{"id":67467,"date":"2024-09-17T15:52:40","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T22:52:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=67467"},"modified":"2024-09-17T15:52:40","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T22:52:40","slug":"epa-makes-largest-ever-investment-in-climate-burdened-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=67467","title":{"rendered":"EPA Makes Largest-Ever Investment in Climate-Burdened Communities"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_author tdi_59 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_59\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-author-name-wrap\"><span class=\"tdb-author-by\">By<\/span><a class=\"tdb-author-name\" href=\"https:\/\/ethnicmediaservices.org\/author\/selen-ozturk\/\">Selen Ozturk<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_date tdi_60 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_60\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><i class=\"tdb-date-icon tdc-font-fa tdc-font-fa-calendar\"><\/i><time class=\"entry-date updated td-module-date\" datetime=\"2024-09-17T10:05:29-07:00\">Sep 17, 2024<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_subtitle tdi_61 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_61\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>The federal government is making its largest-ever investment in clean energy, with historic amounts for communities most burdened by pollution and costs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_featured_image tdi_62 tdb-content-horiz-left td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_62\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"td-video-replacer\" data-id=\"undefined\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"wpb_video_wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"widget2\" class=\"td-youtube-player\" title=\"Green Energy Jobs Will \u2018Change the Economic Landscape\u2019 for Rural Communities\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pJ-CqiSY70Q?enablejsapi=1&amp;feature=oembed&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;vq=hd720&amp;&amp;&amp;\" width=\"100%\" height=\"560\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_63 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_1 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_63\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>The federal government is making its largest-ever investment in clean energy, with historic amounts for communities most burdened by pollution and costs.<\/p>\n<p>These communities are getting well over 40% of the $27 billion\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/epa.gov\/ggrf\">Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund<\/a>\u00a0(GGRF), an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) initiative to finance greenhouse gas- and air pollution-reducing projects nationwide. These projects include solar panels, energy efficiency, electrical appliances and zero-emission vehicles.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">About the fund<\/h2>\n<p>The fund was established under Biden in 2022 by the Inflation Reduction Act, authorizing a broader $783 billion for domestic energy and climate change spending \u2014 the largest in U.S. history.<\/p>\n<p>The GGRF is being implemented through three seven-year grant programs: the $14 billion National Clean Investment Fund, a lending program; the $7 billion Solar for All program for residential solar installation; and the $6 billion Clean Communities Investment Accelerator program granting capital for hundreds of community lenders, like credit unions, nationwide.<\/p>\n<p>68 grantees were rewarded all $27 billion last month, \u201cand are already putting the money to work,\u201d said David Widawsky, director of the EPA Office of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, at a Friday, September 13 Ethnic Media Services briefing about the fund.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe purpose is not only to reduce energy burden, which can be three times and as much as 10 times higher as a proportion of income in low-income and disadvantaged communities compared to the rest of the country,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt improves health, reduces pollutants, and allows sustainable wealth creation for the communities that will host these projects.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A household experiences energy burden when at least 6% of its income meets its energy needs; this is closely linked to energy insecurity, which one in three Americans experience.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td-video-replacer\" data-id=\"undefined\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"ZHdakOcMEx0\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"widget4\" title=\"Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Tackles Climate Crisis and Economic Disenfranchisement\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZHdakOcMEx0?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" width=\"100%\" height=\"392\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>David Widawsky, director of the Office of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund at the US Environmental Protection Agency, gives an overview of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and how it will mitigate climate risk while creating economic opportunity.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cEnergy insecurity means making the difficult choice every single month about whether to heat or cool your home or eat,\u201d explained Shalanda Baker, University of Michigan\u2019s first vice provost for sustainability and climate action. \u201cIt manifests when people do dangerous things to heat their homes in the winter or keep their homes at unsafe temperatures during the summer. It can lead to things like household fires, even to death.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLow income households, especially those of color, are more likely to be in the shadows of this because of health impacts from living near fossil fuel generation, and because the way we structure energy rates in this country is regressive,\u201d she continued. \u201cThe lower your income, the more you pay to meet a standard energy cost in your utility district.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Over 52% of Black and about 47% of Latino U.S. households are energy insecure.<\/p>\n<p>For some Native American tribes, as much as 35% (Hopi) and 21% (Navajo) of households lack electricity access altogether.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo far, clean energy transition has been rolled out inequitably in this country,\u201d said Baker. \u201cIf you\u2019re a White American in a majority-White census tract, you\u2019re more likely to have access to solar than a Black American at the same income level and homeownership status.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis fund is a historic opportunity for people to own their energy assets, to create new jobs through new capital \u2014 but we need to make sure communities and businesses are informed,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">One community\u2019s story<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cThis program is a blessing,\u201d said Evie Bauman, community implementation director of electrification nonprofit<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rewiringamerica.org\/\">\u00a0and GGRF grantee Rewiring America<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo raise awareness about the impact it can make, last October, we launched a demonstration projects in communities that are underserved or overlooked by climate action,\u201d she explained. \u201cWe provided at least one electrification upgrade at no cost to households most likely to see energy bill savings from it, and we partnered with manufacturers to get donated appliances to reach more homes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Buildings are responsible for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nrel.gov\/news\/features\/2023\/nrel-researchers-reveal-how-buildings-across-the-united-states-do-and-could-use-energy.html\">40%<\/a>\u00a0of total U.S. energy use, while residential energy use accounts for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pnas.org\/doi\/full\/10.1073\/pnas.1922205117\">20%<\/a>\u00a0of greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n<p>Rewiring America is part of a nonprofit coalition, Power Forward Communities, which received $2 billion for financing electrification over seven years through the National Clean Investment Fund.<\/p>\n<p>In the small town of De Soto, Georgia, with a population of 122 as of 2022, Rewiring America brought an electric appliance upgrade to about 75 households, partnering with local utility company Georgia Power to bring efficiency initiatives like tax credits and rebates as well.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td-video-replacer\" data-id=\"undefined\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"nH24odAStzQ\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"widget6\" title=\"Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Addresses Racial Disparities in Energy Security\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nH24odAStzQ?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" width=\"100%\" height=\"392\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n<em>Shalanda H. Baker, University of Michigan\u2019s first vice provost for sustainability and climate action, shares data on disparities in energy security and environmental injustice and explains how the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund seeks to address these disparities.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWhen we started with a town hall meeting answering residents\u2019 questions, many of them thought it was a scam. They found it too hard to believe someone was being this generous,\u201d said Rosemery Jones, De Soto resident and Rewiring America project manager.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne resident who participated had no home AC. He struggled to fill out paperwork and couldn\u2019t come to City Hall to sign up because of transportation issues, so I made a home visit. He received a heat pump unit to cool his house,\u201d she continued. \u201cAnother homeowner, a widow unable to replace her broken water heater \u2014 she had been boiling water for two months \u2014 also got a new heat pump installed that winter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI got a call very late one night from an elderly woman battling cancer in a double-wide trailer with five rooms cooled only by two window units, after she received a heat pump. She said \u2018I\u2019m freezing,\u2019 because she didn\u2019t know how to operate her thermostat,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo we had contractors, HVAC technicians and our own staff teach residents how to operate their upgrades,\u201d she continued. \u201cVitalizing De Soto now makes me think of the Roosevelt quote: \u2018People don\u2019t care how much you know until they know how much you care.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018This is not a short-term story\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cThis is the biggest-ever allocation of funding towards green energy, and we\u2019re not stopping,\u201d said Chrystel Cornelius, president and CEO of the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.oweesta.org\/\">\u00a0Oweesta Corporation<\/a>, the longest-standing Native Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI) and a $156 million GGRF Solar for All recipient. .<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we can layer these projects with long-term business development, this funding is literally going to change the economic and energy landscape of our communities \u2014\u00a0 especially our rural and minority-focused communities,\u201d continued Cornelius, a Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation member.<\/p>\n<p>CDFIs, of which there are over 1,200 throughout all U.S. states, are created by the Treaury Department to provide federal and private capital to communities that don\u2019t have easy access to mainstream market capital.<\/p>\n<p>Across largely rural areas nationwide, Oweesta serves 574 federally recognized tribes, 60 state recognized tribes, 30 unrecognized tribes and indigenous individuals in Alaska and Hawaii.<\/p>\n<p>With the GGRF grant, it aims to install solar energy in 20,000 residential households throughout these nations, and kickstart six community solar projects in collaboration with tribal members.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td-video-replacer\" data-id=\"undefined\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"NIIMASfqiyc\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"widget8\" title=\"Supporting Private Sector Investment in Green Energy and Climate Solutions\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NIIMASfqiyc?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" width=\"100%\" height=\"392\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Jessie Buendia, chief impact officer at the Coalition for Green Capital, discusses the challenges private sector entities face when trying to invest in the green economy and the importance of facilitating their participation.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re one step further to saving our planet,\u201d said Cornelius. \u201cWe only have one, and they\u2019re not making any more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs we face the climate crisis, how do we put the most impacted communities first in line to receive the benefits?\u201d said Jessie Buendia, chief impact officer for the<a href=\"https:\/\/coalitionforgreencapital.com\/\">\u00a0Coalition for Green Capital<\/a>, which received $5 billion through the GGRF to support green banks, which are institutions and nonprofits that use public and private capital for clean energy projects.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis can\u2019t be solved with only public-sector investments,\u201d she explained. \u201cMany in these sectors are used to working with hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars. Climate change is a trillion dollar problem, and our federal government is now making a down payment of billions to help communities transition into clean power systems well beyond the grant term.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur goal is to provide self-sustaining lending through a national network of green banks. The loans we provide will recycle, so we can offer more,\u201d Buendia continued. \u201cWe want to ensure the utilities that communities plug into have renewable energy portfolios that can further fund clean energy, that can disincentivize fossil fuels and their health impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re not serving not the easiest customers \u2014 who often have the most money, infrastructure and voice \u2014 but those who\u2019ve been impacted the most,\u201d she added. \u201cThis is not a short-term story, it\u2019s a long term story.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BySelen Ozturk Sep 17, 2024 The&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,9,12,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-opinion","category-science-tech","category-u-s-a"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67467"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67468,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67467\/revisions\/67468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}