Biden Administration Disburses Over $100 Billion in Clean Energy Grants as Term Winds Down
(Reuters) — U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has awarded over $100 billion in grants created by its signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, a senior administration official said.
The administration hopes the spending milestone will help to continue the deployment of clean energy even after President-elect Donald Trump, a climate change skeptic who has pledged to rescind all unspent IRA funds, takes office.
"When funds are obligated, they are protected," the official told Reuters. "They are subject to the terms of the contract, so when those contracts are signed and executed, this becomes a matter of contract law more than matter of politics."
The official said the administration is on track to exceed its goal of "obligating" over 80% of IRA grant funding by the end of Biden's term next month.
The IRA also offers a decade's worth of tax incentives for clean energy projects, including for wind and solar installations, and ending those subsidies would likely require an act of Congress.
The IRA's grants and subsidies have driven billions of dollars to renewable-energy projects across the country, with Republican-led states getting the bulk of the benefits.
In August, 18 Republican House members wrote to House Speaker Mike Johnson asking him not to gut the law's incentives because it would jeopardize major investments.
Some of Trump's close allies have also benefited from the IRA, particularly its provisions boosting carbon capture and sequestration, as well as clean hydrogen.
Among the recent awards that pushed the grant funding over the $100 billion milestone are a $119 million contract issued by the General Services Administration to electrify five federal buildings in the D.C. region; $147 million to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for science and data collection to account for the effects of climate change on fisheries; and an additional $256 million in Rural Energy for America Program grants and loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Related News
Related News
- Enbridge Plans 86-Mile Pipeline Expansion, Bringing 850 Workers to Northern B.C.
- Intensity, Rainbow Energy to Build 344-Mile Gas Pipeline Across North Dakota
- U.S. Moves to Block Enterprise Products’ Exports to China Over Security Risk
- Strike Pioneers First-of-Its-Kind Pipe-in-Pipe Installation on Gulf Coast with Enbridge
- 208-Mile Mississippi-to-Alabama Gas Pipeline Moves Into FERC Review
- U.S. Pipeline Expansion to Add 99 Bcf/d, Mostly for LNG Export, Report Finds
- A Systematic Approach To Ensuring Pipeline Integrity
- 275-Mile Texas-to-Oklahoma Gas Pipeline Enters Open Season
- LNG Canada Start-Up Fails to Lift Gas Prices Amid Supply Glut
- Strike Pioneers First-of-Its-Kind Pipe-in-Pipe Installation on Gulf Coast with Enbridge
Comments