GOLDEN CRESCENT AND 1000 ISLAND NEWS

  Summary Senate bill complicates new wind, solar projects Bill could lead to higher utility bills, job losses House urged to improve usability of wind, solar tax credits   WASHINGTON, July 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate's massive budget bill that passed on Tuesday will make it harder to develop  wind  and  solar  energy projects, despite the removal of some contentious provisions, industry advocates and lawmakers said.   The Senate dropped a proposed excise  tax  on solar and wind energy projects that don't meet strict standards after last-minute negotiations with key Republican senators seeking better terms for renewables.   Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, fellow Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley and Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, whose votes were crucial to the bill's passage, had  introduced an amendment  calling for removal of that tax, which caught lawmakers by surprise after it made it into the last draft text.   Many Republican ...

  By  Maxine Joselow  and  Brad Plumer   Reporting from Washington July 1, 2025 Updated 2:25 p.m.   ET When Congress enacted President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s signature climate law in 2022, Democrats made a bet. They knew the law would spur  billions of dollars of investments  in solar arrays, battery factories and other clean energy projects, primarily in Republican-led districts. That  was designed  to give the law staying power. But that wager failed spectacularly on Tuesday as Senate Republicans voted to dismantle many of the law’s lucrative tax credits for solar panels, wind turbines, electric cars and other green technologies as part of President Trump’s giant domestic policy bill. Nearly all Republicans voted for the bill even as industry groups, labor unions and even some members of their own party warned that axing those clean energy credits could  erase thousands of jobs in red states  and  raise electricity p...