U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM), top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, joined U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Resident Commissioner for Puerto Rico Pablo José Hernández (D-PR) and nineteen other congressional Democrats in a letter to U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Chris Wright calling on the Trump Administration to reverse its decision to redirect funding from the Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund.
In 2022, Congress approved $1 billion for the fund to improve the resilience of the Puerto Rican electric grid.
“We write to express our deep concern regarding the Department of Energy’s (DOE) decision to redirect funding from the Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund away from providing the most vulnerable citizens of Puerto Rico with backup power,” wrote the lawmakers. “As you know, these congressionally appropriated funds were intended to provide solar and battery storage at residential communities and health centers across the island. DOE has claimed that the funds will now be deployed to ‘support practical fixes that offer a faster, more impactful solution to the current crisis.’ We, however, remain greatly concerned that the people of Puerto Rico are being used as pawns in President Trump’s attack on clean energy, and fail to see a justification for this action.”
In addition to Sen. Heinrich, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CN), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and U.S. Representatives Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), Jared Huffman (D-CA), Tim Kennedy (D-NY), Kweisi Mfume (D-MD), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Nellie Pou (D-NJ), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), and Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) also signed the letter.
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