
Published September 15th, 2022 in The Paper – Independent News for ABQ
By Lora Lucero, Progressive Democrats of America – Central New Mexico and Anni Hanna, NM Climate Justice
There was a mixture of relief and resignation when the so-called Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) passed the Senate on August 7. Many people, organizations and environmental justice groups worked for years to finally get the IRA over the finish line.
With President Biden signing the IRA into law, Americans can expect many benefits, including: caps on out-of-pocket drug costs; lower energy bills; historic climate investments which should reduce carbon emissions by roughly 40% by 2030; more than $60 billion invested for new domestic clean manufacturing jobs; cleaning up pollution and taking steps to reduce environmental injustice with $60 billion for environmental justice; and closing tax loopholes used by the very wealthy. The IRA didn’t include everything climate activists wanted but many of us knew that failure to pass significant reforms was not an option leading up to the COP27 international climate conference in Egypt this November.