inflation reduction act

September 20, 2023

EPA announces $4.6 billion in grants to combat climate pollution

By Shannon Kelleher

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $4.6 billion in competitive grants on Wednesday to fund state, city, and Tribal programs designed to reduce climate pollution, advance environmental justice, and transition to clean energy.

The announcement came as business leaders, nonprofits, and government officials convene in New York for the annual Climate Week NYC, which takes place alongside the UN General Assembly.

The grants mark the second wave of funding through the agency’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) program, which was developed under the Inflation Reduction Act. The CPRG program is intended to advance the Biden administration’s Justice40 Initiative by helping to ensure that overburdened communities receive federal climate change funding. The newly available grants will fund projects planned using the initial $250 million in CPRG funding announced in March.

“Together, these grants will stimulate economic growth, spur the creation of new industries and jobs, and enable communities, especially low-income and disadvantaged communities, to chart a path towards unprecedented emissions reductions,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said on a press call. “We recognize that it won’t get us all the way, but it’s a significant shot in the arm.”

June 14, 2023

Amid Biden push for electric vehicles, debate grows over “green” mining

Minnesota, long known as the Land of 10,000 Lakes, is a heralded haven for people and wildlife alike, a state rich in natural resources.

But now, a nickel mine proposed for northern Minnesota poses a threat to the stability of precious wetland ecosystems, according to critics trying to block the project. Though backers of the mine claim it will be an environmentally friendly operation that provides crucial material for the production of electric vehicle batteries, challengers say the mine could actually create more environmental problems than it will solve.

The battle illustrates one of many challenges arising as the Biden administration pushes for a rapid transition away from fossil fuels and toward so-called clean energy. In May, the Biden Administration paused the environmental review process for an Arizona copper mine in the face of similar concerns from Indigenous tribes about what the mine there might do to water quality.

“We’re not opposed to mining, but we have to ensure that these activities do not endanger our natural environment or our Indigenous communities,” said Kelly Applegate, commissioner of natural resources for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. A community of Mille Lacs members live near the site designated for the Minnesota mine, which would sit just outside the tiny town of Tamarack.

May 16, 2023

US efforts to turn farm animal poop into biofuel spark scrutiny

By Shannon Kelleher

Industrial-sized livestock operations have long been known for contaminating the environment and mistreating animals. Now, amid growing government incentives to turn the manure generated at these operations into climate-friendly biofuels, there are mounting concerns that the efforts could make industrial farming bigger and more dangerous.

Critics say government support for the production of biogas through the use of what are known as manure digesters comes with an array of well-documented risks. The digesters break down manure and capture methane gas, which can be used as fuel, but they come with a history of fires, explosions, hydrogen sulfide poisoning, methane leaks, and even drowning.

Methane digesters “exacerbate the dangers that are already endemic to industrial animal farming… where animals are housed in the same location as malfunctioning equipment, flammable liquids, and dangerous manure management practices,” said Alicia Prygoski, strategic legislative affairs manager at the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) animal advocacy group.

“Encouraging mass amounts of manure production, to facilitate the mass capture of the flammable gas that results from its decomposition, is what creates the increase in risks for explosions,” said Prygoski. “All you need is a spark.”

The Biden Administration’s much-touted Inflation Reduction Act includes funding and tax credits incentivizing farmers to install more of these digesters, and the new Farm Bill could include funds incentivizing the practice.

The ALDF and more than 100 other organizations sent a letter in December to US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack calling on the agency to stop any allocation of additional funding from the IRA for the use or expansion of methane digesters or “production of factory farm gas.”

The groups cited a “ballooning factory farm gas industry,” and warned, among other issues, that digesters can “leak methane and manure and can even explode.”

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March 1, 2023

EPA announces $250 million for states, local communities to fight climate pollution

By Shannon Kelleher

The Biden administration announced Wednesday that is offering $250 million in grants for states, cities, tribes, and territories to further US goals of cutting greenhouse gas emissions, promoting clean energy, and supporting environmental justice.

The grants, which will be administered through the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), mark the first wave of funding for states and local communities from the $5 billion Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) program, a part of the Inflation Reduction Act. Later this year, EPA plans to announce $4.6 billion in competitive grants to implement projects that recipients begin planning now.

“The climate and clean energy investments in [the Inflation Reduction Act] will drive, and in fact are already driving, new economic growth and creating good, high-paying jobs by reinvigorating American manufacturing, strengthening our clean energy supply chains, and building a clean energy future that will benefit all of us,” Kristina Costa, a deputy assistant to the president, said at at a press briefing.

States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico will be eligible to receive as much as $3 million in climate planning grants. The 67 most heavily populated US metropolitan areas will each be eligible for $1 million in grants, while the territories of Guam, American Samoa, US Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands are each eligible for up $500,000 and tribes are eligible for a total of $25 million.

“We know that eligible states, local governments, territories, and tribes are at different starting points in planning to address the challenges and opportunities posed by climate change,” Janet McCabe, EPA deputy administrator, said at the briefing. “This funding can be used to start work on a brand-new plan or to enhance work on an existing plan.”

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February 8, 2023

“A national scandal” – new US climate funding could make water pollution worse

By Keith Schneider

The $369 billion Inflation Reduction Act was applauded by a chorus of US organizations and activists enthusiastic about the generous funding earmarked for projects designed to mitigate harmful climate change and improve environmental health.

But some researchers and activists are raising concerns that several provisions of the new law will actually worsen a growing environmental disaster in the nation’s heartland by increasing the tide of farm-related pollution washing into waterways and groundwater.

The sweeping new statute, which includes more than $140 billion in incentives designed to promote renewable fuels and cleaner electricity generation, aims to slash greenhouse gas emissions 40% below 2005 levels by the end of the decade. But in its efforts to promote climate-friendly agriculture, it also promotes corn-fed ethanol refineries and manure-based energy production that could unintentionally supercharge fertilizer and fecal contamination.

The Great Lakes and Midwest regions face nothing short of a water quality emergency, say those on the frontlines. Farming-related contaminants have already fouled thousands of drinking water wells from Minnesota to Missouri, and virtually every waterway in Iowa is degraded with little regulation to rein in the pollutants.

“It’s already a national emergency and a national scandal,” said Emma Schmit, senior organizer in the Midwest for Food and Water Watch, an environmental advocacy group. “When we test our waterways, the main pollutants are E.coli and nitrates and phosphorus from agriculture. These are pathogens and contaminants that can cause serious issues for people. We’re about to give large corporate farms carte blanche to make it worse.”

February 3, 2023

Floating solar gaining popularity as unconventional US energy source

By Grace van Deelen

For the small, working-class community of Cohoes, New York, climate change and costly energy prices are posing increasing concerns, just as they are for cities and towns across the country.

Now, Cohoes, just 10 miles north of the state’s capital city of Albany, is poised to take an unconventional step toward addressing those concerns by constructing what experts say is the first – or one of the first – municipally-owned and operated floating solar installations in the United States.

The town plans to install a 3.2-megawatt floating array of solar panels on its 10-acre municipal water reservoir; construction is due to start later this year.

“We have almost no buildable land [within Cohoes],” said Theresa Bourgeois, the town’s director of operations. “But we really wanted to figure out how we could do this within the city.” Floating solar became the obvious solution, she said.

Cohoes projects the floating solar installation will generate enough energy to power the entire town of roughly 17,000 people. In all, the project will cost the city about $6 million, and the town is hoping that new provisions in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act will provide some funding.

Adaptation growing
Japan has about 80% of the world’s floating solar capacity, and other countries in Asia and the Middle East have also been quick to adopt floating solar, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

Floating solar is far less common in the US, but adaptation appears to be on the rise. Before 2016, only two projects had been installed, but the number grew to over 20 by the end of 2020, according to NREL. The largest projects are concentrated in California and Florida.

A 2019 study by NREL found that if floating solar were installed on just 27% of suitable man-made water bodies, the resulting energy could make up 10% of the nation’s energy production.