With its July 22 announcement that it is disbursing $4.3 billion in taxpayer-funded grants for an assortment of climate projects around the country, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) secured the loot for grateful recipients before President Joe Biden leaves office in January.
The money will go to 25 projects across 30 states (some will cross state borders) and will target greenhouse gas emissions from “transportation, electric power, commercial and residential buildings, industry, agriculture/natural and working lands, and waste and materials management,” the EPA said in a press release. Funds for the grants were provided from the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants Program anchored in the 2022 misnamed Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden administration’s landmark climate law.
Earlier in the month, the Biden Energy Department announced it was awarding $1.7 billion to 11 factories to help finance the manufacture of electric vehicles and their components.
“President Biden understands that America needs a strong EPA,” agency Administrator Michael Regan told reporters, noting that the administration “has made the largest climate investment in history, providing billions of dollars to state, local, and tribal governments to tackle climate change with the urgency it demands,” The Washington Times reported.
Decarbonization and Its Consequences
Among the projects receiving the federal largesse are statewide decarbonization initiatives in Pennsylvania targeting cement, asphalt, and other materials; $307 million for measures in Nebraska to promote “climate smart” practices ostensibly to reduce emissions from agriculture and waste; and an effort to install EV chargers for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles along a highway on
