WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is spending billions of dollars on clean energy and approving major offshore wind projects as officials rush to secure major climate initiatives before President Joe Biden’s term ends.
Biden wants to establish a legacy for climate action, including setting a path for reducing the country’s planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. Former President Donald Trump has promised to reverse the unspent funds Biden’s historic climate and health care law And stop the development of offshore wind energy when he returns to the White House in January.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who became the Democratic nominee after Biden dropped out of the race this summer, has said she will pursue a climate agenda similar to Biden’s. focused on reducing emissions, deploying renewable energy sources and creating clean energy jobs.
Major environmental grant announcements and project approvals have accelerated in recent months, as White House Deputy Chief of Staff Natalie Quillian said Biden is “sprinting to the finish line” and making good on promises to promote clean energy and slow climate change:
Created the Environmental Protection Agency $20 billion from a federal ‘green bank’ available this summer for clean energy projects such as residential heat pumps, electric vehicle charging stations and community cooling centers.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management approved the nation’s 10th major offshore wind farm, the Maryland Offshore Wind Project, in September, marking the halfway mark. Biden’s goal of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030. On October 1 the agency gave a major approval for an offshore wind farm project in New Jersey.
In the past month alone, the Energy Department has made six announcements of $1 billion or more, including more than $3 billion for battery manufacturing projects and a $1.5 billion loan restarts a nuclear power plant in Michigan. And just last week, Biden set a 10-year deadline for cities to replace their lead pipes, with $2.6 billion available from the EPA to help communities comply.
In addition to the climate bill, formally known as the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden is seeking to spend billions on projects approved under the bipartisan infrastructure bill in 2021 and 2022 CHIPS and Science Act. The $1 trillion infrastructure bill includes money for roads, bridges, ports and more, while the CHIPS Act aims to revive the United States’ computer chip sector through tens of billions of dollars in government aid.
Energy experts say the flurry of announcements is not surprising.
“I am confident that the prospect of a change in the White House and a change in agency leadership creates a greater sense of urgency to establish and implement these programs,” said Trevor Houser, a partner at the Rhodium Group. research agency.
There is undeniable pressure to capture as many benefits of the energy transition as possible before the end of the year, says Matt Lockwood, vice president of strategic market areas and accounts at DNV, which advises companies on energy issues. It’s been two years since the climate legislation was passed, so federal agencies are starting to complete these transactions at a faster pace, he said.
The climate legislation set the country on a path to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to try to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement. The investments are expected to reduce U.S. emissions by about 40% by 2030.
A new analysis from global advisor Baringa found that Trump would slow the transition away from fossil fuels, although the extent would depend on whether the House or Senate is controlled by Democrats who could dampen climate rollbacks. If Trump doesn’t hold back, he could permanently change the trajectory of the energy transition by repealing climate legislation, which would substantially slow the rollout of renewable energy and leave the US tied to coal and gas for much longer, Caspian Conran said , an economist at Baringa and co-author of the report. analysis published Wednesday.
As vice president, Harris cast the deciding vote on the Inflation Reduction Actthat was passed with only Democratic support. As a senator from California, she was one of the first sponsors of the Green New Dealsweeping proposals intended to quickly transition the United States completely to green energy.
However, during a presidential debate last month, Harris said boasted that the government has overseen “the largest increase in domestic oil production in history because of an approach that recognizes that we cannot rely too much on foreign oil.”
Trump’s policies, meanwhile, could increase emissions by about 12% by 2030 compared to policies favored by Harris or Biden, Baringa’s report said, equivalent to about 660 million tons of carbon dioxide.
“This is, to some extent, a race against time,” Conran said in an interview. “So even if you say we’ll delay the transition (to clean energy) by five years, that may not seem like much. But actually that goes quite deep.”
The US is the second largest emitter of planet-warming carbon dioxide. Baringa says Trump’s first-term policies caused emissions to rise 9%, while Biden’s policies cut emissions by 11%.
Companies have announced about 340 major clean energy projects across the country in the past two years, according to E2, a nonpartisan environmental research group. Sixty percent of those, representing 82% of investments and 69% of jobs, are in Republican congressional districts, despite unanimous Republican Party opposition to the law, according to E2.
Eighteen Republicans in the House of Representatives, including some running for re-election, told the House Speaker in August that they want to protect the energy tax credits in Biden’s climate legislation, which create jobs. “Energy tax credits have spurred innovation, spurred investment, and created good jobs in many parts of the country – including many districts represented by members of our conference,” the lawmakers wrote.
To succeed in the clean energy transition, the U.S. must commit to it throughout election cycles, from one administration to the next, and through sessions of Congress, said Conrad Schneider, senior director at the Clean Air Task Force , an interest group.
“We’re trying to highlight the fact that (clean energy) is really beneficial to communities across the country, regardless of political geography,” he said. “And so we hope that means that these programs can be sustained through any combination of election outcomes.”
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McDermott reported from Providence, RI
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