President Obama will sign the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 into law today.
The massive $787 billion bill supports national strategies in efficiency and renewable energy, smart grid, transmission, advanced vehicles, and many other aspects of the environment and climate change.
The final economic recovery package invests $92 billion in cleantech, including $32.80 billion in clean energy, $26.86 billion in energy efficiency, and $18.95 billion in green transportation. That's less than the House Bill ($100 billion) but more than the Senate bill ($86 billion).
We're happy the $50 billion in guarantees for nuclear and liquid coal was removed from the Bill.
The Alliance to Save Energy estimates the energy efficiency measures alone can create over 100,000 green jobs over the next two years and, over the life of the measures, reduce U.S. carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 200 million metric tons. They commend Congress for extending, expanding, and simplifying federal income tax credits for homeowners who make energy efficiency home improvements and for breaking new ground on utility regulatory reform and stronger energy building codes.
"This is a bold first step in moving our nation from the ‘dark ages' of excessive energy use, in which we currently are the least efficient of all industrialized economies, to becoming the most efficient," says Alliance President Kateri Callahan.
The Bill also includes $1.5 billion for improvements on our public lands including remediating abandoned mines. The funding goes to the National Park Service, the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. "These much needed funds will create thousands of jobs, reduce water pollution, and restore fish and wildlife habitat in rural communities across the country," says Lauren Pagel, Earthworks Policy Director. The EPA estimates that 40% of the headwaters of western watersheds are polluted by mining.
Detailed summaries of the energy efficiency provisions
Comparison of the House, Senate and Final Bill
Key Aspects of the Bill include:
• Clean energy tax credits extended and "recession proofed" by offering choices in how investors take the credit.
• Creation of a 30% tax credit (capped at $2 billion) for renewable energy companies building manufacturing facilities in the U.S. over the next two years.
• A $500 million Green Jobs Act will train 70,000 workers in renewable energy and energy efficiency jobs over 2 years;
• $4.5 billion to upgrade the grid for greater efficiency and to be able to handle large renewable energy inputs;
• $5 billion for the Weatherization Assistance Program, sufficient to weatherize 1 million homes a year, while creating jobs in auditing and retrofitting industries;
• $4.5 billion to make 75% of federal buildings more energy efficient, the nation's biggest energy user;
• $3.1 billion for the State Energy Program to help citizens and businesses save energy; $300 million for state matching grants for consumer rebates on higher-tier energy-efficient appliances;
• $3.2 billion for State Energy Efficiency & Conservation Block Grants that allow state/ local governments to aggressively implement energy efficiency programs;
• $8.4 billion in public transit, with $1.5 billion set aside for upgrades and expansions of existing transit systems, creating or preserving 252,000 jobs;
• $400 million to encourage states to adopt stronger building energy codes and to adopt utility regulatory reform leading to rate reforms, such as decoupling, that will help their customers save energy;
• $8 billion for new high speed rail projects.
• $19 billion for water infrastructure and clean up
The following page covers these elements in more detail; the third page shows a table that the summarizes the cleantech portion of the Bill.
