Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act: A Down Payment on Fulfilling Federal Promises for Climate Action

The Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act (IIJA), also known as H.R.3684 or bipartisan infrastructure plan, passed the House of Representatives late on November 5, 2021, and was signed into law in mid-November. The $1.2 trillion package represents months of bipartisan negotiations and is the first critical component of achieving the vision laid out in President Biden’s American Jobs Plan.

IIJA is a significant first step towards meeting the climate crisis and reinvigorating the U.S. economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill’s passage clears the way for billions of dollars of investment in research, development, and demonstration for …

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Advanced Energy Infrastructure: A Roadmap for Implementation

With the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, funds will be available to state, local, and tribal governments for a variety of advanced energy infrastructure. The bill provides funding to address some of state and local policymakers’ top energy priorities, such as ensuring a reliable electric grid, lowering energy bills, and supporting advanced energy jobs. This document outlines key federal funding streams for supporting these priorities, as well as information about how to access the funds.…

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How-to Guide Hydropower Infrastructure Safety

Hydropower infrastructure can have significant implications for public and environmental safety, and it is important to ensure that any opportunities and risks are managed effectively throughout a project’s life cycle.

IHA’ new guide on Hydropower Infrastructure Safety can help developers and operators manage the impacts of hydropower development.…

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Improving Environmental Outcomes from Infrastructure by Addressing Permitting Delays

With the Biden-Harris Administration and Congress together pursuing major infrastructure investments, there is an important question as to how best maximize potential economic and environmental benefits of new infrastructure. Reforming the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is one of the most straightforward and impactful ways to do so. Currently, many major infrastructure projects are delayed due to significant, NEPA-mandated requirements for environmental-impact review. Such delays are frequently exacerbated by vague statutory requirements and exceptional litigation risks. Updated guidance for environmental reviews under NEPA, coupled with strategic judiciary reforms, could expedite infrastructure approval while improving environmental outcomes.…

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Modeling The Infrastructure Bills Using The Energy Policy Simulator

The Build Back Better Act currently moving through the House reconciliation process is poised to be the most significant climate legislation in United States history. To help understand its impacts, Energy Innovation modeled multiple climate provisions of the BBB and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, referred to together as the “Infrastructure Bills,” using the Energy Policy Simulator. The modeling finds the Infrastructure Bills would cut annual emissions 1,067 MMT to 1,510 MMT and reach 70 to 85 percent clean electricity by 2030. If a Clean Electricity Performance Program is not included, emissions reductions fall to just 854 to …

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Greenhouse Gas Pollution Estimates of Proposed U.S. Fossil Fuel Infrastructure

U.S. President Joe Biden can prevent from entering into service or halt with executive action two dozen United States fossil fuel infrastructure projects — including the Line 3, Dakota Access, and Mountain Valley Pipelines — which would significantly increase U.S. GHG emissions if completed or allowed to continue operation. If the Biden Administration does not stop these fossil fuel infrastructure projects, it will be much more difficult to meet its domestic and global climate goals.

Our research finds that the 24 projects analyzed would release combined annual greenhouse gas pollution equivalent to approximately 20% of 2019 U.S. emissions. This total …

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The 3rd National Risk Assessment: Infrastructure on the Brink

Changing environmental conditions are driving worsening flood events, with consequences for counties, cities, towns, and local communities. Individuals whose homes were spared the impact of a particular flood event are increasingly likely to find their local roads, businesses, critical infrastructure, utilities, or emergency services affected by flooding, indirectly threatening their quality of life, safety, and wellbeing. A truly comprehensive understanding of individual flood risk from a changing climate must therefore consider the resiliency of local communities to flood, and determine the extent to which physical and soft infrastructure are at risk.

This report will provide the first ever nation-wide understanding …

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The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Could Reshape DOE’s RD&D Portfolio Over the Next 5 Years – in a Good Way

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), bipartisan legislation that passed the Senate in August and is slated to be voted on by the House of Representatives in late September, presents a major opportunity to accelerate clean energy and climate innovation. It would go far toward rebalancing the research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) portfolio of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), so that it tackles deep decarbonization challenges that have largely been neglected in the past.

This rebalancing would be consistent with the recommendations of Energizing America: A Roadmap to Launch a National Energy Innovation Mission, which the Information …

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Federal-State Partnerships: Tackling Climate through Infrastructure

From January–July 2021, The Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions (NI) and the Center for the New Energy Economy (CNEE) conducted a series of conversations with state leaders and have identified several specific policy priority areas relevant to infrastructure proposals. These policy areas and approaches have been repeatedly highlighted by state leaders contacted by NI and CNEE. This report highlights either emerging areas for states or cross-cutting needs that were consistently cited by states as important. This is not a list of state priorities for programmatic funding—such as how much funding should go to specific public investments—but areas that states …

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How Are We Going to Build All That Clean Energy Infrastructure?

Most analyses find that to manage climate change, the United States will need to double or triple the size of its electric transmission system to move low-cost wind and solar energy around the nation and back it up with always-on power plants. But new report from Clean Air Task Force and the Niskanen Center finds that the current piecemeal, project-by-project approach to expanding U.S. electricity transmission won’t get us there. It instead calls for a new system to rapidly scale capacity — including by potentially establishing a National Transmission Organization that would plan, site, and fund a national grid to… View Full Resource