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While Celebrating the Defeat of Manchin’s Dirty Pipeline Deal, Just Transition Alliance Continues to Condemn Polluter Subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act

October 16, 2022March 19, 2024By
While Celebrating the Defeat of Manchin’s Dirty Pipeline Deal, Just Transition Alliance Continues to Condemn Polluter Subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act

Graphic: Nona Chai

JTA demands stand-alone legislation that promotes real climate solutions, real non-polluting jobs, and localizing our economy for a just transition.

This week, the Just Transition Alliance released its statement on the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which was signed into law by the Biden administration on Aug. 16, 2022.

Since the Act first passed the Senate, JTA joined others in our movement in criticizing the bill for including polluter subsidies and the collusion among Biden and Senators Schumer and Manchin that resulted in dirty deals to fast-track permit approvals for dangerous fossil fuel projects, gut environmental protections, endanger public health, and push approval for the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

JTA Executive Director José Bravo was arrested in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 22, 2022 along with leaders from several other environmental justice organizations and mainstream environmental groups for protesting Manchin’s “dirty deal”–permitting language included in the Continuing Resolution. The next day, with criticism from both progressives and Republicans for their own reasons, Sen. Manchin publicly issued a request to Sen. Schumer to remove this language from the CR. However, Biden has since said he hopes to get this language re-included and passed.

Following Biden signing the Inflation Reduction Act into law, JTA learned of the specifics around environmental justice components included in the Act, and is calling out these measures for being inadequate and nothing but “greenwash” when paired with the billions of dollars in subsidies that will lead to yet more extraction, greenhouse gas emissions and the development and use of unproven technologies that will only lead to greater climates catastrophe and harm to communities of color, Indigenous and low-income communities and workers.

As long as the Inflation Reduction Act continues to be implemented, the Just Transition Alliance will continue to warn Congress and the Biden administration that we will not stand by in silence while they gamble with the lives of our communities,” JTA says in its statement while calling out the following:

  • The Act excludes language that ensures enforcement of environmental justice regulations or support for meaningful public oversight. “In order for the administration to ensure adequate enforcement of air, water and soil regulations, the Act needs to put forth the resources needed. Without such measures, the Act is simply window dressing,” it says.
  • The Act subsidizes false climate solutions. “Contrary to all of its environmental justice components, the Act sets out to burn billions of public dollars on dangerous and harmful technologies like carbon capture sequestration (CCS), nuclear power and bioenergy—perverse subsidies for unproven technologies that will only increase toxic burdens and financial risk for communities of color, poor and Indigenous communities,” it says, adding “Not only will these corporate techno-fixes fail to create additional jobs, they will simply expand the operations, market control and profits of the world’s largest polluters. These massive polluter subsidies will keep critical investments from going to the proven solutions we desperately need, such as local, distributed energy, zero waste and mass transportation.
  • The Act overpromises clean energy projects. “Even where the Act provides investments for key ‘clean energy’ sectors, the approach is flagrantly flawed, such as building an electric car economy. Our planet cannot sustain the widespread buildout of rare earth mining for minerals like lithium. Providing such massive market advantages to manufacturers of single family vehicles, over the critical need for mass public transportation, is simply short-sighted. If there is one thing the pandemic should have taught us is that we desperately need to localize collective transportation—that is safe and free to everyone—as with all other sectors of our industrial economy.

JTA listed the following demands:

  • That Biden and Congress promote legislation that leads to localizing and democratizing our economy for a just transition.
  • That the White House listen to the 650-plus organizations that are demanding a declaration of climate emergency and to refuse any attempt to make good on the dirty deal.
  • That Biden and Congress develop and pass stand-alone legislation on real climate solutions and real non-polluting jobs, both of which merit separate policies that aren’t hidden in an omnibus Act.
  • That Biden, Schumer and Manchin end its “fossil fuel shell game, which they deviously mask as an altruistic plan to address climate chaos, reduce inflation and provide justice for communities.
  • That the White House listen to the 650-plus organizations that are demanding a declaration of climate emergency and to refuse any attempt to make good on the dirty deal.
  • That Biden and Congress promote legislation that leads to localizing and democratizing our economy for a just transition.