The (shrewdly named) Inflation Reduction Act has been called the most significant climate legislation ever passed in the US. When it did pass, in 2022, the critical vote was cast by senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia. Now in office as an independent, he and Republican senator John Barrasso from Wyoming came together to put forward a bill which advanced out of the Senate committee stage earlier this month. It’s meant to clear away some of the regulatory and legal obstacles that delay and deter infrastructure projects, including renewable energy and power transmission lines. It’s faced criticism from environmental groups but support from the American Clean Power Association and the oil and gas industry.

To unpack what it means for the rollout of renewables, Ed Crooks is joined by Melissa Lott, professor at The Climate School at Columbia University in New York, and Emily Grubert, an Associate Professor at the Keough School of Global Affairs at Notre Dame University. Together they examine the bill, and discuss the impact it could (if passed) have on production targets for wind and solar on federal lands.

In January President Biden paused approvals for pending and future applications to LNG exports. The proposed Manchin/Barrasso bill would end this pause. Emily gives her take on this; she wrote recently that the US needs a ‘a coherent national strategy for the role of natural gas in the US energy system’. What does that strategy look like?

Plus, the gang debate what needs to happen for carbon removal to make a real impact on net zero goals. Emily says that ‘market-based, unconstrained, and for-profit CDR presents fundamental and predictable risks for climate and justice goals.’

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The next stage of the IRA: permitting reform

Energy Gang