Biden races clock on climate, environment

Announcements from the Biden administration have been coming fast and furious, from $7.3 billion for rural electric cooperatives to boost renewable power to nearing finalization of a new marine sanctuary in the last week alone.

Why it matters: The administration is in a race against the clock to get billions in “clean” energy funding out the door before the end of his term.

• Republican nominee Donald Trump has vowed to claw back unspent funding from President Biden’s signature climate law.

The big picture: Last week’s announcements included $100 million from the bipartisan infrastructure and climate laws to hone extreme weather and climate forecasting at NOAA and $300 million from the EPA for greenhouse gas emissions reductions in tribal communities.

• In addition, the White House touted more wind energy investments, bringing total offshore wind power approvals to about 15 gigawatts, and the EPA touted new spending on cleaning up brownfield sites.

Context: “The flurry of activity that is happening around regulations and implementation of policy — this happens every term,” Sasha Mackler, executive director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s energy program, told Axios.

• “In this particular moment, as a result of the enormous legislative productivity of the last four years, there’s just a lot to do.”

The intrigue: The White House views these steps and other forthcoming actions as part of the rapid pace of climate and environmental actions that have taken place since Biden assumed office.

Between the lines: One of the more vulnerable programs, according to experts outside the government, is the EPA’s multibillion-dollar greenhouse gas reduction fund, which seeks to catalyze spending from the private sector.

• The EPA has now obligated much of this program, White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi told Axios, and is aiming for the finish line with this and other programs.

Yes, but: Not all of the money Congress has appropriated for agencies, particularly at the Energy Department, will have been spent by the time Biden leaves office.

• “A commitment of resources is not the same as a grant obligation or as something that’s actually gone out the door,” Mackler said.
• Some of the money that needs to get out the door, lest it be halted by a potential second Trump term, is still in the request-for-proposal stage, Zaidi acknowledged.

Mackler noted that the tax incentives for electric vehicles and other low emissions technologies under the IRA would take an act of Congress to fully rescind, although new leadership in the White House and at Treasury could unilaterally alter them.

• Mackler identified DOE’s hydrogen hubs, direct air capture hubs and Loan Program Office as being vulnerable to potentially leaving money on the table in January.