SIERRA CLUB’S PRIORITIES FOR RECONCILIATION LEGISLATION - AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2021

OUR PRIORITIES DETAILED BELOW:

• ACHIEVE 100% CLEAN ENERGY

• CLEAN ENERGY PAYMENT PROGRAM (CEPP)

• CLEAN ENERGY TAX INCENTIVES

• EXPAND ACCESS TO CLEAN PUBLIC TRANSIT, UNION-BUILT ELECTRIC VEHICLES, AND EV CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURE

• END FOSSIL FUEL SUBSIDIES & CLEAN UP ABANDONED MINES AND WELLS

• REPLACE 100% OF LEAD PIPES 

• RETROFIT AND ELECTRIFY ALL PUBLIC HOUSING, SCHOOLS, AND HOSPITALS

• CREATE A CIVILIAN CLIMATE CORPS

• PROTECT THE ARCTIC REFUGE 

• ANALYSIS OF BIPARTISAN DEAL
   

CONTEXT:

On the heels of a blockbuster Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report detailing prospects for our world’s climate future, new details on a pending $3.5 trillion Senate budget resolution make clear that final passage of the package has the potential to be the most significant investment in tackling the climate crisis in U.S. history, putting the country on a path to meet President Biden’s climate action goals of 80% clean electricity and 50% economy-wide carbon emissions reductions by 2030, while delivering at least 40% of the investments to disadvantaged communities.

Building Back Better demands Congress craft and pass a legislative package on the scale necessary to address the interconnected crises we face. There is no negotiating with the physical reality of the climate crisis, the economic reality of millions of struggling families, or the structural reality of systemic racism, which is why Congressional Democrats must pass legislation that undertakes transformational change to foster cleaner air and water, higher wages, greater equity, healthier communities, and a more stable climate -- not negotiate with Republicans still unwilling to acknowledge the truth and enormity of the climate crisis.  

President Biden was elected by campaigning on the boldest climate platform in history. Today, we have no time to waste -- it’s essential that bold climate action be at the heart of the reconciliation bill, because as the IPCC has made painfully clear, the choices we make together now will shape our society’s direction and the health of our planet for centuries. This is President Biden’s number one opportunity to turn his commitments into reality and go big on protecting our climate and our communities. 

The Sierra Club’s top priorities for inclusion in the budget reconciliation bill are rooted in our core values of ensuring that we all have fresh air to breathe, clean water to drink, safe homes and healthy communities - no matter our race, age, identity, income or zip code. Likewise, we believe everyone deserves access to family-sustaining jobs, healthy food, the outdoors, and clean affordable transportation, energy, and water.

SIERRA CLUB’S PRIORITIES FOR RECONCILIATION LEGISLATION

1. ACHIEVE 100% CLEAN ENERGY WITH A CLEAN ENERGY PAYMENT PROGRAM (CEPP) & CLEAN ENERGY TAX INCENTIVES

The $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill is an essential vehicle for finally moving the nation toward a 100% clean energy economy by leveraging the power of the federal government. One in three people in America already live in a community committed to 100% clean energy. Two key policies that must be included are a Clean Energy Payment Program (CEPP), and federal investment in clean energy through tax incentives. 

CEPP: Polling shows strong public support for policies like the CEPP. The Sierra Club proposes that such a program incorporate strong environmental, justice, and labor provisions, with pillars outlined here.

CLEAN ENERGY TAX INCENTIVES: Sierra Club also joins nearly the entire House Democratic caucus in calling on Congressional leadership to prioritize inclusion of a robust tax incentive program to spur growth in clean power and clean transportation. Bold investments in solar, on- and offshore wind, storage, transmission, efficient and electrified buildings, electric vehicles, and disadvantaged communities, coupled with strong labor standards and domestic manufacturing are essential. These policies will play a critical role in addressing the climate crisis, aid America’s economic recovery with well-paying, family-sustaining jobs, alleviate some of the pollution impacts that have been borne by communities, and help the country build back better.

GRID RESILIENCE: Finally, the bipartisan infrastructure bill only offers $10 billion in grants for grid resiliency — an inadequate amount that the reconciliation package must supplement to harden and modernize the grid.

2. EXPAND ACCESS TO CLEAN PUBLIC TRANSIT, UNION-BUILT ELECTRIC VEHICLES, AND EV CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURE

The transportation sector is the leading source of carbon pollution in the U.S. Transportation is also a prime contributor to air pollution that poses major risks to public health, especially in communities of color.

The bipartisan infrastructure deal is a small start, and the Sierra Club urges Congress to pass a final reconciliation bill with significant additional investments for electrifying cars, transit buses, school buses, the federal fleet (including the U.S. postal fleet) and ports, all while including domestic manufacturing and high labor standards to ensure that U.S. workers are not left behind as we rapidly transition to electric vehicles.

The Sierra Club supports investing in public transit that runs on renewable energy, including 100% electric school and transit buses, while expanding access to public transit for the 45% of the population that doesn’t have it. 

TRANSIT GAPS IN THE BIPARTISAN DEAL THAT MUST BE FILLED IN RECONCILIATION:

ELECTRIC SCHOOL BUSES: The deal includes just $2.5 billion for electric school buses — only 4% of what is needed to replace all diesel school buses with clean electric vehicles. Congress should not leave up to 96% of diesel school buses on the road to spew more toxic air and climate pollution. By investing $30 billion, Congress can electrify half of the nation’s school bus fleet.  

PUBLIC TRANSIT: The deal includes $39 billion in funding for public transit — less than 10% of what’s needed to expand and electrify public transit. While this is a necessary step, it’s nowhere near the $73 billion needed to electrify all public transit buses, the $176 billion needed to clear the public transit maintenance backlog, or the hundreds of billions of dollars needed to expand access to public transit for the 45% of the country that doesn’t have it. 

ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING: The deal invests $7.5 billion, half of what Biden’s American Jobs Plan calls for, to build 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations across the country. That includes funding for a new National Electric Vehicle Formula Program for states to invest in the buildout of EV charging infrastructure. Twice as much is needed to achieve the President’s goal for boosting access to EV charging. 

RAIL: The deal invests $66 billion in passenger rail, a mere one-third of what is needed to upgrade passenger rail for speed, accessibility, efficiency, and resilience. 

3. END FOSSIL FUEL SUBSIDIES & CLEAN UP ABANDONED MINES AND WELLS

END FOSSIL FUEL SUBSIDIES: The 20 largest fossil fuel companies account for more than a third of global greenhouse gas emissions in the modern era, all while raking in absurd profits, and yet American taxpayers continue to subsidize the industry to the tune of $15 billion per year. The fossil fuel industry is so intent on keeping its taxpayer-funded subsidies that, in 2020 alone, oil, gas, and coal interests spent more than $115 million lobbying Congress in defense of these giveaways — generating an over 13,000% return on investment. 

That’s why the Sierra Club supports paying for essential investments in the nation’s future by repealing the billions of dollars in special interest subsidies that disproportionately benefit the oil, gas, and coal industries. 

MINE & WELL CLEANUP: The bipartisan infrastructure bill includes an $11 billion investment in the abandoned mine lands (AML) program that will be a game-changer for communities bearing the burdens of the environmental and health hazards left behind by coal, providing tens of thousands of jobs where they are needed most.

But given the growing estimates for the cost of fully reclaiming AML sites, Congress should also build a full reauthorization of the AML fee into final legislation.

The bipartisan deal also includes $4.7 billion for plugging orphaned oil wells. However, without the inclusion of financial assurances such as bonding reform, there are no assurances that the oil and gas industry will be held accountable for cleaning up its own mess. The Sierra Club supports funding for cleanup, but financial assurances such as bonding reform are necessary.

4. REPLACE 100% OF LEAD PIPES 

President Biden’s original American Jobs Plan leaned strongly into addressing the crisis of toxic lead in our water infrastructure - which affects every state - by requiring the replacement of 100% of the nation’s lead pipes and service lines in our drinking water systems. 

Right now, the bipartisan deal is slated to only include enough funding to replace 25% of lead pipes (specifically, only $15 billion of the $60 billion water industry estimate). 

It’s clear that Congress needs to deliver more funding in the reconciliation package to achieve Biden's goal of 100% lead pipe replacement. It would be unconscionable for our country to pass a major infrastructure overhaul that leaves three out of four lead pipes intact. The health impacts of such an omission would harm children first and worst, particularly children in communities of color. Over 100 House Democrats recently called for the infrastructure plan to include full funding for 100% lead pipe replacement. A March 2021 poll found that 80% of voters support funding replacement of lead pipes, including majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and independents.

5. RETROFIT AND ELECTRIFY ALL PUBLIC HOUSING, SCHOOLS, AND HOSPITALS

Modernizing the places where we work, live and learn will reduce harmful air and water pollution, cut carbon pollution, build climate resilience, and protect vulnerable communities nationwide. The reconciliation package needs to invest hundreds of billions of dollars to produce, preserve, and retrofit affordable housing units and public schools that run on clean electricity rather than natural gas. That includes investing over $170 billion to improve over two million public housing units and over $400 billion to upgrade public schools nationwide.

Meanwhile, Sen. Heinrich has introduced the Electrifying America’s Future Resolution, which calls for widespread electrification of appliances in American homes, schools and businesses, citing the opportunity to use already-proven heat pump and electric hot water heating technology to decarbonize buildings while creating millions of new, good-paying jobs in communities across the country. The Sierra Club urges inclusion and expansion of these policies in the final reconciliation bill. 

6. CREATE A CIVILIAN CLIMATE CORPS 
   There is no shortage of work required to build a more just and resilient clean energy economy. Millions of workers will need to be hired in communities across the country to protect and restore forests and wetlands, support community repairs after storms and floods, expand access to renewable energy, weatherize buildings, install electric vehicle charging stations, improve health by greening our neighborhoods, and more. The Sierra Club supports a $60 billion outlay for the Civilian Climate Corps.
   
   

7. PROTECT THE ARCTIC REFUGE 

This legislation is a key opportunity to right a deep wrong included in the 2017 Republican tax scam: selling off the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling, transferring the area from the Fish and Wildlife Service to the Bureau of Land Management and re-designating the coastal plain for oil and gas development.

Allowing drilling to proceed would contradict President Biden’s call to tackle the climate crisis and move away from a fossil-fuel based economy, and ignores the rights of Indigenous people such as the Gwich’in, who call the Arctic Refuge the ‘sacred place where life begins.’

Protecting the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of the highest profile climate, human rights, conservation and environmental justice opportunities for this Congress and Administration. Arctic Refuge conservation is a high-priority issue for Democratic voters, donors, and Senators, with 86% of Democrats and 73% of Independents opposed to drilling.

SIERRA CLUB ANALYSIS OF BIPARTISAN DEAL:

Sierra Club’s full analysis of the bipartisan deal can be found here. Click here for a spreadsheet with a line-by-line comparison of the bipartisan deal, President Biden’s American Jobs Plan, and the investment levels backed by economic modeling and movement organizations.