﻿The $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
is the largest investment in America’s physical public assets in decades
and the biggest commitment ever by the government to fight climate change. It’s going to have a
major impact throughout the United States, so I wanted to lay out what it does, particularly
the measures aimed at cutting emissions–since that’s what this series is all about.
Some have said they don’t think this bill goes far enough on climate,
but the incentives offered through these programs are actually quite substantial and cover many
sectors of the economy. They will also expand many city- and county-run programs that have succeeded
on a local level, enabling them to be implemented on a national scale. Many of these initiatives and
technologies will receive more funding than they have before anywhere in the world.
The bill also expands the Buy America requirement for infrastructure materials, which will give a
much-needed boost to the American manufacturing sector and industries like steel production.
Its core is an expansion on the 5-year transportation infrastructure law known
as the FAST Act, passed in 2015. So without further ado,
this is what’s in the BIL. 45% of Americans lack access to public
transportation and for every $1 billion spent on transit, 50,000 jobs are created. This bill will
provide the largest investment in public transit in American history, improving accessibility and
safety for millions of commuters, while reducing transportation sector emissions overall.
Almost 40K people died in motor vehicle-related incidents in 2019,
and unsafe road infrastructure is a major risk factor for these fatalities. In rural communities,
up to 40% of roads and 50% of major bridges are considered structurally deficient or inadequate
for travel. This bill will repair and rebuild our roads and fund the first ever Safe Streets and
Roads program to reduce traffic deaths. On top of traditional infrastructure
spending, the bill invests an unprecedented $550 billion over five years
on dozens of innovative new programs. Plug-in electric vehicle adoption
is currently hindered by major geographical gaps in the availability of charging stations.
To meet the goal of EV’s making up at least 50% of all new car and truck sales by 2030,
the bill builds out a national network of 500,000 chargers to ease range anxiety and accelerate the
switchover from gasoline to electric. The EV revolution has begun here in America,
but we lag far behind when it comes to electric buses and ferries. To change that, half a billion
dollars will go toward electrifying the nation’s school buses, $5 billion for zero emission public
transit buses, and $2.5 billion dollars toward electrifying the many ferries on our extensive
waterways. All of these technologies are currently dominated by foreign companies, so given the Buy
American requirement, this investment will give American companies a big leg up.
To make sure these vehicles are powered by renewably-generated electricity, instead
of fossil fuels, the bill makes the largest investment in the energy grid in American history.
One of the factors holding renewables back in the United States is that solar panels and wind
turbines tend to be built in rural areas where there is empty land. But these areas usually
lack access to the high voltage transmission lines needed to move electricity efficiently
over long distances. The bill solves that problem by funding hundreds of substations and thousands
of miles of new transmission lines to bring renewably-generated electricity to cities
across America. This will also lower everyone’s energy bills because wind and solar are now the
lowest cost sources of electricity in the country. As we build more, they will become even cheaper.
The potential of this investment to transform the US electricity landscape over the next decade
is enormous, and I’ll be dedicating an entire episode to it soon.
With 45,000 bridges in poor condition throughout the country,
a new program will oversee $40 billion for repairs and rebuilds, with a particular focus on the
most economically significant crossings. The largest investment in the 50+ year history
of Amtrak will modernize America’s lagging passenger rail network,
positioning it to play a central role in our transportation and economic future. A central aim
is to make rail travel an affordable, efficient, and enjoyable option, so trips in heavier-emitting
cars and airplanes are reduced. Defects in airports and ports cause delays and
jeopardize over 1 million jobs. Without adequate investments to maintain and upgrade these critical
systems, many US industries will continue to see significant reductions in manufacturing potential
that reduce GDP and increase prices for consumers, as we’ve seen with the
bottlenecks and inflation as we struggle through COVID shutdowns. The bill will fund repairs,
improve logistics, reduce congestion, and increase electrification to reduce emissions.
More than 30 million Americans live in areas with no high speed internet infrastructure
and are still suffering seconds-long waits to load pages and constant video
buffering–or they have to go to a library or restaurant just to get something done.
Eva Melancon and her husband and three kids have tried all they can to get internet access in
Sissonville, WV. Though Frontier is one of the only providers in their area, it’s not even an
option for their house. We had Wild Blue satellite.
We had Hughes Net satellite. Then we gave up on satellite because if it rained or snowed it
didn’t work. We’ve tried to get regular internet at the house, Suddenlink or Frontier–they just,
they won’t come up to our house. This historic investment will guarantee that every
American has reliable broadband internet access. That’s a really big deal because in our economy,
fast internet is life. Beyond bringing every area up to speed,
the bill makes permanent a program - started during the pandemic - that gives
low-income Americans a $30 a month voucher for Internet service.
10 million American households and 400,000 schools and childcare centers lack access to safe drinking
water. In 2016 a national scandal erupted when up to 12,000 children in Michigan were exposed to
lead after the Governor allowed the water supply for the city of Flint to become contaminated. Nine
officials were charged with 34 felony crimes, and victims were awarded a $641 million settlement.
Soon, many other parts of the country became aware of their own lead contamination problems.
This bill makes improvements in water infrastructure a national imperative.
Today the Biden administration detailed its plan to try to replace every underground drinking water
pipe in the country in the next ten years. About half of the children in the US have detectable
levels of lead in their blood. In 2021, 20 weather disasters with
losses exceeding $1 billion each affected the United States, killing a total of 688 people.
Adjusted for inflation the average number of these events from 1980–2021 is 7.4,
but the average for the most recent 5 years (2017–2021) is 17.2 events–then more per year.
To make the country more resilient to extreme weather, a historic $71 billion worth of programs
will be implemented, including: Flood mitigation and waterway management
by the Army Corps of Engineers; Water storage, recycling, and ecosystem
restoration to help California and other western states deal with drought;
Wildfire fighting efforts like clearing dry brush and dead trees that fuel blazes,
and properly compensating the difficult and deadly work of wildland firefighting;
Accurately mapping and forecasting inland and coastal flooding, including next generation
water modeling activities; and efforts to predict, model, and forecast wildfires.
A $3.5 billion competitive grant program to protect communities and public assets from
environmental hazards, like rising seas, tornados, inland flooding, landslides, and earthquakes.
Beefing up the Weatherization Assistance Program that helps low-income households afford energy
efficiency improvements to their homes that save them money and cut emissions.
Cybercriminals targeted the government sector in the United States more than any other group in
the world last year. Nationstate actors have also shown an increased willingness to use
digital attacks to impact important physical infrastructure, like the Colonial Pipeline
cyberattack that led to the shutdown of the largest conduit for gasoline in the United States,
and the Oldsmar water plant incident in Florida where cyber actors obtained unauthorized access
to the control system’s software to increase the concentration of sodium hydroxide in the water
supply for a city of 15,000. The bill sends over $1 billion dollars to state and local governments
to implement cyber security plans, and promotes best practices to secure the energy sector.
Nuclear power plants accounted for 20% of the electricity generated in America in 2020.
But with 21 reactors undergoing decommissioning and only two new reactors under construction,
in order to prevent further premature retirements, the bill dedicates $6 billion
to the safe operation of these carbon-free sources of electricity. Maximizing their
lifespan is critical until renewables and utility scale storage can meet demand.
The same principle is true for our existing fleet of hydro-electric dams.
The bill invests $700 million to keep them operating safely and efficiently as the
energy transition continues. A major source of methane is the
thousands of leaking natural gas wells that were abandoned without being properly sealed.
So the air right down there is almost enough to light on fire.
The bill fully funds a program to find and cap them.
To develop the technologies to decarbonize the toughest sectors,
the department of energy will oversee $21 billion worth of programs, including:
Developing clean hydrogen to minimize heavy trucking and industrial sector emissions;
Scaling and lowering the cost of carbon and direct air capture,
which pulls carbon out of the atmosphere and sequesters it. The basic technology already
exists, but it’s still far too expensive. And advanced nuclear technology, which are
safer alternatives to our current generation of aging reactors. Of the potentially game-changing
solutions on the horizon, this is one of the most promising for quickly getting the world to net
zero emissions. Reactors would be smaller, able to be scaled quickly, and could produce both the
heat necessary for heavy industry and generate the electricity needed for entire cities.
And last but not least, these programs will fund the kinds of bold, innovative solutions
every region needs to grow in a more dynamic and sustainable way:
A program to install lower temperature pavement or tree cover to cool sweltering
asphalt that blankets our urban centers. Reducing carbon emissions by encouraging
non-motorized users of the road, replacing streetlights with energy-efficient alternatives,
and acquiring zero-emissions construction equipment.
To carry out a variety of infrastructure projects at an 80% federal funding share, a flexible grant
program for counties that has been very popular over the years will be expanded. Formerly known
as TIGER and BUILD, the RAISE program will split money evenly between rural and urban areas.
This program alone could fund more than 1,800 projects costing $10 million each.
To reduce dangerous animal traffic collisions and improve habitat connectivity the bill
creates a wildlife crossing pilot program. With smart technologies ready to strengthen
mobility or revolutionize transportation, the bill helps counties implement connected vehicle
systems, sensor-based infrastructure, drones, and smart grid technologies.
With our dependence on batteries set to grow immensely - and current supplies often
controlled by foreign rivals like China - the bill builds a robust domestic battery supply chain,
including the mining and production of critical minerals, sourcing materials for manufacturing,
and even recycling critical elements without any need for new mining.
In order to take full advantage of the unique position the Secretary of the Department of
Transportation will be in to identify and evaluate needs and opportunities throughout the nation’s
transport system, the bill creates a competitive grant program to fund impactful megaprojects:
with half costing $500m or more, and half between $100m-500m.
This works out to around two to three dozen pieces of world class transportation infrastructure
that will be built in the next five years that would otherwise not have been possible.
So didya get all that? I know it’s a lot.
As Alice Hill, who directed climate risk planning in the Obama White House, told the New York Times,
“This greatly exceeds anything we were able to get under the Obama administration.
We’ve made enormous progress.” And here’s how climate journalist
David Roberts described the bill: This would be transformative–it’s an enormous
amount of money. I mean, Obama, Obama’s stimulus had $90 billion for clean energy
and sparked market revolutions in those markets - in solar, and wind, and batteries - that have
brought the cost down by many many multiples since then, and this is six times that. So
it’s gonna be huge. If you want to dig a lot deeper,
consider supporting this Climate Change Solutions Show with a membership to TDC.video to unlock
bonus content, like extra long episodes or - for this video - my research links, organizing
the most helpful links into a tidy document, so check them out if you want to learn more.
And speaking of services that save you time and stress, check out Wren. Wren is a website where
you can calculate your carbon footprint, then offset it by funding a diverse mix
of carbon reduction projects. It couldn’t be more straightforward: just answer a few questions about
your lifestyle to find out your carbon footprint. Every project on Wren has a monitoring plan
using tools like satellite imagery or measuring tree trunks so you can trust
that they’re making you carbon neutral. This project pays subsistence farmers in East Africa
to plant trees and sequester carbon. Wren pays farmers for how much carbon is sequestered, and
their farms become more productive because growing trees improves yield and soil quality. Offset your
carbon footprint on Wren through the link in the description. The first 100 people to sign up will
have 10 extra trees planted in their name. For a few dollars a month you’re offsetting your
emissions and supporting your fellow man: win–win, just like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill.
Until next time, I’m Bryce Plank, thanks for watching.