How the Biden Administration Is Fighting for Clean Air and Water, Climate Protection, and Healthy Communities
“No administration in history has done more than President Joe Biden’s to ensure that all people—regardless of race, income, or ZIP code—live in healthy and safe communities. The Biden administration has advanced an unprecedented climate, clean energy, and environmental justice agenda to accelerate progress toward securing access to clean air and safe water, affordable and clean renewable energy, and climate-resilient and healthy communities for all Americans.1
In August 2022, President Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), delivering historic investments to support the most ambitious climate and clean energy plan in U.S. history.2 The IRA is accelerating the transition to a clean energy economy that will lower household energy costs, create good jobs, reduce planet-warming pollution, and protect communities from harmful climate change effects. In addition, the IRA invested roughly $55 billion to reduce local pollution and improve public health and economic security in Black, brown, Indigenous, and low-income communities. (see Figure 1) Combined with the more than $93 billion for pollution cleanup and lead pipe removal delivered by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA)—also known as the bipartisan infrastructure law3—(see Figure 2) the Biden administration is targeting at least $148 billion to improve lives and livelihoods in disadvantaged communities.
This new funding is part of the Biden administration’s Justice40 Initiative,4 developed in partnership with environmental justice leaders and front-line communities, which aims to deliver at least 40 percent of federal climate, clean energy, and other infrastructure investment benefits from more than 500 federal programs to low-income communities and communities of color.5 These benefits include healthy air quality, safe drinking water, climate-resilient affordable housing, and affordable clean energy and transportation.
The IRA and IIJA funds designated for disadvantaged communities, along with other federal investments mobilized by the Justice40 Initiative, are beginning to bring real benefits to low-income, Black, brown, and Indigenous communities overburdened by high levels of pollution and economic and racial inequality. For example, the administration has invested more than $11.7 billion in IIJA funds to ensure that communities in all 55 states and U.S. territories have access to safe drinking water and clean rivers, lakes, and other water resources—with plans to spend an additional $2.3 billion from the IIJA for clean and safe water in 2024.6
The administration also has invested $3.5 billion in IIJA funds to support the cleanup of more than 150 high-priority Superfund sites, many of which have languished without funding for years.7 This investment also launched 96 new cleanup projects in 33 states and territories, including Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and more.8 According to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe, “[This] funding has made it possible for EPA to initiate clean ups at every single Superfund site where construction work is ready to begin. This is an incredible milestone in our efforts to clean up and protect communities, deliver local jobs, enhance economic activity, and improve people’s lives for years to come.”9 In addition, the administration awarded $1 billion in IRA funds for roughly 400 projects in all 50 states to expand parks and tree cover, reduce extreme heat risks, and improve public health and quality of life in communities.10
This report discusses how these and the Biden administration’s other historic investments are accelerating efforts to guarantee that all people can live in healthy and safe communities by 1) ensuring clean air, clean water, and a healthy climate; 2) lowering household energy costs and providing access to clean renewable energy; and 3) improving community climate resilience, transportation, and access to living-wage jobs.”
Learn more from the Center for American Progress.