Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet, and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.
When the Inflation Reduction Act passed last summer, there was a lot of talk about the money that was going toward environmental justice communities. But since then, we haven’t heard much about where that money has gone.
So we had Juliana Merullo and Charlie Adams look into it for us!
Juliana Merullo: Hey there!
Charlie Adams: How’s it going?
Megan Hall: First thing first. Environmental justice feels like one of those abstract terms that gets thrown around a lot… what does it actually mean?
Juliana Merullo: By now we know that climate change is going to affect all of us. But environmental justice work acknowledges that certain marginalized communities will be harder hit, both by climate change and pollution.
Charlie Adams: To find out more, we talked to Hannah Perls, an attorney at the Harvard Environmental and Energy Law Program. She says environmental justice takes a closer look at sources of pollution by arguing that…
Hannah Perls: The outcome of these laws and policies, of where facilities are sited, of how much pollution one community bears, that should be equitable, that should be fair.
Megan Hall: So does the Inflation Reduction Act talk a lot about environmental justice?
Charlie Adams: Not explicitly. Instead, it sets aside certain buckets of funding for what they call disadvantaged and low-income communities. Then it mostly lets states and agencies define who that includes.
Juliana Merullo: The Department of Energy, for example, defines disadvantaged communities based on a whole bunch of factors: including poverty rates, pollution levels, and access to clean energy.
Megan Hall: So how much money is set aside for these so-called “disadvantaged communities”?
Juliana Merullo: About 40 billion of the total 370 billion dollars in the bill.
Megan Hall: Wow! That’s actually a lot. Where does all that money go?
Charlie Adams: Well, 15 billion dollars goes into what’s called the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. It’s designed to bring more renewable energy sources and other green technology to these communities.
Juliana Merullo: One program reduces emissions by funding energy efficiency in public housing, and another supports community-led projects to reduce pollution.
Megan Hall: That’s awesome!
Charlie Adams: It definitely is! But it’s important to note that some critics worry that these communities won’t actually be able to access that money.
Megan Hall: Really? Why not?
Juliana Merullo: Well, take the home efficiency programs for example. While one of them is supposed to support low and moderate-income homeowners, 61% of low-income people are renters.
Charlie Adams: While their landlords could apply for extra money to improve efficiency in these homes, it takes the power out of their hands.
Megan Hall: That makes sense. Are there other ways low-income homeowners can access these funds?
Charlie Adams: Yes. And ideally without too much red tape. Hannah says some agencies are hoping to make it easier for these communities to access those rebates:
Hannah: “We’re looking at the option to have a point of sale rebate, meaning you don’t have to put up money first and then get a refund later.”
Megan Hall: Good to know! But I hear other criticisms from environmental justice groups about something called the leasing provisions in the bill, what’s that about?
Charlie Adams: We’ll have to do a whole ‘nother episode to really dive into the oil and gas lease controversy. But for now, what’s important is that while the net effects of the bill will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, there are worries that these communities might still end up with worse pollution from new oil and gas sites.
Megan Hall: Ok so it sounds like something that reduces emissions in general, might still create pollution on a local level.
Juliana Merullo: Definitely. There is still a lot to be worked out.. But, Hannah is optimistic.
Hannah Perls: It’s a much bigger picture of environmental justice than we’ve seen in prior administrations. And that is really exciting to me, because we’re talking about a deep structural challenge that I don’t think can be met by just looking at the environmental angle.
Charlie Adams: Hopefully this is just the beginning of supporting communities on the front lines of climate change!
Megan Hall: Great to know! Thanks, Juliana and Charlie!
That’s it for today. For more information, or to ask a question about the way your choices affect our planet, go to the public’s radio dot org slash possibly. Or subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.
Possibly is a co-production of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative, and the Public’s Radio.
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