Biden boosts clean energy in coal country despite facing pushback from Congress on climate

WASHINGTON – Communities formerly dependent on coal and other fossil fuels could get an entrée into the clean-energy economy through new federal funding the Biden administration is announcing Tuesday.

Through tax credits and competitive grants, the administration hopes wind farms, solar fields and factories that make fuel cells will provide the jobs and the economic boost once gotten through mining or coal-fired power plants.

“Workers who powered the last century of industry and innovation can power the next one,” said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. “It is simply a massive opportunity.”

The new funding announcement comes weeks after Biden angered environmental activists by approving the controversial Willow oil project, clearing the way for one of the largest new oil and gas developments on federal land in Alaska in 20 years.

Still, Republicans have accused President Joe Biden of destroying communities through a “war on energy.” An energy package House Republicans passed last week, which is unlikely to advance in the Democrat-controlled Senate, seeks to reverse Biden’s climate policies.

What the White House is announcing on clean energy

• Extra tax credits: Details on how developers of clean energy projects can get an extra tax credit for basing a project in a community historically dependent on energy. The bonus help is on top of a 30% tax credit for clean energy projects included in the Inflation Reduction Act passed last year.

• Demonstration refinery: A new $16 million project in North Dakota and West Virginia, funded by the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure bill, to study how to extract critical minerals from coal mine waste streams.

• Competitive grants: Details on how to compete for $450 million newly available for clean energy demonstration projects on current and former mine land.

The political context

Republicans argue the president's push towards clean energy and away from fossil fuels is too much, too fast. They've said the moves will make the nation less competitive, increase energy prices and cost jobs.

In one of Biden's first executive orders, he created a multi-agency task force to find ways to lessen the impact on coal and power plant communities.

That effort got a big financial boost from major legislation passed in Biden's first two years.

The administration has identified more than $500 billion and 22 tax credits that can be tapped to help what the White House has dubbed "energy communities."

Projects the funding can support include capping abandoned oil and gas wells, extracting critical minerals, building battery factories and launching demonstration projects in carbon capture or green hydrogen.

Go Deeper

GOP pushes back: House Republicans pass energy bill targeting Biden agenda as debt ceiling talks continue

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More: What are the effects of climate change? Disasters, weather and agriculture impacts.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden boosts wind, solar plants in fight against climate change