CHANGE: Trump’s renewable energy cuts alarm former officials.

Trump wants to gut a key division of the Department of Energy designed to accelerate the development of clean energy like solar and wind power. The administration’s 2018 budget would slash funding for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy by a stunning 71.9%.

Those deep spending cuts are alarming the last seven Senate-confirmed individuals who led the renewables office, including three who served under Republican presidents.

“We are unified that cuts of this magnitude…will do serious harm to this office’s critical work and America’s energy future,” the former officials wrote in a letter to members of Congress on Thursday.

When there’s money to be made in renewable energy, then money will be made. Until then, DOE money is just a slush fund for the well-connected.