IRA Implementation: The State of Play
It’s hard to get a handle on IRA implementation, but some agencies are off to an excellent start.
The Inflation Reduction Act is Biden’s signature climate program. You’d think it will be easy to get an evaluation of the federal government’s funding efforts in its first 12 months. It’s not. This looks as if an unforced error to me. In political terms, this looks as if a lost opportunity to showcase the federal government’s achievements; it’s also a disservice to those within the policy community who’re tracking implementation.
We’ve seen a variety of stories in regards to the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act in its first 12 months, but it surely’s difficult to get a handle on the status of presidency implementation of this system. The White House has a guidebook that lists 118 programs with links to more information, but I haven’t found a useful synthesis of what number of programs have actually been stood up and the sum of money involved. You’ll think that every department would have its own report that pulls all of this information together, but I used to be in a position to find only a pair.
EPA
In November 2022, EPA was the primary federal agency to award Inflation Reduction Act dollars with $30 million to expand community air monitoring in 37 states, followed by an extra $25 million in clean air grants to enhance air quality across the country.
Listed below are some major actions by EPA:
- Opening three grant competitions under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund including the $7 billion Solar for All competition, the $14 billion National Clean Investment Fund, and the $6 billion Clean Communities Investment Accelerator.
- Making $250 million dollars availablefor the event of climate motion plans, and nearly all states, plus major cities in all 50 states, have opted in to receive these flexible planning resources, to be followed by a $4.6 billion grant competition to fund initiatives developed under the primary phase of this system.
- Launching competitions for 3 recent and expanded environmental justice grant programs totaling $650 million, including a $550 million Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program, a $70 million Government-to-Government Program, and a $30 million Collaborative Problem-Solving Program.
- Announcing $400 million in grant funding available for varsity districts to buy electric or low-emission school buses.
- Nearing the opening of a $14 billion National Clean Investment Fund competition that may fund 2–3 national nonprofits that may function green banks. (Opening Oct. 12), and of the $6 billion Clean Communities Investment Accelerator competition to fund 2–7 hub nonprofits to construct networks of public, quasi-public, and non-profit community lenders (Oct. 12)
Department of Agriculture
One other a part of the federal government that has actually done an excellent job on reporting is, surprisingly, the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That’s a surprise because USDA isn’t exactly a central player within the climate space. Nevertheless, it’s impressive what USDA has done. If this is a sign of how quickly other parts of the federal government have moved, that’s pretty encouraging.
Here’s some information drawn from the USDA webpage about their Yr 1 actions:
- Made $850 million availablefor the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) and the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP).
That’s about $14 billion in a single 12 months, which seems pretty significant.
I didn’t find any comparable compendium from the Department of Energy. The Treasury Department has an inventory if actions it has taken to supply guidance on tax credits, but it surely’s very difficult to evaluate how importance those are, or what number of other efforts remain within the pipeline.
The timing of IRA implementation is significant for 3 reasons. First, given the urgency of the climate crisis, speed is of the essence. Second, once programs are literally handing out money, they change into much harder to kill. And third, from the Administrartion’s viewpoint, spending is
