Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Corner: Dollars and (common) sense

(Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Corner – Photo Illustration – MetroCreativeConnection)

With the 2024 elections behind us and a second Trump administration preparing to take control in a few short weeks, I find it to be a time of reflection on the last four years. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Despite the rhetoric around America’s political realities and what the future may hold, we must also look back at the consequential policy of the Biden administration and the indelible impact it had on clean energy and climate.

The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act set a new standard for prioritizing clean energy and climate issues, putting hundreds of billions of dollars toward cleaning up our energy system, stabilizing our aging grid, and more. Over the last four years, America has seen monumental investments in clean energy and climate priorities by the federal government and private businesses alike. Now, with a new administration and a Republican trifecta in Washington, the risk of backtracking on the commitments and progress we have seen across the country is real.

We’ve all heard for months that deficit hawks in Congress look to take a “scalpel, not a sledgehammer” to spending in the next federal budget. This concept begs an overarching question: what gets cut, and who does it impact? Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has made it clear that he sees IRA funding as a key source of cuts, but little is known on what parts will stay and what parts will go. What we do know, however, is that there remains a strong contingent of Republican House members who support the IRA.

But, wait. Hasn’t one of the key talking points of the Republican Party throughout the last election cycle been that the federal government is wasting taxpayer dollars on “woke” climate issues? Then why have 18 Republicans — a bloc well large enough to tank any initiative of the current five-seat majority — signed a letter stumping for a Biden administration policy?

Well, it turns out that injecting capital into projects that have direct benefits for Americans is a popular endeavor, regardless of what party’s administration made it happen.

Since the passage of the IRA, the lion’s share of funding (nearly 4x) has gone to Republican districts. From EV battery manufacturing in North Carolina to budding energy storage technologies being developed right here in West Virginia, we are seeing an economic renaissance of sorts. Blue collar, hard-working areas of America that have been looking for new opportunities in a new economy have got it, due in no small part to the IRA.

A recent report shows over 3.3 million Americans are employed in the clean energy space as of 2023, a number that has steadily increased since 2020. Beyond federal recognition that clean energy and climate is worth investing in, these burgeoning jobs numbers show that corporate and private-sector entities agree and have doubled down on their commitments to a cleaner world. From the corporations that make many of your household products to the small startups that are on the bleeding edge of technology, there is continued support and ambition tied to investments in climate issues.

While we don’t yet know what is to come for these substantial programs and investments, we have so many examples of the good that federal funding has done, not just for clean energy and climate, but for restoring the economic value of rural America. We have the opportunity to simultaneously lift up broad swaths of our country while also making it a better place for our children, grandchildren and beyond to thrive. So, when the inevitable fight around funding in Washington starts and the IRA is on the chopping block, remember what is really at stake.

This is more than just dollars and cents.

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Griffin Bradley is a lifelong Wood County resident, graduate of West Virginia University (B.A., Political Science ’21; M.A., Political Science ’23), and a contributing author for Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.