How to distribute billions in climate subsidies? Very carefully

WASHINGTON – John Podesta, Advisor to the President Joe Biden on clean energy, he said the Administration is working to ensure that record numbers of 370,000 million dollars in new federal grants for electric vehicles, wind farms, batteries and other clean energy technologies are spent appropriately and avoid waste and abuse.

Podesta said the White House would release tax code guidance early next year to expedite the delivery of the money and would meet with inspectors general across the federal government to get Advice on the methods of safeguarding against fraud.

“It’s always better to have a padlock on the stable door than to chase the horse after it’s out,” he said in an interview.

The head of internal oversight at the Department of Energy, one of several agencies receiving an influx of money under the Inflation Reduction Act, has already warned that his office has not Sufficient resources properly supervise all programs to be created.

Under the new law, the Department of Energy budget will increase from $45.3 billion to more than $100 billion in funding and $336 billion in lending authority.

Another new law, the CHIPS and Science Act, will inject another $30.5 billion into the department.

Republicans, who will take control of the House of Representatives in January, have suggested investigating the handling of the Biden administration deluge of tax refundsfinancing and incentives in historical climate and taxation.

The Podesta, who is responsible for overseeing the disbursement of the money, said the complex rules expected from the Agenzia delle Entrate and other agencies would clarify who You can opt for the different incentives and how the money will be distributed.

Federal money will be instrumental in freeing up trillions of dollars in private-sector energy investments, he said.

“I’ve spent a lot of time listening to people who are eager to invest in the United States as a result of this legislation and who are preparing business plans assuming those tax credits will be certain,” Podesta said.

He said the agencies are “on the right track” and will start issuing official guidelines “late this year and early next year.”

On Thursday, the White House released guidance intended to help businesses and consumers, as well as state, local and tribal governments, navigate the new law.

Podesta said his goal was to create a roadmap that would especially help communities disproportionately facing pollution and climate risks make the most of tax incentives.

The guide breaks down the approximately two dozen tax provisions by agency and area of ​​investment, such as electricity, domestic production, energy development on tribal lands and the use of clean vehicles.

“Our challenge is to ensure these programs stay on track, especially given that two-thirds of clean energy aid comes from tax code” Said Podesta.

As the White House works to make the new law a reality, the stakes are high.

Biden has fiance reduce US greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent from 2005 levels by the end of this decade, a goal aimed at keeping rising global temperatures on a trajectory that is likely to avoid the catastrophic consequences of climate change.

Achieving that goal depends on how quickly the new law helps the US economy shift from coal, oil and gas to wind, solar and other cleaner sources of energy.

It will also require new federal regulations to further reduce emissions from power plants and vehicles, which Podesta said will be released “very soon.”

The administration is under pressure to act quickly.

He has only two years left to prove his theory that a low-carbon America can also create jobs and generate profits.

“John’s biggest challenge is to show working-class voters, increasingly Republican, that clean energy can bring them economic and consumption benefits, not just reduce emissions,” said Paul Bledsoe, former climate adviser of the Clinton administration, who now works at the Institute for Progressive Politics, a think tank.

“Many of these technologies are still seen as elitist,” added Bledsoe, who said the Biden administration needs to “reach the average American where they live and work,” such as by making sure departments have charging stations for their phones. electric vehicles or that rural areas create new jobs in the production of solar energy.

The battles are already brewing.

This week, Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va., warned Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen against a “broad interpretation” of the electric vehicle tax break.

Manchin said this could benefit foreign automakers. The law includes a provision introduced by Manchin that requires EVs to be assembled in North America and use batteries made with minerals from partner nations to qualify for the $7,500 consumer credit.

Another tension revolves around how quickly energy projects can be built.

Podesta called the current pace of permitting and building solar and wind farms and the necessary transmission lines a “huge challenge” and “one of the things that they make me lose sleep a little“.

But plans to speed up the licensing process are mired in politics.

The Senate is expected to vote Thursday on Manchin’s proposal to review environmental permits.

But while Biden and Democratic leaders support the plan, progressive Democrats argue it will lead to further development of fossil fuels and oppose it.

Republicans are generally in favor of permit reform, but some withhold their support to deprive Manchin of a legislative victory.

Heather Reams, chair of the Citizens’ Forum for Responsible Energy Solutions, a clean energy group that works closely with Republican lawmakers, said the new law has the potential to benefit and win over American conservatives, but that the stalemate on issues like permit reform hurt them.

“A lot of the money that goes out the door will benefit red states,” Reams said.

Meanwhile, Republicans, none of whom voted for the new climate bill, seem determined to do so slow down your app.

Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rogers, a Washington Republican who will likely chair the House Energy and Commerce Committee in January, said she plans to look into the billions of new dollars coming out of the Energy Department’s lending office.

About a decade ago, that office, under the Obama administration, awarded $500 million to Solyndra, a solar company that filed for bankruptcy two years after receiving the loan.

Rogers called the new climate law “Solyndra on steroids”.

“They’re going to try to find the one loan that, for whatever reason, goes bad, and my guess is there’s going to be a big hunt for that by the House,” Podesta said.

But he dismissed the threat of hearings as an attempt by Republicans to “repeat the latest play” and “hinder work,” a move he insisted would backfire.

“We have the law on our side, we have the investment portfolio on our side and we will go ahead and implement the program,” he said.

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