Rice University's premier undergraduate journal of scholarship in domestic and international policy.
Evan Jasica
Sep 29, 2022
No Steps Back: Climate Policy Progress and Addressing Historic Oversights
This August, President Joe Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA). The IRA allocates 369 billion dollars in spending to address energy security and climate change by incentivizing power efficiency, electrification and renewable energy (“Inflation Reduction Act of 2022” 2022). However, the IRA also conditions these measures on several benefits for the oil and gas industry.
While policies represent a significant and necessary step toward avoiding climate disaster, meeting the climate crisis requires more than doing the minimum, however. To avoid the worst consequences of climate change, the United States must work to end oil and gas reliance. Additionally, it must ensure these policies do not exacerbate existing inequalities and public health disparities as a result of the petrochemical and energy industry. Accompanying the corporate and consumer incentives of the IRA, legislation is needed to address historic oversights which have led to energy related public health crises and ensure an equitable energy transition. While many states are taking their own steps regarding these goals, the Environmental Justice For All Act (EJ Act) stands as the strongest national bill to address the social and human costs of an energy transition (“An Act”; “HB19-1266”; “Environmental Justice For All Act” 2021).
Oil and Gas Benefits in the IRA
The IRA prohibits the Department of the Interior from leasing public lands and waters for renewable energy development until it has first offered two million acres of public land and 60 million acres of federal waters in oil and gas leases (Oakes 2022). These lease sale conditions do not necessarily mean that this land will be sold and drilled, but they do allow the oil and gas industry security for the coming decade. Additionally, the negotiations which passed the IRA included an agreement for a side bill, the Simplifying Timelines and Assuring Regulatory Transparency (START) Act. Currently in subcommittee, the START Act secured Senator Joe Manchin’s support and would expedite permitting for the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which would transport Appalachian shale gas 300 miles from the senator’s home state of West Virginia to Virginia. The START Act would also remove red tape and restrictions on other traditional energy projects and set hard time limits for federal agencies to perform environmental assessments of energy projects (Stein and Romm 2022; “START Act” 2022).
Several independent studies estimate the IRA could reduce greenhouse gasses between 32-42% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels (Larsen et al. 2022; Mahajan et al. 2022). This vastly accelerates decarbonization in the United States when compared with the 24% business-as-usual estimate (Larsen et al. 2022; Mahajan et al. 2022). The IRAs decarbonizing incentives are a major step towards preventing the worst consequences of climate change. Yet, tied to this progress, the IRA’s lease provisions and the START Act allow the maintenance and potential expansion of oil and gas reliance. If allowed, the result would be a possible backstep in the energy transition. This comes at a time when the scientific community has repeatedly stated that fossil fuel use must be immediately and dramatically cut to meet science-based goals of reducing carbon emissions by 45% by 2030 (Welsby et al. 2021; IPCC 2022).
Communities With The Least Will Suffer The Most
While the IRA provides strong incentives for the energy transition, its lease sale requirements and the START Act stand to harm the communities already suffering the most from traditional energy. Along the Gulf Coast, Cancer Alley stretches from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, and hosts 25% of the nation’s petrochemical production (Simonsen et al. 2010). Within this region, low income and minority communities face a disproportionately higher risk of cancer from air toxics (James, Jia and Kedia 2012). In certain parts of Cancer Alley, cancer risk from air pollution is nearly fifty times the national average (Lartey and Laughland 2019). A similar study of communities in Harris County, Texas also found that the cancer risk from air toxics falls more heavily on socially and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods (Linder, Marko and Sexton 2008). Furthermore, with rising sea levels and more extreme rainfall events, marginalized communities are expected to face more pollutant exposure from flooding (Marlow et al. 2022). These communities are more likely to be built on former industrial sites and therefore are at a greater risk of toxic exposure if severe storms unearth buried pollutants (Marlow, Elliott and Frickel 2022). In addition to the most public health harm of traditional energy, many of these communities rely economically on traditional energy industries. Without equitable policies, they still stand to lose the most from the energy transition.
In the Eastern United States, Appalachian coal mining communities suffer from greater lung cancer mortality as a result of the coal industry (Hendryx, O’Donnell, and Horn 2008). Despite the negative health effects, local economies depend heavily on this industry. WIthin the last decade, rapidly declining coal demand and production has led to high unemployment and lower economic production in these communities (Bowen et al. 2021). As the US transitions its energy supply, some oil and gas communities will face a similar situation. Addressing a climate crisis requires more than gambling on experimental technologies. It requires investment into the communities which have suffered and stand to suffer the most from climate hazards and a shifting energy sector. The Environmental Justice For All Act is poised to accomplish this.
The Environmental Justice For All Act and an Equitable Energy Transition
The EJ Act focuses on several key gaps to the IRA’s climate spending, addresses historical policy oversights, and environmental injustices.
Section fourteen of the EJ Act requires federal agencies to create community and environmental impact statements. It also requires that this information be shared so that early and accessible public involvement can occur. It also requires that assessments include the cumulative impacts on a community regarding the Clean Air Act (CAA) and Clean Water Act (CWA). Many fenceline communities suffer from the cumulative health hazards of CAA and CWA violations in addition to the regular “allowed” pollution of nearby industry. Evaluating water and air impacts separately has allowed substantially higher public health risks to persist in disadvantaged communities (Lam and Imperiale 2022). Addressing these coinciding hazards could greatly reduce the toxic exposure and public health risks these communities face. Additionally, The EJ Act strengthens civil rights regarding environmental discrimination and provides communities stronger ground for seeking relief when violations do occur.
In order to assist the most vulnerable people of the energy transition, the bill provides funding targeted towards fossil-fuel dependent communities. These programs include funding for workforce training and promoting small businesses to diversify regional economies.
Low-income and minority communities are disproportionately harmed by climate and energy related public health impacts (USGCRP 2018). As a result, efficiently preparing for climate hazards requires that these citizens are prioritized by addressing historic policy oversights and funding resilience measures. The IRA was a necessary step to help facilitate the energy transition. The Environmental Justice For All Act would allow the U.S. to take a second step forward and no steps back in transitioning the nation’s energy supply, and preventing harm from climate change.
References
“An Act Creating A Next-Generation Roadmap for Massachusetts Climate Policy.” N.p., n.d.
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