"While the sweeping bill has grabbed headlines for the billions it provides in direct payments to millions of Americans and its extension of a forgivable loan program for small businesses crippled by the pandemic, policy provisions that attempt to halt carbon emissions that contribute to climate change could prove far more lasting.
Other provisions include:
- Expansion of carbon capture technology and deployment. Under the process, carbon emissions produced by power plants and other heavy industry are contained and injected deep into the ground, where saline rock formations can store the gas for centuries.
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- Reauthorization of an expiring program that provides industry with financial incentives to replace aging diesel engines with less polluting ones.
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- Extension and expansion of tax credits for clean energy, including wind, and a new incentive that encourages newly built power plants to be more efficient and cleaner.
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- Requirements that natural gas facilities deploy the latest technology to prevent, detect and address dangerous methane leaks, a significant contributor to climate change.
Supporters of the legislation say the steps will not only help the planet but also expand a clean energy economy that hasn't always gotten as much support from Washington as they would like.
"We can ensure American workers lead the national transition to a clean economy," said Delaware Sen. Tom Carper, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee who wrote some of the provisions. "We can embrace the ingenuity and innovation of American industries while protecting vulnerable communities."
More:Joe Biden can work with conservatives on climate change. Many of them are ready to act.
The measures also had various degrees of support from Republicans representing fossil fuel states, such as Environment and Public Works Chairman John Barrasso of Wyoming, who represents the nation's largest coal producing state, and Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, whose state is a leading oil producer.
For GOP lawmakers wary that a drastic transformation to clean energy would imperil their local economies, the legislation is a reasonable, incentive-driven approach.
"Free-market innovation is the key to addressing a changing climate," Barrasso said. "This bipartisan legislation proves we can protect our environment without punishing our economy."
Climate Point:President-elect Biden sets tone for direction on the environment
Efforts to address climate change at the federal level will get another boost in less than a month when Joe Biden is inaugurated as the nation's 46th president. The former vice president, who has called climate change "an existential threat to the health of our planet and to our very survival," has made it a focal point of his incoming administration."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/12/27/covid-relief-legislation-includes-major-climate-change-provisions/4012433001/