale unlike any in recent memory, lowering rates to as little as 2.5 percent. Every relief petition reported in the Bureau of Land Management database (LR2000) has been granted, including for leases bordering Canyonlands National Park – where, on Thursday, BLM is expected to announce plans to offer 150,000 acres up for development. Separately, fossil fuel corporations have also gotten at least $50 million in bailout funds intended to support small businesses.
The clean energy industry in particular has been hard hit by the pandemic. Almost half of the jobs lost in the energy sector during this pandemic have come from the clean energy industry. A report out last month showed clean energy job losses tripling, and the solar industry has said it expects to employ only 188,000 of the 302,000 workers originally forecasted through June. Wind, energy storage and electric vehicles are facing similarly staggering job losses.
Instead of helping the nearly 600,000 workers in clean energy who just lost their jobs, the Administration seems intent on making matters worse. As families are in dire need of help, this Administration believes it has “a little bit of luxury to watch and see” before taking action. Families and communities across the country that had been thriving due to the clean energy economy don’t enjoy this luxury, and nor should Donald Trump. Rather than stalling or engaging in covert bailouts of corporate polluters, Trump and Senate Republicans must get to work with Senate and House Democrats to provide both targeted relief and broad recovery measures that will help clean energy businesses and workers.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.