EPA Administrator: Pulling Back Biden-Harris Infrastructure and Climate Investments Would Mean Backlash in American Communities

As EPA Administrator, I have had the privilege of traveling across our great nation. I’ve traveled to big cities, small country towns, and everything in between. We visited solar-powered community centers in Las Vegas and Atlanta; a school district in Alma, Kansas, with new electric school buses; restored natural areas outside Wilmington, North Carolina; and sustainable, modernized factories in Pittsburgh. If you’re wondering what these projects have in common, they were made possible by President Joe Biden’s investments in America.

I think of my trips to Lowndes County, Alabama, whose aging water infrastructure, stressed by climate impacts, regularly spilled sewage onto front lawns. After decades of neglect, the community finally received federal resources from the Biden-Harris Administration to address the community’s wastewater challenges.

At Climate Week in New York City, I bring these stories with me. Stories that illustrate the real-world impact of President Biden and Vice President Harris’ ambitious agenda to reduce climate pollution and bring environmental justice communities to the table.

Together, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and the Inflation Relief Act are the largest climate investment in American history.

In every corner of this country, Americans are reaping the rewards. In red and blue states alike, federally funded infrastructure and clean energy projects are coming online. Already, we have created 334,000 new clean energy jobs. In 2023, clean energy jobs grew at more than double the rate of employment growth in the overall economy.

These projects will not only train the next generation of tradesmen into good-paying union jobs, but will also help keep the lights on during emergencies, strengthen America’s energy independence, and ensure we win the economic race for the 21st century , on China and anyone else.

This administration’s climate and infrastructure laws have put America on a path to transform every economic sector that produces carbon pollution: electricity, transportation, buildings, industry, agriculture, and forestry.

These laws are incredibly popular, and any attempt to roll them back could disrupt the lives of millions of hard-working Americans across our country.

I am proud that the EPA has awarded more than $55 billion in funding through the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, and my agency is on track to award more than $65 billion in historic investments by the end of the calendar year.

This includes implementing our $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which will support tens of thousands of clean energy projects. and avoid up to 40 million metric tons of carbon pollution annually over the next seven years. This program will save, for example, more than 350 million dollars every year on the energy bills of 900,000 low-income and disadvantaged households through rooftop solar.

However, many Republicans in Congress have continuously called for the cancellation of these funds. Do we really want to take over $65 billion in investment from the American people? Do we want to remove the benefits of cleaner air and water, new jobs and growing economies that these investments are already bringing to people? In fact, our programs are so successful with voters that some Republicans are rallying to defend this administration’s climate and infrastructure laws.

In August, 18 House Republicans called on Speaker Mike Johnson to protect the popular Inflation Reduction Act’s energy tax credits. Why? Because their districts are seeing tangible benefits from investing in clean energy production. US Chamber of Commerce and American Petroleum Institute they were also on the hook for protecting large portions of the Inflation Relief Act, demonstrating widespread, bipartisan support.

These investments are implemented to drive innovation and make people healthier. Earlier this year, we issued our final national pollution standards for cars, light trucks, and medium-duty vehicles, avoiding more than 7 billion tons of carbon emissions and saving the average American driver about $6,000 in reduced fuel and maintenance over the next lifetime their vehicle.

Here’s the bottom line: All Americans have the right to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live healthy lives. Thanks to the bipartisan Infrastructure and Inflation Relief Act, more communities finally have a fighting chance.

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