Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters Environmental groups reacted with surprise when US Senate Democrats reached agreement on sweeping climate change and clean energy legislation, a bill that could help cut the nation’s carbon emissions by 40 percent by the end of the decade. After lengthy negotiations, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., and Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va., on Wednesday announced a long-awaited reconciliation package that would provide $369 billion in funding to curb emissions, producing clean energy products and promoting environmental justice initiatives, among others. Early versions of the bill included $555 billion in tax breaks for clean energy that would reduce carbon emissions. But clean energy advocates and climate groups praised the new deal for including clean energy tax credits that could create thousands of new jobs and boost domestic renewable energy. “The entire clean energy industry just breathed a huge sigh of relief,” said Heather Zichal, head of American Clean Power, a group of renewable energy companies. “This is an 11th-hour reprieve for climate action and clean energy jobs, and America’s biggest legislative moment for climate and energy policy.” Climate activists pointed to a number of wins in the legislation, including $60 billion for environmental justice programs, $20 billion for climate-friendly agricultural practices and billions to boost domestic production in batteries, solar power and electric vehicles. Climate protesters march on the White House on October 12, 2021 in Washington, DC. Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images Supporters of the legislation also noted that the bill would go a long way toward President Joe Biden’s pledge to achieve a net-zero emissions economy by 2050. “To borrow President Biden’s line, this is a big deal,” Sierra Club President Ramon Cruz said in a statement. “This legislation will save money for families across the country, ensure that each of us is able to live and work in a healthy community, and create good, sustainable jobs.” Manish Bapna, president and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council, called the deal the “ultimate return of clean energy — the strongest climate action yet at a time when we need it most.” However, he reserved some criticism. “This is not the bill we would have written. It is time to break, not deepen, our dependence on fossil fuels and all the harm and dangers they bring,” Bapna said in a statement. “But this is a package we cannot afford to turn down.”
Critical to new leases for oil and gas
But some groups more strongly condemned the support for fossil fuel projects in the deal, specifically provisions that would mandate new oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska. Manchin, who hails from coal-rich West Virginia, has argued that drilling in those areas is essential to the country’s energy independence. “We need to start investing in renewable energy without incentivizing new mining under 150-year-old mining laws that fail to protect people and the environment from harm,” said Lauren Pagel, director of policy at Earthworks. “We need to reduce climate pollution by stopping fossil fuel generation instead of cutting licensing deals for dirtier energy infrastructure.” Activists have argued that avoiding the worst impacts of climate change will require halting all new oil and gas drilling on US soil and waters and phasing out existing operations. Drilling on public lands accounts for about a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions. “This is a climate suicide pact,” said Brett Hartle, director of government affairs at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It is self-defeating to tie renewable energy development to massive new oil and gas extraction.” “The new financing required in this bill will fan the flames of climate disasters burning our country and is a slap in the face to communities struggling to protect themselves from dirty fossil fuels,” Hartle said. If passed and signed into law, the law would be the largest climate investment ever made by Congress. The Senate will vote on the proposed bill next week, after which it will go to the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives.
