President Joe Biden the Inflation Reduction Act into law this week. It鈥檚 a massive piece of legislation with hundreds of billions of dollars aimed at confronting climate change, lowering healthcare costs and reducing the deficit by taxing large corporations.
The largest single aim of the law is to combat climate change through emission reductions, technology improvements and more American-made renewables and batteries. To that end, alone, there鈥檚 about $369 billion in the bill.
That includes some funding to support nuclear and advanced nuclear projects, like those being tested at the Idaho National Laboratory.
Jules Kortenhorst, CEO of the Colorado-based clean energy think tank RMI, said it will 鈥渦sher in a wave of new clean energy growth and investment鈥� as well as bolster energy security.
Others, like influential author and science vlogger Hank Green, who lives in Montana, as possibly the world鈥檚 largest piece of climate change legislation, which gives him some hope amid years of bad news on that front.
Today is officially the day that Joe Biden signs the Inflation Reduction Act and I would like to make the case that it is a bigger deal than anything else that happened today, or this month, and possibly this year.
— Hank Green (@hankgreen)
The IRA also includes continued oil and gas lease opportunities on federal lands alongside renewable energy development, which was controversial. Some feel these fossil fuel provisions are at odds with combating climate change, while others think certain parts of the law hurt oil and gas development unnecessarily.
The American Petroleum Institute was particularly skeptical of the IRA鈥檚 corporate tax increases.
鈥淲hile the Inflation Reduction Act takes important steps toward new oil and gas leasing and investments in carbon capture and storage, it falls well short of addressing America鈥檚 long-term energy needs and further discourages needed investment in oil and gas,鈥� API president and CEO Mike Sommers said in a statement.
Beyond that, some of the law鈥檚 provisions are aimed at helping lower certain prescription drug costs and enabling Medicare to negotiate those drug prices.
While the cost of prescription drugs increased, the Colorado River Basin water levels have decreased. To help with that, the law also includes $4 billion for water management and conservation in the basin and other areas experiencing drought. That鈥檚 building on $8.3 billion in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to fund similar efforts.
The IRA also includes $1.8 billion for fuel treatment 鈥� like prescribed burning 鈥� on Forest Service lands in the .
鈥淭here are a lot of ways that we have to make sure that forests are managed for more effective uptake of carbon, and a lot of times, depending on the forest, that involves controlled burning,鈥� said Tom Cors, who works with The Nature Conservancy, a global environmental non-profit.
Controlled or prescribed fires can help prevent more extreme blazes, which can decimate forested areas instead of rejuvenating them.
There are incentives for agriculture to capture more carbon in the law, too. Cors says The Nature Conservancy worked with lawmakers on some of those provisions.
鈥淐limate smart agriculture provisions in the bill are approximately , and a lot of those look at how to improve nutrient management and soil health and edge of field practices,鈥� he said.
While there is broad support for agriculture to help fight climate change, there is about how much changing agriculture techniques will sequester carbon, what for these techniques, and how much farmers should be paid to do so.
And while many laud the funding, feel they were cut out of the deal and that the president has failed to meet promises made to them.
Finally, tribes and Native communities will receive to bring energy to more homes, bolster energy efficiency in homes and provide drought relief, among other items.
There are many, many other provisions in the bill, and its effects could be felt for decades. To read the bill text, go .
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