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President Joe Biden delivers remarks on budget reconciliation and the “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022”, Thursday, July 28, 2022, in the State Dining Room of the White House. | Official White House photo by Adam Schultz
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By Suzanne Potter, Producer, Public News Service
Two years ago this week, the U.S. made the biggest investment ever in the fight against climate change as the Inflation Reduction Act became law.
On Monday, groups fighting climate change held a news conference to celebrate the progress made so far. Last year, tax credits in the new law spurred $44 billion in investments in domestic clean energy manufacturing.
Alexander Walker-Griffin, a city council member in Hercules, a veteran and California Leadership Council chair with the nonprofit Elected Officials to Protect America, talked about the long-term benefits of the law.
“Nine million jobs are expected to be created,” Walker-Griffin pointed out. “In addition, by 2030 we’re expected to reduce 40% of our carbon emissions. Literally, everyone can breathe a little bit easier with this act.”
The measure funded $369 billion in tax breaks and incentives, grants and loan guarantees to help mitigate the climate crisis, which is helping California clean up the air, promote zero-emission transportation, increase energy efficiency, make our coastline and forests more resilient to climate impacts and more.
Heidi Roddenberry, chair of the Roddenberry Foundation, named after Gene Roddenberry, the creator of “Star Trek,” said the law will reduce our reliance on oil and gas and move us closer to the future depicted on the show.
“At the Roddenberry Foundation, we are about big, bold ideas for catalytic change, helping us get to that optimistic future that ‘Star Trek’ offered us,” Roddenberry explained. “And having an infrastructure supporting energy independence gets us closer to that goal.”
Yetide Badaki, an actress, writer, and producer on the shows “Star Trek” and “American Gods,” noted 40% of the measure’s funding targets projects in low-income areas, tying together economic and environmental justice.
“There is a lot of Inflation Reduction Act money yet to be allocated with the investments in clean air, climate resilience, and environmental justice,” Badaki observed. “We find ourselves on the cusp of a clean-energy revolution.”
Federal data show most of the investments from the Inflation Reduction Act so far have gone to underserved and front line environmental justice communities.
Disclosure: Elected Officials to Protect America contributes to Public News Service’s fund for reporting on Climate Change/Air Quality, Energy Policy, and Public Lands/Wilderness. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, visit https://www.publicnewsservice.org/dn1.php.
