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The local call to preserve the green energy tax breaks comes as Republican lawmakers are rushing to finish the “One Big Beautiful Bill� spending plan that President Donald Trump has pushed to get on his desk by the Fourth of July.

Allen said the call on Congress is ultimately about “just simply leveling the playing field� for working-class people and small businesses.

“Right now, the cards are stacked in the favor of the fossil fuel industry at the expense of working day families, of seniors (and) of businesses. It is an excessive trade-off,� she said. “There’s been much discussion recently about the location of data centers, who receive a state tax break from purchases of data center equipment ... it’s those sorts of imbalances that do harm to our residents, to our businesses and to our community overall.�

“These supports, these programs that we need our members of Congress to back-up, these are lifelines for our community ... we’re not asking for anything that is exceptional. These are not hand-outs. This is just leveling the playing field so that we can make the transition to clean energy and support our residents in the way that people need to be able to survive in these escalating heat-and-cost times,� Allen said.

Louis Woofenden, owner of Net Zero Solar, said his small business was formed in 2009 with three people and has since grown to a 17-person company that installs solar and batteries on homes and businesses across Southern Arizona.

Ultimately, “policy choices are really about people,� Woofenden said. But if the clean energy tax credits that have been a key driver of his company’s growth are cut, Net Zero Solar’s workforce would likely be cut in half.

“The proposed gutting of the clean energy credits in the reconciliation bill would simply be devasting to our business and to Southern Arizona,� he said. “The bottom line of this bill, as proposed, is it would lead to reduced demand for solar, such that we would expect to have enormous job losses here.�

“The proposed cuts would also have massive, negative downstream effects to everyone in Arizona, in the form of higher electricity prices to local equipment distributors and suppliers that we buy our materials from, and to existing solar owners if their solar installer goes out of business,� Woofenden said. “It is critical that Congress changes course and protects these solar tax credits that help businesses and homeowners lower their energy costs and create jobs here in Southern Arizona.�