Sign the petition: Say no to Walmart’s deceptive solar campaign

Tell the Walton Family: Stop your hypocritical undercover campaign to destroy rooftop solar. Petition to the Walton family: "Stop attacking solar power. Donating millions to anti-solar organizations and rigging the rules to destroy rooftop solar undercuts American clean energy and jeopardizes our transition to a sustainable economy." Add your name: Dear Indiana, Walmart is well-known for exploiting its workers and squeezing its suppliers. But what few know is that, in an audacious new move, the Walton family has unleashed its immense resources on a campaign attacking rooftop solar in the United States. According to a new report, the Walton family, which owns Walmart, is working to undermine rooftop solar by promoting anti-solar state policies and donating millions of dollars to fossil fuel-backed front groups.1 The Walton family cannot claim to support solar power when it is actively attacking America's rooftop solar industry. On the heels of these shocking revelations, we have a unique opportunity to show Walmart that funding anti-solar groups is bad for the planet, and bad for business. Tell the Walton family: Stop your campaign to make it harder for Americans to go solar. Click here to sign the petition. The Waltons own a majority stake in First Solar, a Malaysia-based corporation that manufactures large-scale commercial solar arrays that utilities may buy and add to their energy mix to meet state clean energy standards. First Solar is putting a bet on utility-scale solar, which wants to rig the playing field by suppressing residential solar installations. In a nakedly self-serving move, First Solar is working to impose fees on residential households with rooftop solar.2 First Solar sees rooftop solar as a competitive threat, and is heavily involved in cutthroat campaigns nationwide to destroy the residential rooftop solar industry and make it harder for Americans to go solar. Their strategy is already working in Arizona, where residential solar installations dropped 40% after Walton family-supported fees were introduced, leading to unprecedented job losses in Arizona's solar industry. Not satisfied with a single state, the Waltons have also given millions to pro-fossil fuel groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the Koch brothers front group, Americans for Prosperity, to fund similar anti-clean energy policies across the country. Walmart claims that it "envisions a world where people do not have to choose between electricity they can afford and renewable electricity that is good for communities and the planet," but it is working against that vision by attacking an increasingly popular way for American families to access solar power.3 A public campaign will discredit Walmart's carefully cultivated greenwashing campaign, and get the Walton family's attention by calling out their hypocrisy. Tell the Walton family: Stop your campaign to make it harder for Americans to go solar. Click here to sign the petition. Thanks for fighting for solar power. Josh Nelson, Campaign Manager CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name: "Walton Family Undermining Rooftop Solar, ILSR Report Finds," Institute for Local Self-Reliance, October 9, 2014. "Exclusive: Walmart Owners Backing Campaigns to Limit Rooftop Solar Power," Vice News, October 9, 2014. Walmart's Approach to Renewable Energy - (White Paper), Walmart Share on Facebook Post to your wall Tweet this Post to Twitter © 2014 CREDO. All rights reserved. To change your email or mailing address, please click here: https://act.credoaction.com/me/update/?t=15&akid=12125.7925804.EuPSNh To remove yourself from this list, please visit our subscription management page at: http://act.credoaction.com/cms/unsubscribe/unsubscribe/?t=17&akid=12125.7925804.EuPSNh