July Notes From the Chair: Impacts of the OBBBA and Organization Update.

Greetings to friends, colleagues, and partners!

These Notes will provide important updates on two important issues: first, a summary of the impact of the recently passed troop budget bill on the environment and on addressing climate change; and second, news about the change in our organization’s name and priority areas.

The Impact of Trump’s July 2025 Budget Bill on Efforts to Combat Climate Change and Build a Sustainable Future

In short, this bill is irresponsible, dangerous, shifts this nation’s growing commitment

away from a renewable future and returns instead of profit driven dependence on coal and oil. It has profoundly harmful impacts on health, the economy, national security, clean air and water, and the world that our children will inherit. It is that stark and it is that simple.

An article published on July 7, 2025, by the Center for American Progress titled What Trump’s Anti-Environment One Big Beautiful Bill Act Means for Your Wallet, Health, and Safety - provides a succinct and important summary.

It is well worth taking a few minutes to review this article.

Key points include:

• The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) will hurt Americans’ wallets. America was on track to add a lot more energy to the grid through the rapid growth of the clean energy industry. However, the OBBBA  rolls back clean energy tax credits that energy developers were relying on to make that growth happen. Without these incentives, many clean energy projects will get cancelled and leave the U.S. with less energy than it needs in a time of rising energy demand.

  
  

• The OBBBA will increase average annual electricity and gas costs. By reducing the generation of the affordable clean energy added to the grid, the bill will leave Americans with higher energy bills. The OBBBA would increase average annual electricity costs by  $110 per household as early as next year, with some states seeing more than $200 increases annually. Businesses also face  increased costs of nearly 10 percent by 2026, and these additional costs would likely be passed on to consumers. On top of electricity costs, this bill would  raise gasoline prices by between 25 cents to 37 cents per gallon by 2035, meaning that Americans will pay the oil industry an additional $339 billion in gasoline revenues by 2035.

• The OBBBA will have negative impacts on Americans’ health. The OBBBA

  recklessly repeals lifesaving incentives for weather resilience, energy efficiency, and improved air quality in American communities. Baked into the OBBBA are cuts to the Inflation Reduction Act’s federally funded initiatives, such as air pollution monitoring, cleaning up ports, home energy efficiency upgrades, and emissions-free school buses.

• The OBBBA risks Americans’ personal safety. The OBBBA will reduce overall energy additions to the grid by at least 50 percent and comes at a time when the U.S. electric grid is already under stress from  skyrocketing electricity demand and rising extreme weather events. Congressional Republicans’ budget bill would remove enough clean energy supply from the grid to power 90 percent of homes in the United States.

  
  

  

Now to some important and hopeful news: after a year of careful thought and ongoing strategic planning we have made the decision to change the name of the organization to the South Dakota Green Project - Combating Climate Change, Building a Sustainable Future.

Our relationship with 350.org has been collegial, productive, and has helped us through the first phase of our work. It became increasingly clear, however, that our efforts are local and regional, that we are direct and outcome driven based on rigorous science while attempting to work in a collaborative way, and that our overall focus while certainly on the impact of climate change on our community, increasingly includes the economic opportunity inherent in a transition to a renewable future.

The three pillars of our organization remain the same:

1.  Building a Movement. Building support for climate action through education

   and community engagement

2. Promoting Solutions. Advancing strong climate policies and supporting local and state level renewable energy initiatives

3. Creating Coalitions. Connecting organizations and citizens to strengthen the movement for a just and sustainable future

Given the incredibly critical moment that we find ourselves in as a nation with real

threats to the Constitution, to the rule of law, and to our climate and environment - we have added a fourth:

4. Protecting the Constitution and the rule of law. These are foundational

   requirements of good governance essential to impact public policy, including climate change and the transition to a sustainable future.

More about all of this, including changes to our webpage and our overall appearance graphically, and most importantly about our strategic plan and our commitments for the remainder of this year - will follow in the weeks and months ahead.