A coalition of seventeen attorneys general led by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell sent a letter urge congressional leaders to safeguard the investments that the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has supported across the country. The AGs emphasize the benefits of the IRA to states across the political spectrum in improving domestic energy security, lowering energy costs, supporting manufacturing, modernizing infrastructure, creating good-paying jobs, and reducing the pollution. According to A., the IRA has had a “catalytic impact”. Rhodium Group Report tDescribed here are the significant private investments in clean technologies encouraged by the IRA.
The AGs highlight examples of communities experiencing these benefits. For example, a new battery factory near Atlanta, Georgia, will create 3,500 jobs, and a new battery factory near Charleston, South Carolina, will create 1,500 jobs. In Pueblo, Colorado, the world’s largest wind turbine tower factory is expected to employ more than 1,000 people by 2026. The city of Pueblo had only created 5,000 jobs since 2008. The AGs urged Congress to protect incentives that help support projects in clean energy production and the associated energy security, reliability, and affordability.
The AGs also called for the protection of grant and loan programs under the IRA and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which help towns and cities across the country boost their economies and repair critical infrastructure. For example, Native communities in Alaska use grants to build solar panels and battery storage systems that can be locally owned and return revenue to the communities; these remote communities otherwise rely on self-contained diesel generators for their power supply. Communities in Mississippi and Georgia received funding to build community resilience hubs. Supported by microgrids, the hubs will provide emergency services such as supplies, reliable drinking water, charging stations and refrigeration for medicines. A solar-powered resiliency center in Texas will serve as a cooling center during heat waves and power outages, and the project also includes planting more than a thousand trees to provide shade for residents and reduce the heat island effect.
The AGs emphasize that most of the benefits of the IRA have yet to materialize as businesses, organizations, and state and local governments await grants. Likewise, companies are already spending money on the IRA’s objectives while they wait for the loans promised to them to close.
“The promise of the Inflation Reduction Act is extraordinary. It supports a just transition to a clean energy economy while encouraging historic reinvestments in the jobs and infrastructure our communities depend on,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell. “I am proud to lead this coalition to urge Congress to recognize the significance of this law for all our communities.”
The attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin joined AG Campbell in sending of today’s letter.
News release from the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center
