US Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia broke the internet last night when he delivered this nugget in a joint statement with New York Senator and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer: “After many months of negotiations, we have finalized the bill that will cost approximately $300 billion will invest in Deficit Reduction and $369.75 billion in energy security and climate change programs over the next decade.” Before Senator Manchin takes out a Lucy and snatches legislative football, let’s see what it’s all about.
The New Climate Law: What Gets $369.75 Billion?
Some might say the new climate law doesn’t go far enough in terms of dollars and cents, and some would be right. However, it’s better than a kick in the pants as the saying goes. In fact it is much better.
To put the climate bill in perspective, the grid operating system MISO announced a pack of 18 earlier this week. at new transmission line projects for an investment totaling $10.3 billion. According to an estimate of the Clean Grid Alliancethat new capacity will free up 53 gigawatts in new wind, solar, hybrid and battery-type energy storage projects.
“[That’s] enot enough power about 12 million homes and 213,000 jobs,” noted the Clean Grid Alliance. “About 120,000 jobs can also are estimated at result of the transmission workso we can to expect about 333.000 jobs in total of the transmission work and sustainable raw material build together.”
MISO (the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, and it’s pronounced “em-EYE-soh”) spans 15 states that run through the center of the country, including windy Iowa and the Dakotas. Climate bill or not, they are in any case preparing for the energy transition.
So, what’s in the new climate law?
Apparently all the fuss was about the name of the climate bill. Its original name was ‘Build Back Better’, which emphasized investments in new infrastructure aimed at reducing the country’s environmental footprint and increasing resilience in the face of catastrophic climate impacts as they happen.
The climate bill was originally drafted last fall and was delayed all those months because Senator Manchin kept pushing — really, who cares what he pushed. On his own, he kept that bill up all the time.
To be fair, all 50 Republican senators also held up the climate bill. They are aligned in lockstep against Build Back Better.
With no Republicans on board, however, Democrats would need all 50 senators on their side of the aisle to vote in favour, with the 51st casting vote cast by Vice President Kamala Harris. That’s the only reason Senator Manchin, for reasons known only to himself, was able to prevent the bill from passing by refusing to caucus with his Democratic colleagues until last night.
That’s all water under the bridge now, unless, of course, Manchin changes his mind again.
If he pushes through this time, climate regulations will still be in the bill, only it won’t be called Build Back Better now. It’s called now the “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.”
What is the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act?
Actually, the name change was pretty clever. Everyone is talking about inflation, especially Republican candidates for office who expect to discuss the issue ahead of the all-important midterm elections in November.
The simple matter of a name change has ripped the whole rug from under that field. If Republicans in Congress don’t vote for the climate bill, also known as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, they’ll look, well, stupid. The whole Republican party will look stupid. After complaining about inflation all year, they will get confused and try to explain that inflation is bad, but Congress should not try to do anything about inflation, because that is bad too.
As for what’s actually in the climate bill, a summary of the bill is included in yesterday’s joint statement between Senators Manchin and Schumer. Here is the amount of money:
“The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 will make a historic down payment on deficit reduction to fight inflation, invest in domestic energy production and production, and cut carbon emissions by about 40 percent by 2030. The bill will finally allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drugs and reduce health care costs for millions of Americans. In addition, we have reached an agreement with President Biden and Chairman Pelosi to pass comprehensive licensing reform legislation before the end of this fiscal year. We urge every member of the US Senate to support this important legislation.”
There is more to the climate law than meets the eye
Hmmm…comprehensive reform legislation, what could that mean? Our friends at MISO probably know what it means. MISO has gone out of its way to plan its new transmission projects largely along existing rights of way to cut red tape, but it does make it clear that its ambitious plans will have to go through regular permitting procedures.
Here’s what the agreement with Senator Manchin on the new climate law says about it:
“…the agreement calls for the adoption of comprehensive legislation on Permitting reform before the end of the financial year. Allowing reforms is essential to unlocking domestic energy and transmission projects, which will reduce costs for consumers and help us achieve our long–term emissions targets.”
There may be some leeway there for fossil energy. The magic words, however, are ‘lower costs for consumers’ and ‘long-term emissions targets’.
A longer version of the bill’s summary has also been posted by the Senate Democrats. If you think we spend too much time talking about heat pumps hereby CleanTechnicalook at the $500 million allocated for heat pumps and critical materials in the Defense Production Act.
So, what changed Joe Manchin’s mind?
There’s plenty of room on the Joe Manchin bingo card to guess why he now supports the climate bill, so put it in the comment thread.
A good guess is that Manchin feels the heat of developers of wind, solar, geothermal and energy storage who like to bank in West Virginia. The United Mine Workers of America union has also pressured policymakers to convert former coal communities into new green jobs, and the U.S. Department of Energy has created new jobs clean energy programs for disadvantaged rural communities.
By the way, the state’s own Ministry of Economic Development has a picture of wind energy at the top of the homepage, and takes note of new legislation enabling large-scale development of solar energy on derelict mining sites.
Another good bet is that Manchin wants to stay in tune with his friends in the natural gas industry by making sure West Virginia gets some of the energy.he new hydrogen economy cake. After all, the Department of Energy has started distributing millions of new funding for new clean hydrogen projects, and West Virginia is a leading natural gas producer.
The primary source of hydrogen today is natural gas, so it makes sense that Manchin would lobby on behalf of his home state’s business interests on fossil fuels in the context of the hydrogen economy. The problem is that thing about “clean” hydrogen. The Energy Department is not interested in your typical gas-to-hydrogen systems unless they are paired carbon capture facilities.
The carbon capture angle is a tough sell. Hydrogen buyers want the cleanest hydrogen they can get, and natural gas just isn’t making it now that alternative sources are available.
Senator Manchin may not have known this, but those alternative sources are expanding rapidly. The cost of producing green hydrogen from renewable sources sinks like a stone. Most of the activity is focused on electrolysis systems that use wind or solar energy to squeeze hydrogen gas from water. Producing hydrogen from biomass and biogas is also in the works.
Even Texas, the epicenter of US oil and gas production, is gearing up for a new green hydrogen hub, deploying its wind and solar power and other energy infrastructure. Other hubs are sprouting from coast to coast, including: a powerful four-state alliance for green hydrogen between New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
The point is, no one should be fooled by this “clean” hydrogen thing. Just as no one is fooled by the “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.” It’s still a climate law, whatever you want to call it.
follow me on twitter @TinaMCasey.
Photo: West Virginia could benefit from the new climate law (Black Rock wind farm in Grant and Mineral counties courtesy of West Virginia Department of Economic Development).
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