FIGHTING FOR OUR CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE TOGETHER:A MESSAGE TO OUR EMBATTLED INDUSTRY

The clean energy sector is under siege, and it's time we acknowledge the reality our industry faces every single day.

Every morning, we wake up to a country that has built something extraordinary. In Connecticut alone, over 29,000 clean energy jobs exist because people like you believed in a better future. Massachusetts has created one of the most energy efficient states in the nation! Rhode Island's Infrastructure Bank has delivered emissions reductions equivalent to taking 5,100 cars off the road permanently. Across New England, we've built an ecosystem where solar installers, energy efficiency consultants, policy analysts, and clean tech innovators have devoted their careers to something bigger than themselves.

And now they're calling it all a "Green New Scam."

The solar installers who've been building our renewable infrastructure for decades, now wondering if their expertise matters anymore. Companies like Earthlight and ReVision Energy, who've built their reputation on prioritizing quality over profit and proving that clean energy businesses can succeed by doing right by their customers and communities, watching an industry they helped create being systematically dismantled by federal policy changes. The energy efficiency consultants working with Energize CT and Mass Save who've helped hundreds of businesses reduce their carbon footprint, watching contracts evaporate overnight. The policy analysts who've spent years crafting legislation that are being wiped away with a single executive order.

We are seeing this firsthand with the EPA freezing almost $100 million in funds that were allocated to the Connecticut Green Bank. In Massachusetts, Mass Save just had its budget slashed by $500 million. These aren't theoretical threats, these are the devastating realities our sector faces every single day.

But here's what I need every single person in our industry to understand: We have champions fighting for us at the highest levels.

Governor Maura Healey in Massachusetts, Governor Ned Lamont in Connecticut, and Governor Dan McKee in Rhode Island refuse to let our industry be dismantled. While Washington tries to tear down what we've built, these governors are doubling down on clean energy, defending our programs, and fighting every single day to protect the jobs and the future we've created together.

Across our region: Acting Commissioner Chris Kearns at Rhode Island's Office of Energy Resources, advancing the state's 100% Renewable Energy Standard by 2033. Along with Karen Bradbury, Commissioner at Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission.

Commissioner Elizabeth Mahony at Massachusetts' Department of Energy Resources, who now serves as Chair of RGGI's Board of Directors. Connecticut has champions at every level. Senator Norm Needleman, who led passage of the "Take Back Our Grid Act" and is driving Connecticut toward 100% carbon free electricity by 2040. Commissioner Katie Dykes at DEEP, who brings deep expertise from her work leading RGGI and crafting Connecticut's first comprehensive energy strategy.

In Congress: Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a climate hawk who leads the charge on environmental policy. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, fierce advocates for clean energy and environmental justice. Congressman Richard Neal, who helped craft the historic Inflation Reduction Act. And Congressman John Larson, a tireless advocate for manufacturing and clean energy jobs.

These leaders are our partners in building something bigger and stronger than anything Washington can tear down.

They can change our funding structures. They can shift federal priorities. They can question our industry's direction. But they cannot erase what we have already built.

They cannot take away the knowledge in your head, the skills in your hands, or the fire in your heart.

You know what you've accomplished. You've watched families cut their energy bills in half. You've seen businesses become more profitable because of efficiency upgrades you designed and installed. You've done this work when it was hard. You've done it when people didn't understand. You've built this industry panel by panel, efficiency upgrade by efficiency upgrade, heat pump by heat pump, one family and one business at a time.

And you know what? That didn't stop being true yesterday. It's not going to stop being true tomorrow.

Here's what they don't understand about this industry: We didn't get into clean energy for the subsidies! We got into it because we believe in building a cleaner world!

We got into it because we saw an opportunity to help families save money while protecting the planet our children will inherit! We got into it because we knew that American ingenuity and American workers could lead the world in the most important technological transition of our lifetime!

That mission hasn't changed. That opportunity hasn't disappeared. That belief hasn't wavered.

At the Northeast Renewable Energy Coalition, we create authentic partnerships with organizations that understand Clean Energy Week is about much more than networking. We bring businesses together to forge new partnerships, create lasting connections, and build the collaborative networks this industry desperately needs not just to survive, but to thrive.

When we organize Clean Energy Week, we're not running conferences, we are helping to create lifelines for embattled companies, workers, and policymakers. We are building the foundation for what comes next.

The companies in our sector aren't just calculating which employees they can keep and which projects they can salvage. They're also planning. They're preparing. They're getting ready for the day when America remembers that energy independence, economic opportunity, and environmental protection aren't partisan issues, they're American values!

The clean energy revolution isn't ending. It's just entering a new phase. This phase requires us to remember why we started this work in the first place. It requires us to reconnect with the mission that brought us here. It requires us to support each other not because it's convenient, but because it's necessary.

We've weathered challenges before. We've adapted, innovated, and persevered through market fluctuations, policy changes, and skepticism. We'll do it again, but only if we stand together.

The Northeast Renewable Energy Coalition stands with every company, worker, and

advocate in our sector. We are fighting alongside you, every single day. Together, we will build collaborative networks, forge partnerships, and create the connections that will carry our industry through this crisis and into a brighter, cleaner future.

Kristin Rode,

Executive Director

NORTHEAST RENEWABLE ENERGY COALITION

NORTHEASTREC.ORG | ADMIN@NORTHEASTREC.ORG