As a whole, the legislature is doing very nice things for the fossil-fuel industry, backtracking from the trend of the last couple years. Community solar power is in jeopardy, as there is a bill to eliminate private solar farms in favor of a farm or farms managed by Xcel. It is not clear what the rationale for this move is, other than the likelihood that Xcel has been able to spend a lot more on lobbying than have the individual solar farms.
A notice came out from Xcel announcing that our KwH charges will decrease about $.025, or somewhat more than 10%. This may be good news, but many of us are waiting to hear what the catch is. Quite possibly, this discussion is academic, since the bill is likely to pass.
The US Commerce Department has imposed a 3,400% (that is not a typo!) on solar panels manufactured from four Southeast Asian countries. This particularly affects China, which is the world’s leader in the technology. The idea is to support the US solar-panel industry, but it would be many years before US manufacturers could catch up to demand. One must also wonder if the inevitable price increases may discourage people from installing panels. This is subject to change—like everything else the federal government is doing.
The team how they can best counter Trump’s initiatives. This led to a discussion that most if not all readers of this post have had: great frustration in seeing the horrible things that are happening to the environment, but trouble deciding what we can do about it. Some people are attending rallies. Another suggestion was to focus on specific policies: most of Trump’s policies do not have popular support. Another suggestion was to call congressional representatives in red districts and leave a brief message encouraging the representative to support environmental initiatives.
But the meeting ended with a lot of frustration, the same frustration that you are likely feeling. But we will keep trying!