Yassamin Ansari Trashes Trump Administration's 'War On Clean Energy'

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During a House Natural Resources Committee hearing in July, Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ) spoke about cuts to clean energy credits in the Big Beautiful Bill.

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00:00Chair now recognizes the gentlelady from Arizona, Ms. Ansari, for five minutes.

00:05Thank you, Chair Westerman. We have a cost of living crisis in this country. When we're talking

00:10about the build-out of American infrastructure and energy, we absolutely cannot ignore the

00:15clean energy tax credits that President Trump and congressional Republicans just gutted with

00:20the big ugly bill. According to the Rhodium Group, an independent research group, Republicans

00:25recently passed bill could increase Americans' household energy bills by up to $200 in 2035.

00:33Electricity prices could increase by nearly 20%. Total energy expenditure by industry could increase

00:39by $7 to $11 billion, that's another tax, on domestic manufacturing and small businesses,

00:45which Republicans claim they support. All because renewable energy poses a threat to fossil fuels

00:51market share. First, I'd like to ask unanimous consent to enter this report into the record.

00:56It's titled, What Passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Means for the U.S. Energy and Economy?

01:02Without objection.

01:03This data clearly shows that the repeal of these tax credits is going to drive up prices for

01:08American consumers. We all know that the energy demand is growing. Meeting that demand will be

01:14a challenge, but we must do so quickly and in a way that doesn't drive up prices for working families.

01:20According to S&P, U.S. gas fire turbine wait times are as long as seven years. Costs are up to two and a

01:27half times in some markets. As long as there isn't political interference, solar and wind can be deployed

01:33significantly faster than that, and often cheaper even without tax credits. But a point that I feel is

01:40often missed, renewable energy will still be developed in the United States, despite President Trump's

01:45qualms, because people in this country still care about climate change, and they know that wind and

01:50solar are cost competitive, reliable, and will not make their families sick. But without those tax credits,

01:57Mr. Mergen, will electricity cost taxpayers, rate payers, I apologize, less or more?

02:05More.

02:05More. These tax credits were an investment in clean, affordable, and yes, reliable energy.

02:11Energy of the future and a commitment to addressing climate change. It benefited American families. It

02:17didn't hurt them like fossil fuels do by polluting and exacerbating the climate crisis. Despite this

02:23administration's war on clean energy, I promise that we will keep fighting for a better future.

02:29Moving on to the question of NEPA, Mr. Mergen, another question for you. Before you began teaching,

02:33you were a long-time attorney in the Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resources Division,

02:39where you defended agency NEPA decisions spanning multiple administrations. Prior to your legal career,

02:46you worked at the Bureau of Land Management in Wyoming. You've seen a lot of the NEPA work firsthand.

02:51What have you learned about our procedures, where there is room for improvement, but also why these

02:57procedures are important in federal decision-making?

03:00Yeah, there's a lot packed in there and I'll try to be brief.

03:03I think there's no question, right? I want to be a credible witness here for everybody that litigation

03:09has created problems down the line for the implementation of projects. And those are clean energy

03:15projects, and those are fossil fuel projects, those are infrastructure projects. But the trend is entirely in the

03:21right direction. Courts are playing less of a role as spoilers in litigation, and that's important

03:28progress. And I think that's something the committee needs to keep in mind as it wrestles with these

03:33issues. I want to turn to the important role of the public in this process, because I think that's not

03:39obvious to those of us who spend our time looking at the court cases. I think many, many projects are

03:46improved across the board by public engagement. Mr. Campbell, I think, talked about a wetlands

03:52mitigation project that his company, that his cooperative was involved in. These things happen

03:58every day as a result of public engagement in NEPA processes. Every day, mitigation steps are made

04:05because the public has a good idea. They see that you're building infrastructure, and they say,

04:11maybe you can help us out here. Maybe you can help us with a park. Maybe you can

04:15mitigate these effects. That happens every day. And when we cut out public participation,

04:21we lose the common sense that the public can bring to this process. Thank you. I yield back.

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