The Inflation Reduction Act: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 (HR 5376) passed by Congress and set to be signed by President Biden this week marks the largest investment in climate change solutions in U.S. history—providing $369 billion for climate change and energy security solutions over the next 10 years.
 
Great Old Broads for Wilderness supports this legislation, and we are glad to see Congress come together for some positive action on climate change and the environment. We appreciate Congress's commitment to fighting the climate crisis, and applaud the White House's demands for even tighter legislation to continue to fight for the highest-level protections against carbon emissions to protect our air, water, lands, and communities at risk.
 
This bill has a great number of items to be excited about—including funding to protect old-growth forests, for increased staffing and conservation and resource protection on National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management lands, and to collect data on the impacts of environmental pollution and climate change.

However, our support comes with serious reservations!
 
Unfortunately, the legislation comes up short on a number of other issues, especially as they relate to our public lands, waters, and front-line communities. This includes:
 
  • Reinstating oil and gas lease sales on millions of acres in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska.

  • A provision that ties the issuing of lease sales for both onshore and offshore wind and solar energy development to the continued issuance of lease sales for oil and gas development. This will hamstring the ability of the administration to decide whether to offer new lease sales, as any new renewable energy leases would also require the issuance of oil and gas leases. It would also perpetuate fossil fuel energy production impacts on Gulf of Mexico and Alaska coastal communities almost indefinitely.

  • Increasing fossil fuel infrastructure construction—including the 300-mile Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline, which will threaten water supplies and could wreak ecological disaster across West Virginia and Virginia.

  • Forcing front-line communities (who are the most vulnerable to the impacts of pollution and climate change) to compete for mitigation-related grants and other funding. But it gives direct funding to corporations for increased fossil fuel extraction infrastructure—increasing the pollution problems for those front-line communities!

There isn’t much that can be done to change these aspects of the IRA at this point, but there is some potential legislation coming up related to the IRA that we can get involved in!
 
As part of the deal to get IRA approval in the Senate—the White House and Congressional Democratic leadership have agreed to push for additional legislation this fall to “streamline” the permitting process for resource extraction activities on public land. This will especially impact the environmental impact study (EIS) process, as required by the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA).

This proposed degradation of NEPA will:

  • Sharply limit the time allowed for completion of vital EIS reports.

  • Constrain the application of laws like the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act to future energy development projects.

  • Set a statute of limitations on court challenges for energy projects, severely impacting the ability to fight back against projects that often affect vulnerable front-line communities the most.
 
Any climate change legislation that allows the further extraction of fossil fuels from public lands and waters is, at best, flawed. And any legislation that weakens NEPA—our nation’s bedrock environmental law—or side-steps other important environmental laws or limits public input is unacceptable!
 
TAKE ACTION!
 
This legislation provides for some great opportunities to help our public lands fight the onslaught of climate change—but, if we’re not increasingly vigilant, it also gives fossil fuel extractors new opportunities to further damage our environment!
 
Keep a keen eye for opportunities to engage in climate change advocacy at the local and national level, and stay updated on the latest climate action mandates stemming from this new legislation. And tell your U.S. Representative and Senators to say “No!” to any legislation that weakens our existing environmental laws!