{"id":24860,"date":"2026-06-11T12:46:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T16:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?p=24860"},"modified":"2026-06-11T12:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T16:46:12","slug":"new-merkley-bill-clears-barriers-to-renewable-energy-projects-nationwide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/new-merkley-bill-clears-barriers-to-renewable-energy-projects-nationwide\/","title":{"rendered":"New Merkley Bill Clears Barriers to Renewable Energy Projects Nationwide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, Oregon\u2019s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley\u2014a senior member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee\u2014released new legislation to oppose discriminatory barriers to renewables enacted by states, counties, and municipalities across the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the Trump Administration increases electricity prices with <a href=\"https:\/\/cleanpower.org\/resources\/clean-power-quarterly-market-report-q1-2026\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ever-intensifying attacks on cheap renewable energy<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/heatmap.news\/politics\/laws-restricting-renewable-energy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">many states and localities have also enacted barriers to renewables, and more are in the process of doing so<\/a>. At least <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/investigations\/2024\/02\/04\/green-energy-nationwide-bans\/71841275007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">15 percent of U.S. counties<\/a> have restrictions on renewable energy development, and the restrictions are impacting projects on the ground. Merkley\u2019s new legislation, the <em>Renewable Energy Choice Act,<\/em> would address this challenge by precluding states, counties, and municipalities from enacting unjust and discriminatory limitations on solar, wind, or geothermal energy projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>\u201cWe must fight back against fossil fuel mega-donors and elected officials who do their bidding by using unjust and discriminatory rules to take away energy choice and keep us hooked on expensive fossil fuels,\u201d<\/strong> dijo Merkley.<strong> \u201cCheap renewables are essential to take on the energy affordability crisis crushing families, and my legislation breaks the gridlock at the local level to deliver affordable clean energy to folks across the United States.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Merkley this week led the charge to oppose President Trump\u2019s reckless policies undermining energy affordability for families nationwide. He introduced the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/merkley-fights-back-against-trumps-attacks-on-renewable-energy-projects-nationwide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Restoring Renewable Energy Parity Act<\/em><\/a>, which would repeal Trump\u2019s executive orders attacking renewable energy, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/merkley-leads-new-bill-to-prevent-lng-exports-from-raising-costs-on-american-households-businesses\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Protecting Americans from High Electricity Prices Act<\/em><\/a>, which would prevent the U.S. Department of Energy from approving liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals that raise prices on American households and businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Texto completo de la <em>Renewable Energy Choice Act <\/em>can be found by clicking <a href=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/Renewable-Energy-Choice-Act.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">aqu\u00ed<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">###<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, Oregon\u2019s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley\u2014a senior member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee\u2014released new legislation to oppose discriminatory barriers to renewables enacted by states, counties, and municipalities across the United States. As the Trump Administration increases electricity prices with ever-intensifying attacks on cheap renewable energy, many states and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":18846,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[44,36,47,45],"class_list":["post-24860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases","tag-jobs-and-the-economy","tag-natural-resources-and-rural-development","tag-protecting-consumers-taxpayers-and-the-economy","tag-tackling-climate-change"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>New Merkley Bill Clears Barriers to Renewable Energy Projects Nationwide - Merkley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/new-merkley-bill-clears-barriers-to-renewable-energy-projects-nationwide\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Merkley Bill Clears Barriers to Renewable Energy Projects Nationwide - Merkley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, Oregon\u2019s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley\u2014a senior member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee\u2014released new legislation to oppose discriminatory barriers to renewables enacted by states, counties, and municipalities across the United States. 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