This article was written for publication in Heartbeat.
Those of us in environmental and justice spaces have been dreaming of legislation that addresses the ongoing climate crisis for decades. This year, on August 16, President Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes provisions for many issues - climate among them. And I celebrated because it has been a long, slow, agonizing road to get to this point. As someone who has been working in this space for many, many years I will admit that I was hungry for something - anything - that resembled a win. But as time passed and I listened to others who exist in these spaces, I realize how deeply flawed this bill is. So I am coming to terms with holding two simultaneous truths:
- The Inflation Reduction Act is the largest investment in climate, justice, clean energy, and jobs ever. It will help slash climate pollution in the U.S. by an estimated 40% by the end of the decade and it supports critical programs to improve our families’ health and cleans up legacy pollution.
- It is a deeply flawed bill, with provisions that will further harm frontline communities, particularly in the Gulf Coast. And it must not be the last step on climate. This should be the low bar - and we need to keep raising it because the stakes are immense.
Among the many good climate and environmental justice provisions in the bill:
- Investment of hundreds of billions of dollars in tax credits for clean energy like solar and wind, clean transportation, decarbonized buildings, and clean energy manufacturing here in the U.S.
- Methane Emissions Reduction Program, which will improve methane monitoring, fund environmental restoration, and help communities reduce the health effects of pollution and increase their climate resilience.
- Funding for effective review and community engagement on proposed infrastructure projects under NEPA.
- Funding for urban parks and resilience for tribal communities, new resources for Environmental Justice communities to clean up legacy pollution and for rural communities to take advantage of lower cost, cleaner energy sources.
- New greenhouse gas reduction fund to provide low-cost financing for clean energy projects, with at least 60% of the benefits of these investments flowing to disadvantaged communities, in line with the president’s Justice40 commitments.
Unfortunately, Democrats like Senator Manchin - a fossil fuel millionaire - along with the entire Republican Party fought to block investments in climate, care, jobs, and justice while catering to fossil fuel interests at the expense of frontline communities.
Let’s be very clear: it is absolutely unacceptable that oil and gas leasing provisions will be tied to clean energy development — reinforcing the outsized influence of fossil fuel interests on frontline communities who continue to be offered up as sacrifice zones. Black, Indigenous, low-income, and communities of color are out of time and need investment now.
The struggle for a more just world is a complicated, long-haul struggle. This act encompasses so much of our fight - holding within it both progress and setbacks. The path forward must see all of us showing up over and over again to demand more. For the planet. For our people. And for our future.
In solidarity,
Amanda Shepherd
Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter Director