World's worst wind NIMBY seeks to destroy wind industry using gross misinformation

Why wind farms attract so much misinformation and conspiracy theory

Marc Hudson, University of Sussex

When Donald Trump recently claimed, during what was supposed to be a press conference about an EU trade deal, that wind turbines were a “con job” that “drive whales loco”, kill birds and even people, he wasn’t just repeating old myths. He was tapping into a global pattern of conspiracy theories around renewable energy – particularly wind farms. (Trump calls them “windmills” – a climate denier trope.)

Like 19th century fears that telephones would spread diseases, wind farm conspiracy theories reflect deeper anxieties about change. They combine distrust of government, nostalgia for the fossil fuel era, and a resistance to confronting the complexities of the modern world.

And research shows that, once these fears are embedded in someone’s worldview, no amount of fact checking is likely to shift them.

A short history of resistance to renewables

Although we’ve known about climate change from carbon dioxide as probable and relatively imminent since at least the 1950s, early arguments for renewables tended to be seen more as a way of breaking the stranglehold of large fossil-fuel companies.

The idea that fossil companies would delay access to renewable energy was nicely illustrated in a classic episode of The Simpsons when Mr. Burns builds a tower to blot out the sun over Springfield, forcing people to buy his nuclear power.

Back in the real world, similar dynamics were at play. In 2004, Australian prime minister John Howard gathered fossil fuel CEOs help him slow the growth of renewables, under the auspices of a Low Emissions Technology Advisory Group.

Meanwhile, advocates of renewables – especially wind – often found it difficult to build public support for wind, in part because the existing power providers (mines, oil fields, nuclear) tend to be out of sight and out of mind.

Public opposition has also been fed by health scares, such as “wind turbine syndrome”. Labelled a “non-disease” and non-existent by medical experts, it continued to circulate for years.

Renewables will be world’s top power source ‘by 2026’

Is the US on the wrong side of history?

Simon Evans

Renewable energy will overtake coal to become the world’s top source of electricity “by 2026 at the latest”, according to new forecasts from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The rise of renewables is being driven by extremely rapid growth in wind and solar output, which topped 4,000 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2024 and will pass 6,000TWh by 2026.

Wind and solar are increasingly under attack from populist politicians on the right, such as Donald Trump and Reform in the UK.

Nevertheless, they will together meet more than 90% of the increase in global electricity demand out to 2026, the IEA says, while modest growth for hydro power will add to renewables’ rise.

With nuclear and gas also reaching record highs by 2026, coal-fired generation is set to decline – driven by falls in China and the EU – meaning that power-sector emissions will decline, too.

The chart above illustrates these profound shifts in the global electricity mix – in particular, the meteoric rise of renewables, driven by wind and solar.

Trump’s rollbacks and funding cuts are affecting your food, water, and air — even if you don’t realize it.

How Donald Trump is affecting Americans' everyday lives

Grist staff

The cost to Rhode Island so far

• Over 47,000 Rhode Islanders will lose health insurance
  
• 10,000 Rhode Islanders are at risk of losing food assistance
  
• Nearly 6,000 Rhode Islanders could lose their job
  
• Combined with Trump’s reckless tariff agenda, the median household in Rhode Island will lose $1,300
  
• Rhode Islanders’ electricity bills will rise by 10.5%
• Trump’s reckless tariffs have already cost Rhode Island businesses $231.9 million

Lucas Burtin / Grist

Over the last six months, Americans have been inundated with a near-constant stream of announcements from the federal government — programs shuttered, funding cut, jobs eliminated, and regulations gutted. 

Donald Trump and his administration are executing a systematic dismantling of the environmental, economic, and scientific systems that underpin our society. The onslaught can feel overwhelming, opaque, or sometimes even distant, but these policies will have real effects on Americans’ daily lives.

In this new guide, Grist examines the impact these changes could have, and are already having, on the things you do every day. Flipping on your lights. Turning on your faucet. Paying household bills. Visiting a park. Checking the weather forecast. Feeding your family.

The decisions have left communities less safe from pollution, more vulnerable to climate disasters, and facing increasingly expensive energy bills, among other changes. Read on to see how.

— Katherine Bagley 

How wind and solar power helps keep America’s farms alive

It's not just the Midwest

Rhode Island just awarded grants for green energy to 23 local farms including several in Charlestown, South Kingstown and Westerly

Paul Mwebaze, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Drive through the plains of Iowa or Kansas and you’ll see more than rows of corn, wheat and soybeans. You’ll also see towering wind turbines spinning above fields and solar panels shining in the sun on barns and machine sheds.

For many farmers, these are lifelines. Renewable energy provides steady income and affordable power, helping farms stay viable when crop prices fall or drought strikes.

But some of that opportunity is now at risk as the Trump administration cuts federal support for renewable energy.

‘Big Beautiful Bill’ will have Americans paying higher prices for dirtier energy

If you want to add solar panels or other green energy improvements or buy an electric car, do it quickly!

Daniel Cohan, Rice University

When congressional Republicans decided to cut some Biden-era energy subsidies to help fund their One Big Beautiful Bill Act, they could have pruned wasteful subsidies while sparing the rest. Instead, they did the reverse. Americans will pay the price with higher costs for dirtier energy.

The nearly 900-page bill that Donald Trump signed on July 4, 2025, slashes incentives for wind and solar energy, batteries, electric cars and home efficiency while expanding subsidies for fossil fuels and biofuels. That will leave Americans burning more fossil fuels despite strong public and scientific support for shifting to renewable energy.

As an environmental engineering professor who studies ways to confront climate change, I think it is important to distinguish which energy technologies could rapidly cut emissions or need a financial boost to become viable from those that are already profitable but harm the environment. Unfortunately, the Republican bill favors the latter while stifling the former.

As Consumer Tax Credits Vanish, What Do You Need to Know?

We spoke to experts about what to keep in mind as incentives for solar, heat pumps and EVs are about to end.

By Dan Gearino

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here.

Consumers are facing a Sept. 30 deadline to be eligible for tax credits for EVs, followed by a Dec. 31 deadline when credits vanish for rooftop solar, air source heat pumps and certain water heaters.

These are major purchases and customers will likely want to consider multiple options before making a selection, but there isn’t much time for research. To help, I’ve convened some experts to help you make good decisions.

First, how we got here: Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act earlier this month, which repealed tax credits that had been created or expanded under the Inflation Reduction Act.

Since the EV credits expire first, we’ll start there. Until Sept. 30, the government has a $7,500 credit for qualifying new EVs and plug-in hybrids, and a $4,000 credit for qualifying used EVs. There is also a $7,500 credit under a different part of the law that applies to leased EVs.

On June 24th, our hottest day so far, green energy saved the New England grid

Behind-the-meter solar panels and a growing network of batteries helped prevent blackouts and saved consumers millions of dollars.

Sarah Shemkus, Canary Media

As temperatures across New England soared above 100 degrees Fahrenheit in recent weeks, solar panels and batteries helped keep air conditioners running while reducing fossil-fuel generation and likely saving consumers more than $20 million.

“Local solar, energy efficiency, and other clean energy resources helped make the power grid more reliable and more affordable for consumers,” said Jamie Dickerson, senior director of clean energy and climate programs at the Acadia Center, a regional nonprofit that analyzed clean energy’s financial benefits during the recent heat wave.

On June 24, as temperatures in the Northeast hit their highest levels so far this year, demand on the New England grid approached maximum capacity, climbing even higher than forecast. Then, unexpected outages at power plants reduced available generation by more than 1 gigawatt. As pressure increased, grid operator ISO New England made sure the power kept flowing by reducing exports to other regions, arranging for imports from neighboring areas, and tapping into reserve resources.

At the same time, rooftop and other ​“behind-the-meter” solar panels throughout the region, plus Vermont’s network of thousands of batteries, supplied several gigawatts of needed power, reducing demand on an already-strained system and saving customers millions of dollars. It was a demonstration, supporters say, of the way clean energy and battery storage can make the grid less carbon-intensive and more resilient, adaptable, and affordable as climate change drives increased extreme weather events.

“As we see more extremes, the region still will need to pursue an even more robust and diverse fleet of clean energy resources,” Dickerson said. ​“The power grid was not built for climate change.”

On June 24, behind-the-meter solar made up as much as 22 percent of the power being used in New England at any given time, according to the Acadia Center. At 3:40 p.m., total demand peaked at 28.5 GW, of which 4.4 GW was met by solar installed by homeowners, businesses, and other institutions.

As wholesale power prices surpassed $1,000 per megawatt-hour, this avoided consumption from the grid saved consumers at least $8.2 million, according to the Acadia Center.

Next Round of ‘Clean Heat’ Incentives this Month

Clean energy federal tax credits going soon - apply for state aid before that's gone too

By Rob Smith / ecoRI News staff

Eighteen months after it was first launched by policymakers, the first phase of Rhode Island’s first heat pump incentive program is over.

State officials launched Clean Heat Rhode Island in September 2023, using $25 million from the state’s share of federal pandemic relief funds to provide cash incentives for homeowners and businesses to install high-efficiency heat pumps to handle heating and cooling for homes and buildings.

Abode Energy Management, the Massachusetts-based firm selected to run the program, announced March 3 it would cease accepting new applications from the program, stating “due to the success of the program, we have allocated nearly all our existing funds and are not currently accepting new applications.”

The company had already exhausted its total funding for market-rate residential incentives and closed applications for non-income eligible homeowners in mid-January.

A spokesperson from the state Office of Energy Resources (OER) declined to comment on the end of the program, pending its relaunch later this month.

So where did the money and rebates go? Complete data isn’t available for the entire program yet, in part by design. Funds were completely allocated by March, but Abode Energy wouldn’t actually cut a check for rebates until the installation was completed on any home or business, leading to a large lag in data.

Abode Energy also stopped updating its program dashboard back in February, but the data currently displayed accounts for almost three-quarters of the program’s entire spending limits, around $18.3 million.

By February of this year, Clean Heat Rhode Island issued 3,903 individual rebates to residential homeowners, spending a total of $10.1 million.

In the state’s commercial silo, the program issued 181 rebates to businesses, spending around $3.7 million on heat pump incentives.

The program issued another 257 rebates in its income-eligible silo, spending just under $4.4 million. These rebates were more generous than the standard rebate in the residential category.

State officials pledged 40% of program funds to frontline communities, and low-income residents who met the qualifications for the program could have the complete cost of a heat pump and installation covered by Clean Heat Rhode Island. It was a promise the state struggled to keep as the program entered its final months late last year; an ecoRI News analysis showed many of the rebates were cashed by homeowners in some of the state’s wealthiest communities.

Meanwhile, officials from Abode Energy and OER are already gearing up for the next round of Clean Heat Rhode Island funding. The program’s website notes new incentives available now. 

If you want to save on green energy in your house or business, DO IT NOW!

How to Take Advantage of the IRA Tax Credits Before Trump’s GOP Kills Them

Bill Mckibben for The Crucial Years

You may recall the amount of sweat, anguish, and resolve it took to pass the Inflation Reduction Act. 

There were the amazing young people of the Sunrise Movement, who channeled the energy of Greta’s worldwide outburst into the offices of Nancy Pelosi, energizing the 2020 primary race and then—in a remarkable display of political maturity—turning that energy into legislative sausage making. 

There was the steady morphing of the Build Back Better bill into ever-more compromised climate legislation, and then the widespread conviction that even that would not pass. Until at the last minute Joe Manchin agreed, as long as it was larded with yet more gifts for the fossil fuel industry. And with that Congress took its first real action on climate in the 35 years it’s been an issue.

It was supposed to be a steady source of funding that would last a decade, giving this energy transition time to find its feet, and giving the U.S. a foothold in the fight with China to determine the future. But in the course of a few months the White House and the fossil-funded GOP Congress have overturned all that except the extra gifts to the fossil fuel industry. (Antonia Juhasz provides the best account yet of all the excruciating details in Rolling Stone.)

The IRA won’t last a decade. Its funding starts running out at the end of September—if you’re in the market for an electric vehicle, that has to be done now. (And there may be some excellent lease deals). And if you’re even considering getting solar on your home, that needs to happen by the end of the year if you want the tax credit.

Normally we talk about these things as political questions—but today I asked a few experts to share their take on what individual Americans might want to do over the 165 days.

Here’s Cindy del Rosario-Tapan, from the very experienced Solar United Neighbors (who are sponsoring a webinar later this week to go over the same ground and more):

• The impacts of this new law will be severe. We expect the solar market to shrink significantly and will readjust over time. It’s likely many companies will have layoffs or go out of business in the near-term.
• Our advice to homeowners is to act now:
• If you are a homeowner and planning to pay cash or finance your system through a loan, we highly recommend you go solar in 2025 to benefit from the tax credit and that you do so soon. Homeowners should proceed with caution and consult a tax adviser to determine the extent to which their project is eligible.
• The safest way to ensure your project will qualify for the tax credit is to have it “placed in service” before the end of 2025. “Placed in service” is a gray area, but a conservative interpretation would be when your system is ready to be connected to the grid.

My old 350.org colleague Phil Aroneanu has been hard at work at Climate United trying to protect what they can of the IRA funding. He breaks it down a little further:

If you're hoping to put solar on the roof of your home, and you want to own the system (not lease it), the 30% residential clean energy tax credit (25D) will sunset at the end of 2025, 10 years sooner than what was written into the Inflation Reduction Act.

If you own a business or nonprofit, or work at a school or city government agency and want to install solar OR you want to lease a solar array for your home rather than own it outright, you'll need to get started as soon as possible to qualify for the up to 60% investment tax credit (48E) and bonuses available. 

What Trump’s budget says about his environmental values

That he doesn't have any?

Stan Meiburg, Wake Forest University and Janet McCabe, Indiana University

To understand the federal government’s true priorities, follow the money.

After months of saying his administration is committed to clean air and water for Americans, Donald Trump has proposed a detailed budget for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for fiscal year 2026. The proposal is more consistent with his administration’s numerous recent actions and announcements that reduce protection for public health and the environment.

To us, former EPA leaders – one a longtime career employee and the other a political appointee – the budget proposal reveals a lot about what Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin want to accomplish.

According to the administration’s Budget in Brief document, total EPA funding for the fiscal year beginning October 2025 would drop from US$9.14 billion to $4.16 billion – a 54% decrease from the budget enacted by Congress for fiscal 2025 and less than half of EPA’s budget in any year of the first Trump administration.

Without taking inflation into account, this would be the smallest EPA budget since 1986. Adjusted for inflation, it would be the smallest budget since the Ford administration, even though Congress has for decades given EPA more responsibility to clean up and protect the nation’s air and water; handle hazardous chemicals and waste; protect drinking water; clean up environmental contamination; and evaluate the safety of a wide range of chemicals used in commerce and industry. These expansions reflected a bipartisan consensus that protecting public health and the environment is a national priority.

State funds green energy projects at local farms

Farmers in Charlestown, Westerly and South Kingstown among the grantees

Bee Happy Homestead in Charlestown is one of the grantees

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) awarded more than $400,000 in funding to support 23 agricultural businesses across the state. 

These grants, distributed over the last two rounds of the Agricultural Energy Grant Program, will help farms invest in clean energy, lower utility costs, and advance the state’s climate goals.

“The Agricultural Energy Program supports farms in pursuing both energy efficiency and renewable energy upgrades,” said Acting Energy Commissioner Chris Kearns. “These grants help advance our Act on Climate goals while lowering energy bills for Rhode Island’s farmers.”

“The most recent USDA Census of Agriculture ranked Rhode Island as having the highest percentage of beginning farmers in the nation, and our goal is to continue that growth by ensuring the long-term viability of our state’s agriculture,” said DEM Director Terry Gray. “These grants will enable 10 of those farms to adopt energy-saving practices while continuing to grow a vibrant network of new farmers.” 

Grant Recipients

Barrington: Bayside Apiary — $20,000 

A family-run beekeeping operation with more than 80 hives adjacent to the Barrington Community Garden. This 8.72 kW solar expansion builds on an existing system and will fully power their climate-controlled honey processing facility.

Charlestown: Bee Happy Homestead — $20,000 

Owned by master gardeners, this farm grows produce, raises bees, and crafts bath products. A 6.02 kW solar system will offset 81% of its electricity use.

What’s Driving the Republican Party to Climate Murder-Suicide?

At what point will the body count become intolerable for them?

William Debuys for TomDispatch

In the annals of national suicide, the present dismantling of the American state will surely rank high. It may not reach the apogee attained by Russia in its final Tsarist days or by Louis XVI in the run-up to the French Revolution, but Great Britain’s Brexit hardly smolders compared to the anti-democratic dumpster fire of the Trump regime. 

Countless governmental, scientific, educational, medical, and cultural institutions have been targeted for demolition. The problem for the rest of the world is that the behavior of Trumpian America is more than suicidal—it’s murderous.

The deaths are mounting. By one accounting, the disruption of overseas food and drug shipments from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), including life-saving HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria treatments, has already caused nearly 350,000 deaths (and they continue at an estimated rate of 103 per hour). 

Here at home, cuts to Medicaid, as contemplated in the absurdly named “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” would lead to more than 21,600 avoidable deaths annually. And those numbers pale next to the levels of mortality expected to arise from the effects of climate change—a worsening catastrophe that the Trump regime is dead set against doing anything about. Indeed, with an array of policies under the rubric “Drill, baby, drill,” President Donald Trump and his officials seem intent on worsening matters as quickly as possible.

Worrying about how future generations will cope with a savagely inhospitable climate is for losers.

If the World Economic Forum is to be believed, deaths from flood, famine, disease, and other nonmilitary consequences of a hotter, more violent global climate might reach 580,000 per year, or 14.5 million by 2050. And that may be a lowball estimate, according to the American Security Project. Its models assert that warming-induced fatalities are already running at 400,000 annually and are heading for 700,000.

Any way you cut it, that’s a lot of misery. Given that the Trump regime is opening new areas for drilling; aggressively curtailing funding for climate-related programs; purging mention of climate change from government websites and publications; and disassembling the government’s capacity to track, let alone predict climate-change impacts, it makes sense to wonder WHY?

Five losses from Rhode Island’s 2025 legislative session

RIPTA, climate change, open records reform, school lunch and McKee's agenda lose out

By Nancy Lavin, Christopher Shea and Alexander Castro, Rhode Island Current

More than 2,500 bills and resolutions were introduced across both sides of the State House rotunda this year. But far fewer — about 300 when discounting resolutions extending congratulations and condolences, and granting officiants’ wedding rights — survived the six-month session.

Some were killed outright, while others were left to languish in political purgatory known as legislative committee, or without the necessary budget funding to survive. 

Earlier, we brought you five wins from the legislative session. Now, here are five losses.

1. Gas tax hike not enough to avoid layoffs and service reductions at RIPTA

Cuts are coming soon to the state’s public bus service. That’s even after the General Assembly propped up the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) with nearly $15 million in the fiscal year 2026 budget, including with revenue from a 2-cent increase in the state’s gas tax.

It wasn’t enough to fill what was a $32.6 million shortfall when Gov. Dan McKee released his version of the budget in January. After state lawmakers reduced the deficit to $18 million, RIPTA CEO Christopher Durand said 90 layoffs and a 20% reduction in service may be necessary.

Durand told reporters Thursday afternoon that the deficit was down to $10 million after the agency identified another $8 million in savings from a “favorable price lock” in diesel fuel, along with a positive market performance for the agency’s pension plan.

When cuts would take effect is still to be determined. The agency plans to hold a series of public hearings on potential service changes starting July 28. But RIPTA already has a guide available — an efficiency study of its operations and financial situation mandated in the state’s fiscal 2025 budget. The governor and legislative leaders wanted the agency to finish the study by March 1, but the board of directors was focused on finding a permanent CEO and didn’t commission Canadian engineering consulting firm WSP to conduct the study until March 27.

How Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill will raise household energy costs

Green energy saves money AND the planet

Naveena Sadasivam

Energy policy analysts are in broad agreement about one consequence of major legislation that Republicans are currently pushing through Congress: It will raise energy prices for the average American household by hundreds of dollars, once all is said and done.

That’s because the legislation, which Donald Trump has dubbed the One Big, Beautiful Bill, will repeal the vast majority of clean energy provisions contained in the Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA, which a Democrat-controlled Congress passed in 2022. That earlier law provided a wide array of financial incentives for the deployment of electricity sources like solar, wind, battery storage, and nuclear power, as well as support for consumers looking to buy zero- and low-emissions products like electric vehicles. 

Choking off support for those measures not only hobbles U.S. efforts to fight climate change — the IRA, if left intact, could single-handedly reduce the country’s carbon emissions by 40 percent — but it also means there are fewer new sources of energy for a country that has started to need more and more of it. And reduced supply coupled with increased demand means higher prices.

That’s the virtually unanimous conclusion of the academics and policy experts who have been trying to understand the likely effects of the rollback for the past few months, though each group of experts used different assumptions about the full extent of IRA repeal, given that the legislation is still being revised by the Senate. Part of the reason for this unanimity is that, once constructed, many newer energy sources like wind and solar don’t have substantial operating costs compared to traditional power plants that must be continuously supplied with fuel.

RI Republicans think the way to cut electricity bills is to curb renewable energy

To prove they are mega MAGA macho, they've dumped a symbolic package of bills to wipe out green energy

By Will Collette

Is that Mike Chippendale heading down from Foster
to his news conference? 

Not to be outdone by their lord and master Donald Trump, his hatred of “windmills” and love of coal, Republican General Assembly members led by House Minority leader Mike Chippendale just announced a collection of bills to promote fossil fuels at the expense of energy efficiency.

These bills have NO chance of passage, not just because they have no merit, but because they are being introduced at the end of the General Assembly session. Apparently Chippendale et al. are sending some symbolic message to somebody – maybe King Donald – that they are as MAGA-maniacal as anybody.

Like most energy conversations, they begin with the largely true, widely held belief that electricity bills are too high. But from there, it’s all downhill.

I live in Charlestown, one of Rhode Island’s most vulnerable communities to the effects of climate change. Storms are worse and more frequent even trashing the Charlestown Breachway. Our beaches are eroding. The sea level is rising. Seawater is infiltrating groundwater. It’s very hard to get homeowner’s insurance at any price.

Over the past 25 years, Cathy and I have taken action to increase our energy efficiency by getting an energy audit, adding insulation, putting on a light-colored steel roof and, through the much missed Solarize Charlestown program, installed an array of solar panels in 2017. We’ve also replaced our appliances with the most energy efficient available and added heat pumps.

I would love to add residential sized vertical axis wind turbines, but Charlestown’s town ordinance makes it impossible to do so (click HERE to see why). This is a legacy of the NIMBY faction of the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA), and I hope to see that ordinance repealed soon.

Every change we made cost money upfront but was made easier through state and federal rebates and tax credits and, in the case of our solar panels, being able to sell our excess power back into the grid. Every energy investment we have made has paid us back through lower electricity usage.

Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans want to end all of that and now we’ve heard from state Republicans that they want to do the same here in Rhode Island.

Chippendale said, “Far too often, the utility is painted as the villain, but many of these cost increases stem from legislative mandates — laws passed by the General Assembly that forced utilities to buy expensive energy or fund inefficient programs…”

He condemned the payback solar panel owners like us get for selling our excess energy: “Right now, solar customers are credited at the full retail rate for energy. They produce up to 125% of their usage. That’s not market-based. It’s an inflated rate that gets passed on to every single ratepayer in this state.”

WTF? “Full retail rate” isn’t “market-based?” As it is, the number of solar panels you can install has to roughly match your usage. Personally, I would have wanted to add more since the marginal increased cost would have meant more generated power. That’s market-based, Mike. And like the energy companies, the utility pays us at the rate called for by law.

The other market-based reality ignored by the MAGA world is the rapid expansion of green energy generation and how through the economies of scale, green energy prices have been consistently dropping. 

All across Red State Middle America, wind and solar power companies have been booming, generating employment booms as well as energy at levels that now surpass fossil fuels. Trying to reverse this market trend makes no economic sense. As Mike would say, not “market-based.”

Even Charlestown’s ex-state Rep. Blake “Flip” Filippi is on board with this regressive approach to energy, shown in this tweet on X (note: Trump is pictured with coal miners, not natural gas drillers):

I do not understand the MAGA obsession with wasting energy. Or hating energy efficiency. Or leaning into increased use of polluting fuels. Who benefits other than the fossil fuel companies?

Is it just about “owning the libs?”

Ever since Jimmy Carter’s sweater and the first Arab oil embargo in 1973, most Americans have come to believe we need to be smarter about energy. Energy efficiency is an unqualified good thing regardless of your location on the political spectrum. Burning less fossil fuels is an unqualified good thing.

We’ve come a long way in 50 years and we still have quite a distance to go. Why Chippendale and MAGA-world want to turn the clock back is baffling and unjustified.

Charlestown's contractor choice for "Solarize Charlestown" is a worker cooperative

The Rhode Island Worker Cooperative Alliance and Fuerza Laboral see a worker-owned business business future

Steve Ahlquist

SolPower, one of the member companies, was chosen
by Charlestown for its 2017 Solarize Charlestown
project that offered residents discounted solar panels.
In my opinion, they did a great job and I wish
the town would do it again. - Will Collette

“I am a worker/owner at a worker cooperative cafe in Providence,” said Chloe Chassaing. “I was a longtime worker at the business, and four years ago, we purchased the business and reopened it as a worker cooperative. It’s been rewarding to work there and see the difference it’s made for us as workers to have a say in our workplace and to be able to collaborate to run the business. It increases the sense of dignity and investment in our workplace.”

Chassaing was emceeing the Worker Cooperative Advocacy Day, which was celebrated by the Rhode Island Worker Cooperative Alliance, Fuerza Laboral, and elected officials at the Rhode Island State House. During the short speaking program, legislators, owners of employee-owned businesses, and organizations that support worker cooperatives in Rhode Island shared their experiences and strategies for fostering a sustainable local economy, including proposed legislation to encourage employee ownership: the Opportunity for Employee Ownership Act (H5940/S0752). If passed, the legislation would increase the opportunity for employees to purchase and own the businesses where they work when that business is sold.

“It’s been a pleasure to be part of a group of people interested in helping build the next economy that values sustainability, equity, and opportunity,” continued Chassaing, about the Rhode Island Worker Cooperative Alliance. “The United Nations declared 2025 the International Year of Cooperatives. It’s fitting to be part of that global movement.”

“Fuerza Laboral primarily focuses on labor justice,” noted David Molina-Hernandez, the Community and Media Coordinator at the group. “That’s why we started the nonprofit. Our population is primarily a Latino, immigrant, and low-income community.

“We talk about the transformational power of worker-owned cooperatives. More than just businesses, worker-owned cooperatives are engines of opportunity because they come with equity. Fuerza Laboral decided to go full-out on the cooperative movement once we figured out that it is the best way to help low-income families escape poverty because they go from being workers to worker/business owners.

“Cooperatives are structured as democracies - they’re transparent and have shared responsibility,” continued Molina-Hernandez. “They are a natural defense against labor injustices, such as wage theft. You cannot steal from your other worker-owners the way a boss can steal from workers. Cooperatives defend against abuses of power and wrongful terminations for the same reason: everybody has a vote and makes decisions. Because of how cooperatives are structured, labor injustice cannot happen in a cooperative. Decisions aren’t made in a boardroom far away. They’re made by people who do the work and know the community.

“Have you seen how many businesses are born from immigrants in Pawtucket and Central Falls?” asked Molina-Hernandez. “Many of these businesses are owned by first-generation immigrants. It was their dream when they came to this country. They are the heartbeats of our neighborhoods, but these owners are approaching retirement. We face the critical question: What will happen to these businesses? If they close, we all lose. We lose the city, the workers, families, and the vibrant culture surrounding these businesses.

“But if we were to transition them into cooperatives, we would preserve jobs, keep the wealth local, and honor the legacy of those who built them and made Rhode Island unique. Cooperatives are practical, rooted in shared effort, and built to last. These businesses, which brought different colors, shapes, textures, and smells to Rhode Island, will be here and able to last. It is not only an economic strategy but also a moral responsibility for us to keep these businesses. We must ensure that local businesses survive, thrive, and remain in the hands of the people who care about these businesses. Today, we have one goal: To advocate for cooperatives and the solidarity economy.”

Jennifer Stewart is the State Representative for House District 59 in Pawtucket. She is the prime sponsor of the Rhode Island Opportunity for Employee Ownership Act in the House. Senator Frank Ciccone has the Senate bill.

“Small businesses account for approximately 99% of all businesses in the United States, and they provide jobs for 47% of private sector workers,” said Representative Stewart. “These small businesses anchor our local tax base, donate to local charities, and support our community events. They are vital for the health and stability of our communities. Yet, when an owner wants to exit their business for any reason, most Rhode Island small businesses have no succession plan. Moreover, in the coming weeks and months, many small business owners plan to retire - what analysts refer to as the ‘silver tsunami.’

“Some businesses will be sold to a larger company or an out-of-area buyer, and a few will be passed on to family members. According to Project Equity, not only do the vast majority of business owners not have a succession plan in place, but many are finding it increasingly difficult to find a buyer when they are ready to sell.

“None of those scenarios are good for the long-term stability of our communities, so the Opportunity for Employee Ownership Act is aimed at providing small businesses with continuity and providing employees the life-changing opportunity to co-own their workplaces,” said Representative Stewart. “The bill focuses on informational obstacles to worker ownership. The bill tries to provide guidelines and mechanisms for informing employees that the business they work for is available for sale. It’s also a way to get employees to imagine themselves as worker/co-owners. It tries to provide some guidelines to facilitate that process, and lay out some incentives for business owners to entertain fair market competitive offers by a motivated group of employees to buy the business.

“By facilitating sales of small businesses to existing employees, local economies can preserve these successful businesses while gaining the many demonstrated and well-researched benefits of worker ownership. These benefits include better productivity, higher pay, more job stability, and the survival of the business in question. Worker-owned and employee-owned businesses have more savings. I found an interesting statistic about this. While nearly half of Americans cannot manage a $400 emergency expense, according to the Federal Reserve in a 2015 report, most worker/coop employees believed they could find $2,000 in an emergency. That is a significant difference.

“Employees owning the businesses where they work have repeatedly shown that they improve business resilience and strengthen the communities in which they operate,” said Representative Stewart. “They provide a pathway to business ownership for entrepreneurs who may not have access to generational or inherited wealth. They bring increased job satisfaction, workplace democracy, and job security for the people who do the heavy lifting, everyday work that allows these businesses to thrive."

In short, the Rhode Island Opportunity for Employee Ownership Act seeks to:

• Incentivize business owners selling to employees;
• Maintain small business legacies;
• Preserve community character;
• Provide opportunity for cooperative employee ownership;
• Create sustainable & dignified jobs; and,
• Strengthen Rhode Island’s economic resilience

“We can build a better capitalism,” said Representative Stewart, “and this event is the start of that effort.”

Eric Beecher is one of 12 employee owners at Sol Power, a solar installation company based in Charlestown, Rhode Island. Sol Power has been in business since 2013, powering more than a thousand homes in Rhode Island with clean energy installed by employee/owners.

“We are in a four-season outdoor construction industry, which is a tough business to be in, but our approach to it is providing people with careers,” said Beecher. “It’s not a seasonal job. We are providing people with good green-collar jobs and career opportunities. A great example of that is our low turnover. Since 2013, we’ve had four people leave our business.

“We’ve seen other companies come and go. You heard a little about the sustainability of employee-owned businesses. We’ve outlasted pretty much every big national company in Rhode Island. We’re now considered the old company in Rhode Island. And the reason we are sustainable and still here is because of employee ownership. That’s why we’re outlasting the competition. If you look online at our reviews, you see that every customer gives us five stars and not just a quick review, but a heartfelt comment about our company. That’s because we take pride in reaching out to and connecting with customers while providing the best service possible.

“Sol Power is an amazing place to work. I love it. It has been amazing for me. I’ve been there since the start, and it’s incredibly important to me,” said Beecher. “That’s why we need to extend this opportunity to more people. We are a sustainable business, we’ve been here for the long haul, and we are providing our employees with a life-changing opportunity, incredible pay, incredible benefits, and the satisfaction of running your workplace. That’s why it’s so important that we extend this opportunity to as many people as possible: so they can also experience the joy of running their own business, and all the financial and equitable benefits that go with that.”

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Pawtucket resident Shelby Mack is a member of the Lefty Loosey Bike Collective, a democratically run community bike shop based in the Valley Neighborhood of Providence and part of the Rhode Island Worker Cooperative Alliance. Mack is also an MBA student studying worker ownership as an economic development tool.

“I’m going to speak briefly about the evidence for worker ownership as an economic development strategy,” said Mack. “Over the past year, I have been researching how worker cooperatives can contribute to creating vibrant, inclusive economies where every resident can meet their basic needs, and those of their families and loved ones, but also learn, contribute meaningfully to their communities, and thrive. Research shows that supporting worker cooperatives is an effective economic development strategy, building community resilience and creating sustainable, dignified jobs.

“According to a 2017 study from the National Center for Employee Ownership, when workers have an ownership interest in organizations where they work, wages are 33% higher, median job tenure is 53% longer, and net worth increases 92%. That’s almost double.

“When worker cooperatives form a significant portion of a region’s economy, the results can be transformative. For example, in the Region of Emilia-Romagna, in Italy, two-thirds of residents are members of some form of cooperative. They have lower unemployment, a higher quality of life rating, and remarkably higher economic resilience than most of the country’s other regions. Importantly, policies, politics, funding, and mutual support have been organized over a century to make that happen.

“We in Rhode Island know we’re facing remarkable challenges. The cost of living is growing significantly, and wealth inequality is increasing. Nowhere in Rhode Island does minimum wage enable you to rent affordably. One-in-10 of our neighbors are living in poverty, and many more of us are struggling to make ends meet. Funding for critical life-saving programs is being threatened or has already been cut. Too often, our economic policy in this state is held hostage to large corporations’ decisions as to where to locate, whether to be here or move.

“Small businesses, which are the lifeblood of our economy, are also in jeopardy. According to data compiled by Project Equity, 56% of small business owners in Rhode Island are over 55, meaning we have that impending silver tsunami we’ve been hearing about today. Industry experts suggest that some small businesses, maybe 70 to 80%, do not successfully sell when the owner wants to exit. And it does not have to be this way. We can build our economy from the ground up, from the people up.

“Worker ownership through Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), employee trusts, and worker cooperatives expand the benefits of small business ownership for the many instead of the few,” continued Mack. “Worker ownership is not just about financial security and wealth building, although this is critical. From my experience running Lefty Loosey, with 13 other people for the past five years, I can tell you that making decisions together has helped me feel how precious democracy is and how important it is to fight for it when it’s under attack. I feel such a deep sense of pride in what we’ve built together, the hundreds of bicycles we’ve given away to people who need them, the hundreds of people who have found that they can learn mechanical and hands-on skills when given the opportunity through our classes, and the thousands of people whose bikes we’ve helped repair. We’ve done so much more together when we harnessed the creativity and initiative of so many people than we would have if just one or two people had run this business.

“That’s a pride I want everybody to have the opportunity to feel,” said Mack. “That’s why we worked to introduce the Rhode Island Opportunity for Employee Ownership Act. As you’ve heard, it allows workers to buy a business in the event of a sale, and provides an incentive to the seller. We invite Rhode Islanders to imagine a future where worker ownership is the norm, not the tiny exception; where most of us can experience the financial security, resilience, and sense of pride that comes with ownership and stewardship.”

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Trump budget puts clean-energy spending in crosshairs

So what do we get: higher prices, dirtier air, fewer jobs

By Jacob Fischler, Rhode Island Current

Trump is taking us in the opposite direction

Donald Trump’s budget request for the next fiscal year proposes deep cuts to renewable energy programs and other climate spending as the administration seeks to shift U.S. energy production to encourage more fossil fuels and push the focus away from reducing climate change.

The budget proposes slashing $21 billion in unspent funds from the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law for renewable energy, electric vehicle charging infrastructure and other efforts to cut climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions. The request also targets climate research spending and initiatives meant to promote diversity.

“President Trump is committed to eliminating funding for the globalist climate agenda while unleashing American energy production,” a White House fact sheet on climate and environment spending said. The budget “eliminates funding for the Green New Scam.”

How today's House Republican tax and budget bill will affect Rhode Island

What we will pay for tax cuts for the super-rich

Trump signs order to block state laws, like Rhode Island's, that aim at climate change

Probably unconstitutional, but could lead to end to federal funding

By Jacob Fischler, Rhode Island Current

An executive order President Donald Trump signed April 8 to block state-level renewable-energy initiatives set off alarm bells among climate advocates.

But experts and state policy groups said constitutional protections will blunt any effect the order would have on state operations.

The order, one of four Trump signed April 8 aiming to revitalize the coal industry, directs the U.S. Justice Department to investigate and block enforcement of state laws that restrict fossil fuel production. It specifically targets state and local policies involving climate change, environmental justice and carbon emissions reductions — popular among blue states.

By attempting to strip states of their own authority to make and enforce laws, the order violates basic constitutional principles and would likely be struck down in court, environmental law experts said Wednesday.

Brad Campbell, the president of the New England-based environmental advocacy group Conservation Law Foundation, said in an interview with States Newsroom the order does not cite any federal law or interest the administration is seeking to protect — though the order does mention interstate commerce and an objective to improve national security — revealing it is more about messaging than policymaking.

Trump’s Attempts to Kill Appliance Regulations Cause Chaos

Beyond Showerheads: Trump HATES energy efficiency

By Peter Elkind for ProPublica

Donald Trump makes no secret of his loathing for regulations that limit water and energy use by home appliances. For years, he has regaled supporters at his campaign rallies with fanciful stories about their impact. 

He is so exercised by the issue that, even as global stock markets convulsed in response to his tariff plans, Trump took time out to issue an executive order titled “Maintaining Acceptable Water Pressure in Showerheads.”

Contemporary shower fixtures are only one of the items that rankle the president, who complains that “there’s no water coming and you end up standing there five times longer,” making it difficult to coif his “perfect” hair. 

He has frequently denounced dishwashers that he claims take so long and clean so poorly that “the electric bill is ten times more than the water”; toilets that require flushing “ten or 15 times”; and LED lightbulbs, which he faults for making him look orange.

In his first term, Trump pursued an array of gimmicks to try to undermine the rules. His moves were opposed by industry and environmental groups alike. If it’s possible for regulations to be popular, these ones are. They have cut America’s water and energy consumption, reduced global-warming emissions and saved consumers money. Legal prohibitions stymied most of Trump’s maneuvers back then, and the Biden administration quickly reversed the steps Trump managed to take.

Trump’s executive order on showerheads generated headlines, but it’s likely to have little effect (more on that later). Far more consequential steps have been taken outside the Oval Office.

With the aid of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team, Trump appears to be attempting an end run that could succeed where his past attempts failed: by simply terminating the consulting contract that the Department of Energy relies on to develop and enforce the rules. 

In late March, DOGE’s “wall of receipts” stated that it had “deleted” a Department of Energy contract for Guidehouse LLP (a PricewaterhouseCoopers spinoff) for “Appliance Standards Analysis and Regulatory Support Service,” producing a listed savings of $247,603,000. That item has now disappeared from the DOGE website, and its current status remains unclear.

This has produced confusion for everyone from appliance manufacturers to government officials to the contractors paid to enforce the rules. If the contract is indeed canceled, experts told ProPublica, it would cripple the government’s efficiency standards program, which relies on the consulting firm’s technical expertise and testing labs to update standards, ensure compliance and punish violators.