One year in, climate law tests Biden’s environmental justice pledge
Good morning and welcome to The Climate 202! Today were researching the best birthday gifts for a 1-year-old. ( Narwhal finger puppets , anyone?) Not a subscriber? Sign up for The Climate 202 to get scoops and sharp analysis in your inbox each morning. In todays edition, well cover why power lines probably caused Mauis first reported wildfire. But first: Today marks the first anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act , the landmark climate law that President Biden signed in August 2022. Several striking figures illustrate how the law is invigorating the U.S. economy. At least 170,600 new clean-energy jobs have been created, according to the environmental group Climate Power , and companies have announced at least 210 major new clean-energy projects, according to the business group E2 . Yet its much harder to quantify whether the law is fulfilling one of Bidens central environmental pledges: Directing at least 40 percent of the benefits of federal climate spending to disadvantaged communities that have historically borne the brunt of pollution. Soon after taking office, Biden established the Justice40 Initiative , vowing that disadvantaged communities would receive 40 percent of the benefits of key federal investments in clean energy. But one year in, its difficult to determine whether the presidents signature climate law is delivering on this commitment, environmental justice advocates told The Climate 202. For one thing, benefits are much harder to measure than dollars, said Peggy Shepard , co-founder and executive director of WE ACT for Environmental Justice , a New York-based nonprofit organization. Benefits is one of those bureaucratic words thats not well-defined, said Shepard, a member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council . A lot of us would have preferred that the word benefits was not used and it was funds instead. Obviously, that would be so much easier to quantify. For another thing, it may be premature to measure benefits because not all funding has been distributed, said Beverly Wright , founder and executive director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice and another member of the White House council. In the same way that it takes nine months for a baby to come into this world, its going to take a long time to get to the point where we have communities actually participating in all of these dollars, Wright said. Besides the difficulty of analyzing its benefits, here are three other ways the climate laws implementation is testing Bidens focus on environmental justice: The bulk of the spending in the Inflation Reduction Act comes from generous tax credits for consumers and businesses to buy green technologies, including solar panels, electric vehicles and heat pumps. These subsidies are exempt from the Justice40 Initiative , an administration official confirmed to The Climate 202. Thats because the incentives are claimed by eligible taxpayers, not allocated by the administration, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. The tax credits were initially projected to cost $270 billion over the next decade. But given their popularity, the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimated in June that they could end up costing $663 billion. Another $27 billion chunk of funding from the climate law is devoted to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund , which will provide grants to states, territories, tribes and others for projects that cut greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. Under the law, the Environmental Protection Agency must allocate more than two-thirds of this spending to low-income and disadvantaged communities, exceeding the administrations 40 percent target. But advocates worry that some organizations in poor and minority neighborhoods lack the staff or resources to apply for the money intended for them. We think that it would be a shame if funds intended for low-income and disadvantaged communities went to a larger organization who has no presence or history of working in low-income and disadvantaged communities, said Lenwood Long Sr. , president of the African American Alliance of Community Development Financial Institution CEOs , which plans to apply for the money. The administration says its working to address these concerns. We are centering environmental justice in everything we do, ensuring communities on the frontlines of climate crisis are benefiting from the public health, resilience, and economic opportunities unleashed by this transformative legislation, EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement. Although the Inflation Reduction Act will pour an unprecedented amount of money into clean energy, it also contains provisions aimed at boosting fossil fuels. During negotiations over the bill last summer, congressional Democrats agreed to include these provisions to secure the vote of moderate Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.). The Manchin-backed language requires the Interior Department to hold several offshore oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska. It also mandates that Interior offer at least 2 million acres of public lands for oil and gas leasing before any new wind or solar lease is issued. Advocates have fought to end oil and gas leasing in the Gulf, saying it has helped create sacrifice zones low-income, minority communities saddled with pollution from petroleum refineries and petrochemical plants. Theres no question that the IRA is working to supercharge a new clean-energy economy, said Abigail Dillen , president of the environmental law firm Earthjustice . But the IRA also has the potential to entrench fossil fuel dependence and perpetuate environmental injustice, so making the right policy choices to advance genuinely clean energy will be immensely important going forward. President Biden today will celebrate the first anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act during an event at the White House , as the administration tries to address Americans lack of awareness of the major climate measure. Biden will be introduced by Scott Strazik , chief executive of GE Vernova , which recently cited the climate law as a catalyst for adding 200 employees and investing $50 million in a New York facility that assembles components for wind turbines. Other speakers will include Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), House speaker emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan . The administration will also launch new features on the website invest.gov that showcase the real-world impact of the Inflation Reduction Act. The move comes after a recent Washington Post- University of Maryland poll found that 7 in 10 Americans have heard little or nothing about the climate law. In addition, the Energy Department today will release a report that finds the Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan infrastructure law will enable the nation to achieve up to 81 percent clean electricity by 2030. Biden has set a target of 100 percent clean electricity by 2035, with an interim goal of 80 percent by the end of the decade. Power lines owned by Hawaiian Electric , Hawaiis biggest electric utility, probably caused the first wildfire reported on Maui last week, video and sensor data show, The Posts Brianna Sacks reports. A security camera at the Maui Bird Conservation Center in Makawao, a small town in East Maui, captured a bright flash in the woods Aug. 7. At the same time, 10 sensors in Makawao recorded a significant anomaly in Hawaiian Electrics grid, according to data from Whisker Labs , a company that uses an advanced sensor network to monitor grids across the United States. The bright flash in the video probably occurred when a power line faulted and released sparks, according to a Whisker Labs official and other experts. The revelation adds to evidence that the utility may have caused several fires last week, although the blaze in Makawao was unrelated to a fire in Lahaina, on Mauis western shore. Asked about the video and sensor data, a spokesman for Hawaiian Electric declined to comment. Our immediate focus is on supporting emergency response efforts, restoring power for our customers and communities, and developing a long-term recovery plan, the spokesman said. We know there is speculation about what started the fires, and we, along with others, are working hard to figure out what happened. The Interior Department s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management yesterday announced two potential areas off the coast of Oregon where floating wind turbines could be located, Heather Richards reports for E&E News . The draft wind energy areas cover nearly 220,000 acres and could generate up to 2.6 gigawatts of carbon-free electricity. The bureau will solicit public comments on the potential areas for 60 days, rather than the typical 30 days, honoring a request from Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek (D) and other state officials. In a June letter, Kotek asked the bureau to pause offshore wind development for Oregon until it has fully evaluated the environmental and economic impacts. The governor cited significant friction emerging with fishermen and tribes in the Pacific Northwest. First Solar , a leading U.S. solar panel manufacturer, said yesterday that an independent audit had uncovered forced labor in a Malaysian factory, Ivan Penn and Ana Swanson report for the New York Times. The audit found that four subcontractors had forced people to work in the Malaysian factory by withholding their pay and passports. It comes as U.S. officials and human rights activists have increasingly voiced concern about forced labor in global supply chains for solar panels. First Solar said it would continue conducting audits to ensure that its partners dont engage in human rights violations. The company is also ramping up manufacturing in the United States using tax breaks from the Inflation Reduction Act , with a fifth U.S. factory planned for Louisiana . Thanks for reading!