A Big Ugly Blow Bub To Domestic Energy

Aerial shot of steaming chemical plants and oil refineries in La Marque, Texas

The Big Beautiful Bill (BBB) is going to deal a Big Ugly Blow (BUB) to the renewable energy sector which saw a boom in red states and red districts under President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). In West Virginia – the reddest of the red states – Dan Conant, West Virginia native and founder/CEO of Solar Holler, fears loss of business for his company due to the elimination of the 30% tax credit for rooftop solar installations.

And to paraphrase James Carville, it’s not just the economy, Stupid, it’s national security. China is eating our lunch when it comes to renewable energy, including cutting the US out of materials and components needed for energy production, electric vehicles, etc. Additionally, we stand alone (again) among developed nations who will be meeting later this year in Brazil to come up with solutions to climate challenges.

But let’s focus first on the BBB elimination of incentives for renewable energy and its negative impact on domestic job creation and economic growth.

As Conant told NPR, folks in West Virginia want solar. They are tired of, and can ill afford, constant rate hikes from fossil fuel powered utility companies. Rooftop solar can lessen or even eliminate their electric bills and make them less dependent on the grid. There is a tradition of neighbors helping neighbors in West Virginia. What better way to help a neighbor than to provide water from a well powered by solar during a grid outage? Or store a neighbor’s perishable food in your fridge because you have solar on your roof? In a state as poor as West Virginia, elimination of the 30% tax credit for rooftop solar means it will be harder, if not impossible, for folks to afford a solar installation. And that’s a real shame. And it hurts folks who supported the current occupant of the Oval Office.

Conant explained to NPR that his materials are manufactured in the United States. Isn’t that what this administration wants? Solar Holler sources panels from Georgia, electronic control systems from South Carolina, and racking systems from Ohio. How’s that for making America great and creating jobs? No Chinese parts here, thank you very much.

Along with the disappearing rooftop solar tax credits, “green” energy industries across the board stand to lose under the BBB due to loss of incentives. According to E2, a nonprofit advocacy group, some $15.5 billion in new factories and electricity projects have been cancelled since early 2025. These projects included battery, electric vehicle, and solar panel factories in West Virginia, New York, Alabama, Arizona, and Washington; the projects would have created 12,000 new jobs. Who is losing the most? GOP congressional districts stand to lose over $9 billion in investment, representing almost 10,000 jobs.

Declining investment in renewable energy projects and infrastructure has national security implications as well as domestic economic implications. We are in direct competition with China militarily, economically, and strategically. And yet, we are ignoring or undermining an entire segment of energy production: energy from renewable sources. Think what would have happened if our ancestors had stuck with whale blubber over fossil fuels. At a time when we need more electricity to power AI (where we are in competition with China), the administration in Washington seems determined to sideline renewable energy in favor of fossil fuels. China is using its growing dominance of renewables not only to power a portion of its economy, but it is building critical economic relations based on renewable energy technology across the globe: solar and battery mega installations in Saudi Arabia, nuclear reactors for Turkey and Pakistan, Africa’s largest wind farm in Kenya, etc. At the same time, the US is banking on the export of fossil fuels to our energy trading partners.

It’s clear that the BBB, passed as I was writing this, is going to have negative implications for our domestic energy production and resiliency. Perhaps more importantly, US refusal to recognize the potential of renewable energy and international trends favoring renewables will have serious national security implications.

Diane Blust retired after 25 years with the CIA. She spent 15 years in Western Europe as an operations officer. In retirement, Ms. Blust has volunteered with non-profit organizations dealing with sustainable development and local food issues. Ms. Blust is a member of The Steady State, a coalition of more than 250 former national security, intelligence, and diplomatic professionals.

Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 300 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.