Last week the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR 2, the Moving Forward Act. This bill would help stimulate recovery from the coronavirus induced recession, and will repair and improve infrastructure so it is more resilient, and at the same time address a lot of environmental disparities and improve people’s health. Because there are so many clean energy and clean transportation programs and funding in the bill, it is almost as much of a health care bill as it is a recovery and infrastructure bill.
This bill will really help with many needed improvements, and will really improve our health. It upgrades the electric grid, extends tax credits for clean energy, provides money and tax credits for EVs including electric buses (transit and school buses), other EVs and vehicles used in ports, expands the charging network for EVs, expands funding for energy efficiency programs in schools, public buildings, and homes in neglected areas, funding for repairs and upgrades to water systems including replacing lead pipes. Many provisions of the bill provide funding, programs and jobs for communities that have suffered from environmental racism. Many of the upgrades for energy, water, transportation will make our infrastructure more resilient and better able to withstand the intense storms and heat that climate change is bringing.
Why is this bill is almost a healthcare bill?
> Clean energy, energy efficiency, electric vehicles, and water system upgrades all mean less air and water pollution.
> Less air pollution means fewer asthma attacks, fewer heart attacks, less lung cancer, less other kinds of cancer, fewer strokes, better school performance for kids, and less dementia in adults. Remember that every gallon of gasoline or diesel makes us spend $3.80-$4.80 in associated health costs. Those health burdens are not equally shared.
> Getting chemicals and lead out of our drinking water improves our health and wellbeing, prevents cancer and numerous other health problems, and keeps us from having lead poisoning.
> Getting the pollution out of the air means that communities with the most exposure now will see the biggest benefits.
Most importantly, this bill has funding and programs for communities that have been underserved and overexposed due to our country’s environmental racism that put highways, refineries, power plants and other pollution sources in Black, Indigenous, and communities of color. It has specific programs to help the communities, and the overall reduction in air pollution from clean energy and transportation will help lessen disparities.
The National Law Review has a short summary of the different areas included in the bill. The National Council of State housing agencies has a more detailed, itemized summary. The National Resources Defense Council has a detailed summary of the clean water parts of the bill, including replacing lead pipes. And the Union of Concerned Scientists has a summary of the transportation and energy provisions in the bill.
