Earthjustice Celebrates Climate Provisions of Inflation Reduction Act, Vows to Fight Harmful Fossil Fuels Provisions

Today, President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act. After the signing ceremony, Earthjustice President Abigail Dillen issued the following statement:

"President Biden just signed into law the largest investment in climate solutions in U.S. history. This bill gives us critical tools that we need to remake our economy, create new jobs, and ultimately overcome our disastrous addiction to fossil fuels. It includes major investments in renewable energy, building and transportation electrification, and climate-smart agriculture, while also providing incentives for consumers to electrify their homes, appliances, and vehicles. It also invests in air monitoring, cleaning up pollution at our ports, and community-led initiatives to address the worst impacts of pollution and climate change. Now, we can and we must begin the hard work of ensuring that taxpayer dollars go to true climate solutions and the communities that need them most.

"While the Inflation Reduction Act creates new pathways to address the climate crisis, it also includes many dangerous giveaways that threaten to set us back, entrenching fossil fuel dependence and burdening communities with even more toxic pollution. We will fight any efforts by Congress to weaken bedrock environmental laws and silence people who are in harm's way, and we will redouble our efforts to stop projects of all kinds that would endanger people and ecosystems and exacerbate climate change, environmental injustice, and ecosystem collapse. We remain guided by the principle that our clean energy transition cannot leave any community behind, and those most impacted by energy development must have a say in the process. We will stand and fight in partnership with our clients and partners in the Gulf region, Appalachia, Alaska, and beyond.

"The Inflation Reduction Act gives us a chance to speed change and reduce emissions fast enough, but we will need the whole-of-government approach that President Biden promised to meet non-negotiable climate deadlines. The Biden Administration must rapidly move forward with a suite of strong executive actions that compel pollution reductions in our most polluting sectors and afford meaningful relief and protection to those communities most impacted by continued reliance on fossil fuels. Earthjustice remains committed to working with the Biden Administration to ensure that the climate provisions of this bill are implemented in the most just and effective way possible, and we will never stop fighting government action and spending that endanger the lives, livelihoods, and health of frontline communities."