Top 10 for Conservation in the Inflation Act

The Inflation Reduction Act is not just the most important climate action ever taken by the U.S. Congress. It is also an incredible conservation bill.

For example, I've previously written than every gigawatt of clean energy that replaces a gigawatt of fossil energy directly helps prevent the extinction of 42 species of animals and plants around the world. The American Clean Power Association thinks this legislation will lead to the deployment of 525 gigawatts of clean energy - that's more than 22,000 extinctions prevented - on top of the huge benefit it has in scaling back U.S. carbon emissions. If you believe that burning fossil fuels damages ecosystems and species, then its only appropriate to give credit for the future conservation win to the energy sector that prevents it.

But there are so many other big wins for conservation in the bill. I've already listed my top conservation win in the bill (above) , but here are the next top nine for me (with page references based on the version of the bill found here, which will likely need updating):

1. In states where the Bureau of Reclamation works, more than $500 million in grants and other assistance for disadvantaged communities to plan and construct water projects which will provide drinking water to communities that lack reliable access to it. (page 648)
2. Focused especially on the Colorado River basin, $4 billion in grants and financial assistance to deal with long-term drought, including for ecosystem and habitat restoration projects, and projects that achieve verifiable reduction in use or demand for water. (page 650) That 'verifiable reduction' is key because it opens the possibility that the agency could use results-based or pay for success contracts to award funds to projects that deliver reductions.
3. Provides $2.8 billion for Environmental Justice and Climate Justice Block Grants from EPA for communities to use to reduce heat islands, air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and wildfires and to improve climate resilience in disadvantaged communities, including tribal areas. The bill gets another thing right - there is $200 million also available for technical assistance alongside this money, so that lack of capacity for planning and design and community engagement work doesn't prevent disadvantaged communities from making use of these funds. (page 714)
4. Millions of species are at risk because of climate change. The bill includes $125 million to fund conservation actions in the recovery plans of the approximately 1,500 U.S. species that already face a high risk of extinction. Used strategically, this money can help prevent extinctions and achieve full recoveries for some species. (page 716)
5. I worked at the White House Council on Environmental Quality from 2014 - 2017 and believe that office has enormous potential as a beyond what most administrations seem to appreciate. The bill includes a historic $62 million for CEQ's efforts to make NEPA assessments and analyses more efficient, and to improve community engagement as well as to improve environmental justice data, budget, and impact tracking. (page 718). Department of Transportation gets another $100 million for better and faster environmental reviews of important infrastructure projects. (page 728) as does the Forest Service (page 570). And $350 million for environmental review Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (FPISC). This is an insane level of investment for an office created less than 10 years ago and combination of these investments show how seriously Congress is taking the need to carry out environmental reviews and lead to the avoidance and offsetting of environmental harms but also do so in a way that is far less likely to cause major infrastructure project delays. We can't build that new energy infrastructure, transmission, and electrification system without being about to issue permits in 1-2 years versus 3-10 years.
6. More than $800 million is available for loans (and even more for loan guarantees) for water efficiency retrofits in affordable housing. This is both an environmental justice commitment and an action that will lower U.S. water use, which we have been doing since about 1980 (page 580).
7. Farmer-led conservation projects have had sustained bipartisan support for decades. Those programs get another $20 billion in support through the bill, including $8.5 billion for EQIP, $3.25 billion for conservation stewardship, $5 billion for regional conservation partnerships, and $1.4 billion for easements on forest and agricultural lands were the easements have the most potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or sequester carbon (page 550). Most of this funding comes with additional direction for USDA to use it to reduce nitrogen runoff into waterways, improve soil carbon, and reduce, capture or sequester carbon dioxide, methane or nitrous oxide. It also includes another $250 million to help disadvantaged and beginning farmers and ranchers get better access to land - this funding can help with 'heirs' property' and other ownership issues that especially affect underserved farmers and ranchers in the south (page 567).
8. Wildfires are only going to get worse under every climate scenario, but there are things we can do to reduce their severity and spread. The bill includes more than $2 billion to manage national forests and another $500 million for private forests, all in various ways directed toward outcomes of lower fire risk and higher carbon sequestration. It's been great to see more of an emerging consensus that some types of western forests need more intensive management and that doing so creates not just climate but also water benefits. (page 570) A key issue is whether the Forest Service can get funds out the door in a timely way.
9. NOAA receives $2.6 billion to help coastal states protect and restore coastal and marine habitats and to help communities become more resistant to extreme weather and sea level rise. (page 583)

It seems likely that the House of Representatives will pass this bill very soon. Look forward to anyone else's feedback on the details of these programs and the most important outcomes they are likely to drive!