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A US Senate analysis of a bipartisan infrastructure legislation
and an upcoming filibuster-free budget resolution concludes the two
bills could bring the US closer to its goal of halving GHG emissions by 2030,
and a decarbonized power sector by 2035.
"In our analysis of the combined impact of both the
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Budget Resolution's
instructions, we are on track to reduce US emissions to
approximately 45 percent beneath 2005 levels by 2030," US Senate
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote in a 25 August letter to his
colleagues in the chamber.
Schumer's letter was sent a day after the US House of
Representatives on 24 August passed a $3.5-trillion budget
blueprint in spending over the next 10 years on a 220-212 vote,
which was strictly along party lines. The Senate on 10 August had
passed the bipartisan infrastructure bill
that contained $500 billion in new funds for clean energy projects
such as building a network of electric vehicle charging stations
and modernizing the nation's electricity grid to handle the influx
of renewables.
In that letter, Schumer singled out two programs—the clean
electricity payment program, which would require a stipulated
amount of retail electricity sales to come from clean sources; and
the US Senate Finance Committee's clean energy and tax
incentives—as contributing 41.9% of the estimated
reductions.
An additional 15.7% reductions in GHGs would be realized from
clean vehicle incentives, and 9.1% more from imposing fees on oil
and gas producers who vent, flare, and leak methane, according to
the Senate analysis.
Calling it "the most significant investment in tackling the
climate crisis in US history," Schumer said there is no time to
waste as the latest United Nations Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change report provides evidence for taking
immediate action.
Source: US Senate Majority Leader.
Record high-values of GHGs
Notwithstanding the interference in economic activity brought by
the COVID-19 pandemic, a State of the Climate
Report—released 26 August and compiled by the US National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for
Environmental Information—said major greenhouse gas
concentrations, including CO2, methane (CH4),
and nitrous oxide, rose to "new record high values" during
2020.
"At the same moment that historic drought and wildfire threaten
the West and powerful floods and hurricanes impact large swaths of
our country, we are on the precipice of the most significant
climate action in our country's history. I do not believe we have
the luxury of failure if we are to provide a good future for
ourselves and our children," Schumer wrote.
Source: NOAA
Another report, released on 25 August
by UK-based climate group Ember, said that global GHG emissions
from the power industry increased by 12% in the first half of 2021
from the same period in 2020, owing to countries that are eager to
rejuvenate their faltering economies. But this leaves emissions in
the first six months of 2021 at 5% above the levels of the
comparable time in 2019, a trend going in the wrong direction.
'Moment is here'
Prior to the vote on the House budget resolution, US
Representative Frank Pallone, Democrat-New Jersey who chairs the US
House Energy and Commerce Committee, said Biden's Build Back Better
Agenda will allow the US to create millions of new, homegrown jobs
and combat the climate crisis by aggressively investing in clean
energy and clean technology. "And the moment is here to invest in a
more advanced and resilient economy and towards a 100 percent clean
economy," he added.
During her 25 August press conference, House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi, Democrat-California, said the resolution is "addressing the
climate crisis in a way that was not addressed at all in the
infrastructure bill" that the US Senate passed in July.
Pelosi reached a deal with a handful of Democratic moderates
under which she promised to consider Senate-passed bipartisan
infrastructure legislation by 27 September.
Much like its Senate counterpart, the House budget resolution
paves the way for a reconciliation measure, which the Senate and
House expect to approve in coming weeks without requiring President
Joe Biden's signature.
Clean energy incentives
Such a measure provides a fast-track process to for the House
and Senate to reconcile additional tax and spending bills they plan
to take up this fall to advance Biden's Build Back Better agenda to
tackle climate crisis and update the nation's infrastructure among
other social programs in the upcoming fiscal year, which begins 1
October. The measure contains specific changes in spending,
revenues, deficits, and debt limits.
The budget resolution contains a
set of instructions to committee chairs to consider clean energy
and environmental initiatives that Democrats in Congress expect to
pay for through tax increases, including a carbon polluter import
fee similar to what the EU intends to impose.
Aside from authorizing a clean electricity payment program and a
series of clean energy, manufacturing, and transportation tax
incentives and grants, the resolution contains the following top
climate and clean energy items:
provides clean energy, manufacturing, and transportation tax
incentives and grants;
imposes new polluter fees (methane and carbon imports;
invests in climate smart agriculture and forest management
investments for farmers and rural communities;
creates coastal and ocean resiliency programs;
makes drought, wildfire, and Interior Department
investments;
provides new consumer rebates for home electrification and
weatherization;
provides environmental justice and climate resilience;
electrifies the federal vehicle fleet and buildings;
invests in research and development and strengthens US
manufacturing supply chains; and
creates largest one-time investment in Native American
infrastructure projects.
One twist that drew criticism related to rural electric
cooperatives, which sold 466 billion kWh, or 12% of the US
electricity delivered to 42 million consumers in 2019. As the
legislation is now written, rural co-ops cannot take advantage of
tax incentives that members of Congress are considering because of
their tax-exempt status as nonprofits.
In a 23 August letter, Jim Matheson,
CEO of the National Electric Rural Cooperative Association (NRECA),
urged US Congress to amend the tax code so they can receive direct
tax payments for developing wind, solar, energy storage, carbon
capture and storage, as well as nuclear energy. Matheson also
called for a voluntary incentives program, of up to $30 billion, to
enable NRECA members to shift towards low-carbon solutions based on
their needs. He said a clean energy standard, in contrast, would
jeopardize the ability of co-ops to provide reliable and affordable
electricity and place "a disproportionate burden" on the people who
rely on them.
The American Clean Power Association (ACP), which backs a
federal clean energy standard that puts the country on the path to
meeting a national clean energy target, noted that a record-setting
9.9 GW of new clean energy projects that are enough to power 2.5
million homes were installed in the first six months of 2021.
IHS Markit estimates about 30 GW of renewable installations will
be completed in 2021, which analysts say is in line with what the
ACP is seeing.
Posted 26 August 2021 by Amena Saiyid, Senior Climate and Energy Research Analyst
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