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Letter: Switching to clean energy will create jobs. The Republican budget bill must include IRA-type incentives.

(Trent Nelson  |  The Salt Lake Tribune) The Graphite Solar solar farm in Wellington on Thursday, July 27, 2023.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Graphite Solar solar farm in Wellington on Thursday, July 27, 2023.

2024 was the hottest year on record, but the Republican budget bill for 2025 does not contain the clean energy tax credits that were part of the Inflation Reduction Act. The incentives need to be restored.

Switching to clean energy will cost jobs but will also create jobs. The U.S. Department of Energy says in Utah there are 1371 employees in the coal industry, but the Interstate Renewable Energy Council says Utah’s solar industry employs 7,310 workers.

On March 10, 21 House Republicans signed a letter advocating to keep the clean energy tax credits that were part of the IRA. Both Sen. John Curtis and former Sen. Mitt Romney want to keep the clean energy incentives.

Let’s keep these incentives.

Russell Patterson, West Valley

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