Speak Up: Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' is a big step backward for solar

Metro Creative Connection

Joy Seitz’s op-ed on how Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill will impact Arizona’s solar industry touched a nerve with some readers. Here’s a selection of story comments from Newsbreak:

• “Solar is a scam, unreliable, and costly down the road…they’ve made it work for the companies selling it and the energy companies vs the customer.” — Jeff Woods
• “What good is solar? It’s a Democrat dream just like climate control. These ideas are ridiculous in it leads to this conclusion: New Poll Numbers Spell Doom for Democrats.” — Sandia Charlie
• “Solar hasn't been proven to be sustainable. Stop pushing it as "The Answer." It isn’t. And never was.” — Larry Ronnenbaum
• “I live up in the mountains of Kingman. I have a 3,800-square-foot home with a giant pool. My roof is covered with solar panels; my average monthly bill is $23.” — Michelle O’Connor
• “Most renewable energy investments for big battery and big PV plants is in red states. This is threatening $21billion and over $500 billion in investments in new plants and equipment in the USA since the IRA was introduced. Let’s hope your and your community’s jobs are not at stake. This idealogical attack on green energy has no basis in economic sense as coal and oil are higher cost than PV and wind.” — Rod Robinson
• “Solar fields are ruining our lands and environment, seems they put them everywhere without any environmental impact studies, my personal thoughts are they are disrupting our normal rain patterns, just look at lake Mead and Powell, thousands of square miles of solar panels just west of both of these absolutely essential bodies of water, seems the green deal is trying to interfere with mother nature.” — Allen Reeder
• “We pay less than $30 a month with solar, our neighbors get power from us!” — Billy Jack
• “We don’t want solar or electric cars.” — Steven Watzek
• “Good. The solar fields are destroying habitat and not producing anything that was originally thought. Additionally, solar panels are incredibly toxic to manufacture and require minerals, which are mined by children in other countries.” — Karla Court Motsenbocker
• “My daughter was buying a house at her budget, but they also wanted her to take over the solar contract which would add another $250 a month. The electric bill would be a bit cheaper but still had a cost there as well. We have a much larger house and pay $209 every month without solar in summer and winter. Where’s the savings there? I guess they do have some grants.” — Be Practical
• “Thank heavens. Solar is def not green it destroys everything — land, animals, soil, birds, surrounding property values and it never gets better. when it’s abandoned it’s even more destructive and horrible.” — Bev Wilson