By Karen Stokes
Brenda Mallory, Chair of White House Council of Environmental Quality (Whitehouse.gov)
The President hailed the Inflation Reduction Act as he signed it on Tuesday as the “final piece” of his domestic agenda.
It is projected to lower US emissions by up to 44% by 2030, compared with the current US trajectory, which would lower emissions by up to 35%, according to an analysis by the Rhodium Group, a consultancy.
“This bill is the biggest step forward on climate ever — ever — and is going to allow us to boldly take additional steps toward meeting my climate goals,” Biden said.
There are a number of things the Inflation Reduction Act will do to address climate change. Brenda Mallory, Chair of White House Council of Environmental Quality highlighted some of the long historic environmental problems that low income communities have experienced.
There’s a significant amount of funding that is focused on providing monitoring capabilities for fence line communities and disadvantaged communities. This information can be used to improve the quality of air in those locations.
President Joe Biden
There’s money specifically for reducing air pollution at ports. Ports are an area that generally low income and communities of color often are raising concerns about the dirty and toxic air around their environments.
A big issue in the air front, there’s money to electrify heavy duty vehicles that includes not only buses but garbage trucks and other large vehicles that have historically traveled through low income communities in ways that have been raised as concern.
“There’s an effort for administration cabinet members and senior leaders to be going out on the road to make sure people know what’s actually in the bill and what is in a number of other bills the President has successfully achieved,” Mallory said.
“The White House says other events will showcase how Biden worked to get a string of bipartisan measures passed, including gun safety legislation and a bill to boost domestic production of semiconductor chips in order to stay competitive with China.