Biden claims climate breakthrough in bipartisan deal

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President Joe Biden is touting the bipartisan infrastructure agreement he endorsed Thursday as a significant down payment on his aggressive pledges to combat climate change.

But climate activists say Biden is overstating the significance of the emissions reduction provisions in the package, which is mostly focused on traditional “hard” infrastructure such as roads and bridges.

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“It is irresponsible for the White House to be touting the meager clean energy investments in this bipartisan package when they know full well it falls far short of whats needed,” tweeted Sam Ricketts, the co-founder of Evergreen Action, a liberal climate group.

Liberal activists oppose passing the nearly $1 trillion bipartisan measure, which contains $559 billion in new spending, unless all Democrats agree to pass a bigger “climate, jobs, and justice” package through the special budget process known as reconciliation, which would enable Democrats to pass legislation without Republican votes.

Biden said Thursday that he wouldn’t sign a bipartisan bill unless Democrats also advance a separate larger package in “tandem.”

“There are other things on the environment I want to get done,” Biden said in remarks at the White House.

But he also said the bipartisan package includes “nothing bad for the environment.”

The White House official fact sheet says the plan “makes transformational and historic investments in clean transportation, water infrastructure, and power infrastructure.”

The framework would also enable “the building of thousands of miles” of electric transmission lines, critical to expanding the use of renewable energy, by setting up a new “Grid Authority” to speed the approval process, which can take up to a decade.

It provides $7.5 billion for electric vehicle infrastructure, along with $73 billion for the power grid and $47 billion in funding for climate “resiliency” to protect coastlines from rising seas.

As part of his American Jobs Plan, Biden originally asked for $15 billion to build 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations nationwide. He only got half of that, but the White House fact sheet claims that’s enough to “accomplish the President’s goal.”

The bipartisan agreement also includes one of Biden’s signature proposals, namely funds to employ oil workers to plug leaking “orphan” oil and gas wells whose owners are either unknown or insolvent, along with remediating abandoned coal mines.

Skeptics note that the deal omits two of Biden’s largest initiatives: providing consumer rebates for electric vehicles and enacting a clean electricity standard requiring utilities to use 100% carbon-free power by 2035. It also doesn’t extend or expand any clean energy tax credits. Those bigger items could be tackled in a subsequent Democratic-only reconciliation bill.

Biden on Thursday said that he is seeking $300 billion for clean energy tax credits.

Some Democrats said climate activists should be reassured that the bipartisan package includes some carbon reduction measures, if not everything.

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“Biden still needs a reconciliation bill to enact almost all of his tax, economic, and climate priorities,” said Paul Bledsoe, a former Senate Finance Committee staff member who is now with the Progressive Policy Institute. “This should reassure climate advocates that Democrats are determined to pursue a robust reconciliation package with major clean energy incentives.”

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