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Sen. Sanders and AG Clark call on EPA to release solar program funds

WPTZ · last updated

Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark and Sen. Bernie Sanders are calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to release frozen federal funds for a solar program aimed at helping working-class Vermonters. Solar for All makes solar energy accessible for working-class households; in Vermont, it impacts 8,000 families. Similar programs across the country have been paused due to funding freezes.Vermont was allocated more than $62 million to start its Solar for All program. The funds are distributed through grants and loans to eligible Vermonters so they can install solar panels and join community solar projects. According to Sanders, this initiative would reduce electric bills by up to 90% for qualifying families, and affordability is just one of the reasons he wants the program back up and running.”As we install solar panels, we create many hundreds of jobs, good-paying jobs in Vermont. So that is what this legislation does. cuts carbon emissions, it creates jobs, and it substantially lowers the electric bill for many, many thousands of people in Vermont,” Sanders said. Since the funding freeze, Attorney General Clark has joined 22 other states in a lawsuit against the EPA. Clark said she will continue working with the state attorney general to bring back program funding.The current timeline for the Solar for All project, along with similarly funded projects in Vermont, has been paused until funds are released.

Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark and Sen. Bernie Sanders are calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to release frozen federal funds for a solar program aimed at helping working-class Vermonters.

Solar for All makes solar energy accessible for working-class households; in Vermont, it impacts 8,000 families. Similar programs across the country have been paused due to funding freezes.

Vermont was allocated more than $62 million to start its Solar for All program. The funds are distributed through grants and loans to eligible Vermonters so they can install solar panels and join community solar projects.

According to Sanders, this initiative would reduce electric bills by up to 90% for qualifying families, and affordability is just one of the reasons he wants the program back up and running.

“As we install solar panels, we create many hundreds of jobs, good-paying jobs in Vermont. So that is what this legislation does. [It] cuts carbon emissions, it creates jobs, and it substantially lowers the electric bill for many, many thousands of people in Vermont,” Sanders said.

Since the funding freeze, Attorney General Clark has joined 22 other states in a lawsuit against the EPA. Clark said she will continue working with the state attorney general to bring back program funding.

The current timeline for the Solar for All project, along with similarly funded projects in Vermont, has been paused until funds are released.

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