Tom Brenner | Reuters Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., and Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.V., on Wednesday unveiled a long-awaited reconciliation package that would invest hundreds of billions of dollars to fight climate change and promote clean energy programs . The 725-page bill, called the “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022,” provides $369 billion for climate and clean energy provisions, the most aggressive climate investment ever made by Congress. The climate bill’s provisions (summarized here) would cut the nation’s carbon emissions by about 40 percent by 2030, according to a summary of the deal. The abrupt announcement of the deal came less than two weeks after Manchin, a key centrist who holds a 50-50 swing vote in the Senate, said he would not support any climate provision until he had a better understanding of inflation data in July. . If passed and signed into law, the law would include funding for the following: Clean energy manufacturing, including a $10 billion manufacturing investment tax credit for things like electric vehicles, wind turbines and solar panels, and $30 billion in additional manufacturing tax credits to speed up domestic manufacturing of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and critical mineral processing . It will also include up to $20 billion in loans to build new clean vehicle manufacturing facilities across the U.S. and $2 billion to renovate existing auto plants to make clean vehicles. Reducing emissions, including $20 billion for agriculture and $3 billion to reduce air pollution in ports. It also includes unspecified funding for a program to reduce methane emissions, which are often produced as a byproduct of oil and natural gas production and are more than 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide at warming the atmosphere. In addition, the law provides $9 billion to the federal government to buy clean American-made technologies, including $3 billion to buy zero-emission vehicles from the US Postal Service. Research and development, including a $27 billion Clean Energy Technology Accelerator to support the development of emissions-reducing technologies and $2 billion for cutting-edge energy research in government laboratories. Conserve and support natural resources, including $5 billion in grants to support healthy forests, forest conservation, and urban tree planting and $2.6 billion in grants to conserve and restore coastal habitats. Support for states, including about $30 billion in grant and loan programs for states and utilities to advance the clean energy transition. More than $60 billion in environmental justice initiatives to address the disparate impact of pollution on low-income communities and communities of color. For individuals, a $7,500 tax credit for the purchase of new electric vehicles and a $4,000 credit for the purchase of a new one. Both credits will only be available to low- and moderate-income consumers. “I support a plan that will advance a pragmatic energy and climate policy that lowers prices today and strategically invests in the long game,” Manchin said in a statement Wednesday. “This legislation ensures that the market will take the lead, rather than ambitious political agendas or unrealistic goals, in our nation’s ongoing energy transition.” The Senate is set to vote on the proposed legislation next week, after which it will go to the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives. President Joe Biden said Wednesday that tax credits and investments for energy projects in the deal would create thousands of new jobs and help lower energy costs, and he urged the Senate to move the legislation forward as soon as possible. The president has pledged to cut US greenhouse gas emissions by 50% to 52% from 2005 levels by 2030 and reach net zero emissions by mid-century. Without a reconciliation bill, the country is on track to miss that goal, according to a recent analysis by independent research firm Rhodium Group. “This is the action the American people have been waiting for,” the president said in a statement Wednesday. “This addresses the problems of today – high health care costs and overall inflation – as well as investing in our energy security for the future.”
