New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
U.S. climate bill history-making
Did you feel the ground shift under your feet a little this month?
If you did, the tremor emanated from Washington DC.
Against all adds — and total Republican opposition — U.S. Senate Democrats passed a nearly $370 billion climate change bill, as part of the $430 billion Inflation Reduction Act.
It is, by far, the most money the U.S. government has allocated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“It’s the single biggest climate change bill that’s been passed,” said Katie Dykes, commissioner of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. “This made history.”
Mitch Wagener, professor of biology at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, said last week he hadn’t read the fine print of the complex legislative package. But he likes the summaries he’s read.
“It looks like a step forward,’’ he said
That step is long overdue. Wagener said.
“Not individually, but in the collective, we have been so timid in moving on climate change,” he said. “The problem is clearly so big and time is so short.”
The bill’s goal is to reduce the 2005 levels of greenhouse gas by 40 percent by 2030.
It does not include any attempts to impose taxes or penalties to reach its goals. Instead, it uses subsidies and tax breaks to encourage individuals and industries to change things for the better.
Dykes of the DEEP said much of the bill meshes with Connecticut’s decades of work to clean up its environment.
“We’ve been leading on climate change for a long time,” she said.
That program — to run 10 years — includes $30 billion in tax credits for companies to develop wind and solar energy and another $27 billion in subsidies for clean technology research and development.
There’s $60 billion allocated to help disadvantaged communities that are most often the worst places to live in terms of air and water pollution and $27 billion to create a national “Green Bank’’ to loan money for clean energy projects.
Dykes said the federal government is following Connecticut’s lead on this.
In 2011, it set up its own Green Bank — the nation’s first— and other states followed. Now, Dykes said, there will be a national bank to loan money for energy efficiency and climate change programs as well.
Dykes said conventional lenders often shy away from such projects, considering them unproven, and therefore risky. Money from Green Banks can prove such projects are safe investments, allowing other banks to be more willing to lend.
There’s also a $7,500 tax break to consumers who want to buy a new electric vehicle, and a $4,000 tax write-off for anyone buying a used electric vehicle. These apply to any electric vehicle costing under $55,000 and any electric SUV costing $80,000 or less.
Individuals must earn less than $150,000 a year to qualify for the rebates. The rebates will stay in place until 2033.
Dykes said these rebates can work in tandem with the Connecticut Hydrogen and Electric Automobile Purchase Rebate (CHEAPR) program, which subsidizes the purchase of electro, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen powered vehicles.
For most drivers, the state program can cut the cost of a new electric car by as much as $2,500 and a plug-in hybrid by $750. If the buyer meets income guidelines, that can increase to $4,250 for an electric vehicle and $2,250 for a plug-in.
Dykes said the state will also use $55 million from the $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed in 2021 to install electric vehicle charging stations along the state’s highways. That will give electric vehicle drivers the assurance they’ll have ready power to get where they’re going.
“Range anxiety is one of the biggest concerns of people considering buying an electric vehicle,’’ she said.
Dykes also said the Senate bill has funding to help people make energyefficient repairs on their homes, replacing old oil furnaces with electric heating, solar water heaters and heat pumps.
This money will be especially valuable in distressed neighborhoods.
“These homes can have code violations, asbestos, lead problems that can prevent energy retrofits,” she said.
Western’s Wagener spends a lot of time outside the university classroom, talking to the community about climate change. Legislation like the Senate bill matters, he said. So does voting for candidates who will support new climate initiatives in the future.
“I have a 4-year old grandson,” Wagener said. “We have to do what’s right for our grandchildren. Doing right by them is doing right for us. By definition.”