The USA is still reeling after a shooting in Arizona killed six people and wounded 14 others. Among the wounded was Congresswoman Gabrielle Dee “Gabby” Giffords, a staunch supporter of solar power.
Congresswoman Giffords was shot in the head outside a Safeway grocery store in Casas Adobes, a suburb of Tucson, Arizona. While the bullet passed through her brain, emergency surgery appears to have been successful and doctors are cautiously optimistic she will survive her injuries. Congresswoman Giffords remains in critical condition.
Among her many initiatives and activities to further renewable energy in her home state and across the USA, Gabrielle Giffords was the author of Solar Technology Roadmap Act, legislation to create a strategic roadmap to advance solar energy technologies through fast-tracked research, development, and demonstration projects.
In July last year, Congresswoman Giffords played an instrumental role in the award of a $1.45 billion loan guarantee from the U.S. federal government to enable construction of Arizona’s largest solar power-generation plant.
On the House Science and Technology Committee, Congresswoman Giffords has a goal of making Southern Arizona the “Solar-con Valley” of the nation. She is also Vice Chair of the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition.
In her district, Giffords’ Community Solar Energy Initiative mobilises support and action for the increased use of solar energy. Giffords also advocated for an eight-year extension of the Investment Tax Credit for commercial and residential solar power projects. Giffords is also promoting increased use of renewable energy at military installations throughout the USA.
A suspect in the shooting is in police custody.
