President Joe Biden is seeking to cement his climate legacy by allocating billions of dollars for energy and environment-related projects in the remaining months of his presidency.
Biden ramped up his administration’s energy-related spending in October, announcing several new initiatives after former President Donald Trump said on the campaign trail that if elected, he would “rescind all unspent funds under the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act,” which could directly impact Biden’s climate projects.
On Thursday, the Department of the Interior approved the Fervo Cape Geothermal Power Project in Beaver County, Utah, which seeks to expand geothermal energy on public lands.
The Energy Department also announced nearly $2 billion in funding for 38 power grid projects for clean energy, and on Tuesday, the administration allocated $428 million for 14 clean energy manufacturing projects in former coal communities.
President Joe Biden speaks at NHTI-Concord Community College in Concord, New Hampshire on Oct. 22, 2024. (Joseph Prezioso)
In early October, the Biden-Harris administration issued a final rule to replace every lead pipe in the U.S. within 10 years as part of Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI). In addition to the rule, the EPA also announced $2.6 billion in new funding for drinking water infrastructure through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
September also saw several new projects launched as part of the final push for the administration’s climate agenda.
The Department of Energy announced $3 billion for electric vehicle battery production, while the Department of the Interior will distribute $24 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for land and water restoration through an investment in “climate resilience.”
The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) approved an offshore wind turbine in Maryland — the 10th approval of a commercial-scale offshore wind project. Trump has stated that if elected, he would end offshore wind projects “on day one” through an executive order, suggesting the energy source causes harm to the environment.
Wind turbines produce energy from wind at Whitewater Energy’s Wind Turbine Farm in the desert. (Bob Riha, Jr.)
“They destroy everything. They’re horrible, the most expensive energy there is,” Trump said of wind turbines during a campaign event in New Jersey. “They ruin the environment. They kill the birds. They kill the whales.”
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White House’s Deputy Chief of Staff Natalie Quillian told listeners on a press call in October that Biden is “sprinting to the finish” to deliver “on his historic Investing in America agenda.”