North Carolina environmental and labor advocates held a press conference Wednesday to call on Republican Sen. Thom Tillis to preserve tax credits and jobs in the massive budget reconciliation bill making its way through Congress.
The advocates gathered outside of Tillis’ Greensboro office to deliver the message.
Fueled in part by tax credits from the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, speakers said, North Carolina has become a leader in the clean energy economy. The state has more than 20,000 clean energy jobs and $2 billion in clean energy investments.
These gains would be jeopardized by the House version of the reconciliation bill that would remove clean energy provisions and stop clean energy progress, speakers said.
“It can even cause North Carolina tens of thousands of jobs by 2030, along with billions of clean energy investments, sparred by clean energy and manufacturing tax credits,” Dan Crawford, governmental relations director at the North Carolina League of Conservation Voters, said. “We simply can’t afford to lose these jobs right now in North Carolina.”
Crawford said North Carolina is “well positioned” to continue success from the Inflation Reduction Act — clean energy projects make up a quarter of economic development initiatives across the state last year, according to the Chambers for Innovation and Clean Energy.
Repealing tax credits in the reconciliation bill could also raise electricity costs for North Carolina families by more than $200 each year, Crawford said.
“Congress could choose a commonsense approach that protects local jobs and doesn’t raise costs,” he said.
Thom Kay is the energy transition policy manager at BlueGreen Alliance, a nonprofit that unifies labor unions and environmental organizations to fight climate change.
The group also works towards protecting the health of people in the environment, standing against economic and racial inequality, and developing union jobs across the country.
“By our best estimates, North Carolina has benefitted from more than $30 billion of private investment related to these federal investments and tax credits,” Kay said. “These are already working to strengthen our state’s position as a leader in energy and manufacturing.”
Tillis, who will seek reelection next year, has previously hinted that he could be receptive to some of the advocates’ arguments. Elizabeth Ouzts of Canary Media reported earlier this month that “Tillis is among four Senate Republicans who signed an April letter urging a targeted approach to reforming renewable energy tax incentives rather than a wholesale repeal.”
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