Center for Biological Diversity

For Immediate Release, May 3, 2017

Contact: Chad Tudenggongbu, (917) 558-0849, ctudenggongbu@biologicaldiversity.org

Indiana Governor Signs Bill to Cripple Residential Solar Development

INDIANAPOLIS— Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb yesterday signed Senate Bill 309, which takes aim at the state's net-metering program. The law will slash the rate at which customers with solar panels are reimbursed for excess energy, reducing compensation from the retail energy rate to a price just above wholesale.

The controversial bill, which faced strong public opposition, could stifle residential solar growth in a state. Indiana is already ranked 28th in the country for renewable energy investment, and the new law will further constrict the industry's ability to develop.

“It's incomprehensible that Governor Holcomb would sign a bill whose sole purpose is to cripple Indiana's solar industry,” said Chad Tudenggongbu, a senior renewable energy campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Solar development in Indiana is still in its infancy. With one stroke of his pen, Holcomb has told the renewable energy industry's good-paying jobs to go elsewhere, and to take their cleaner air and climate action with them.”

The decision to sign the legislation runs counter to the governor's own plans to turn Indiana into a magnet for high-tech jobs and innovation. Growth in the renewable energy sector outpaces any other in the energy industry. In 2016 one out of every 50 new jobs added in the United States was created by the solar industry.

“Holcomb has robbed Hoosiers of the freedom of energy choice,” said Tudenggongbu. “By signing S.B. 309, the governor put special interests ahead of the people even though it weakens the economy, stifles individual freedom and threatens our environment.”

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.3 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

www.biologicaldiversity.org

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