Larson, Hernández, Ocasio-Cortez, and House Democrats Launch Investigation into Trump Administration Misuse of Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund
Hartford, CT – Today, Rep. John B. Larson (CT-01) announced the launch of an investigation into the Trump Administration’s decision to strip funding for solar panels and backup batteries from Puerto Rican families and redirect the funds to bail out a fossil fuel company in bankruptcy.
Today’s announcement follows yesterday’s visit by the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico to Hartford, where Congressmen Larson and Pablo José Hernández (PR-AL) heard firsthand from Frog Hollow residents and small business owners on the impact of high prices, including the President’s costly tariffs and rising energy bills.
“I am proud to represent one of the largest Puerto Rican communities on the mainland in Congress — where we welcomed as many as 13,000 evacuees in the wake of Hurricane Maria. It is shameful that after Congress approved $1 billion to hurricane-proof Puerto Rico’s power sources, Trump officials pulled that funding from families in need to bail out a failing fossil fuel company,” said Larson. “Puerto Rico’s residents, especially those in low-income households and rural areas, deserve secure and reliable energy sources, especially when disaster strikes. I will continue to work with my friend and colleague, Congressman Hernández, who I was honored to welcome to Hartford this week, and all my Democratic colleagues to demand answers and accountability. The Department of Energy must answer for this shameful and potentially illegal bait-and-switch that will leave families in the dark.”
In September 2025, DOE pulled $365 million slated to help 175 small health care facilities serving 300,000 patients and apartment and condo buildings home to more than 400,000 residents in Puerto Rico. On January 9th of this year, DOE rescinded another $350 million dedicated to homes with people with disabilities, very low-income households, and families whose lights are the last to be turned back on after a disaster.
Larson joined Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (CA-02), Resident Commissioner Pablo José Hernández (PR-AL), Rep. Nydia Velázquez (NY-07), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), along with 41 other Democrats, to press the Department of Energy (DOE) for answers, demanding a full Congressional briefing no later than April 30th, as the first step in their investigation.
“We write to raise concerns about the Department of Energy’s (DOE) decision to strip post-disaster energy security from people in Puerto Rico with disabilities, very low-income households, rural health care facilities, and residents in communities that are the hardest to re-energize after a disaster,” the members wrote. “DOE’s lack of transparency, wasteful reuse of the funding, disregard for congressional intent, and potentially illegal cancellation of contracts—combined with the resulting increase in energy poverty and loss of energy security—raise serious questions about the Department’s uses of the Puerto Rico-Energy Resilience Fund (ERF).”
“It has now been over a year since the ERF money was initially frozen; the new projects that are reported to receive the money have still not been determined, much less started construction,” the members continued. “Had those solar projects been allowed to proceed, most would already be providing energy security for thousands of vulnerable families and megawatts of reliable electricity for the grid that desperately needs it.”
View the members’ full letter to U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright HERE.