Looking Back at Small Business and Energy in the 116th Congress | Article

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect all aspects of the global economy, small businesses are being particularly hard hit. Although the CARES Act, passed in late March, included $376 billion in loans to small businesses, the fund was depleted within two weeks and small businesses continue to struggle to stay afloat. As legislators work to find longer-term solutions to this immediate challenge, it is important to look at how the 116^th Congress has addressed another incoming and compounding challenge to small businesses: climate change.

The current health emergency has shown that small businesses are greatly affected by economic shocks driven by disasters or crises, and climate change will only exacerbate the risk of future shocks. However, small businesses are also a key part of building solutions to climate change. Policies that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency benefit small businesses, since most renewable energy and energy efficiency companies are small businesses themselves. Investments small businesses make in efficiency and renewables can bolster their profits through savings on energy bills. Small businesses nationwide are taking the lead in sustainable practices, and groups like the Chambers for Innovation & Clean Energy have worked to develop networks of businesses interested in clean and efficient energy.

Earlier in the 116^th Congress, the House Committee on Small Business held two hearings examining the role of small businesses in growing the clean energy and energy efficiency sectors. In these hearings, witnesses explained the leading role small businesses have taken in these sectors and how legislation aimed at promoting clean energy and energy efficiency also provides benefits to small businesses.

In the September 2019 hearing, Growing the Clean Energy Economy, Committee Chair Abby Finkenauer (D-Iowa) commended small businesses for being “at the forefront of the clean energy economy, promoting new technologies in both renewable energy and energy efficiency.” Witness Thomas Brooks, General Manager of Western Dubuque Biodiesel, LLC, works for such a small business. Brooks emphasized the role of his business in supporting the local economy of Farley, Iowa, through employment, tax revenue, contributions to water and school funds, and in helping to meet emission reductions goals.

Small clean energy and energy efficiency businesses not only support local economies, but they are also leaders in developing a green workforce. In the hearing, Creating the Clean Energy Workforce, Ed Gilliland, Senior Director of The Solar Foundation, testified that in many states with emerging solar markets—such as Alabama, Kentucky, and Mississippi—solar and energy efficiency employers reported difficulty in finding qualified employees. Gilliland suggested funding apprenticeship and training programs to develop such a workforce.

In both hearings, witnesses emphasized that legislation that is not directly aimed at small businesses can also provide co-benefits. For example, Neil James of Apex Clean Energy called for Congress to support the Wind Workforce Modernization and Training Act of 2019 (S.2415), which would create a grant program to train wind technicians. Lynn Abramson of the Clean Energy Business Network testified that the federal government could help small businesses by extending clean energy tax incentives, appropriating funding for programs to scale up and commercialize clean energy technology, using existing programs to promote energy resilience, and defining stable and predictable clean energy goals.

Small businesses are at the forefront of the energy transition, and businesses in all sectors benefit from more efficient energy use and cheaper and more easily available clean energy. The testimony at these hearings demonstrated that energy and climate legislation should also be valued for its benefits to small businesses nationwide.

For more detailed summaries of the Small Business Committee hearings, check out these past EESI articles:

Author: Abby Neal