Climate Investments from the White House Are Coming to Virginia – What Should We Expect?

Richmond’s Main Street Station is an intermodal station for Amtrak’s rail service and Richmond’s city transit bus service.

Our country is on the brink of the most significant climate investment we have ever made. Earlier this month, Congress passed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, investing an historic $1.2 trillion for physical infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and transit. And just last week, the House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better budget reconciliation bill, investing another $1.75 trillion into “human” infrastructure. The Build Back Better plan is our best chance to tackle the climate crisis, and if passed by the Senate, the U.S. will be on track to cut our carbon pollution in half by 2030.

So what do these bills mean for the conservation movement in Virginia? We’ll take a look at what climate funding and projects Virginia will receive from these pieces of federal legislation below. We’ve highlighted VCN’s top policy issues, but you can follow the linked resources for more details on these issues.

INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT & JOBS ACT: THE GOOD & THE BAD

The bipartisan legislation provides over one trillion dollars for physical infrastructure, including $550 billion for infrastructure related to priority issues we list in Our Common Agenda. The National Association of Counties broke down the spending for these issue areas in the chart to the right–much of the funding is directed towards transportation but also includes investments in our water, energy, and resiliency efforts.

While the large investment in our nation’s infrastructure is critically important for the health and safety of our population and our environment, not all of the money was allocated with the most climate-smart practices in mind. Here’s a breakdown of the good and the bad of the Infrastructure and Jobs Act for Virginia, by VCN’s issue areas:

TRANSPORTATION

  • Passenger Rail: Rail transit was the big winner of the IIJA.  Investments to expand reliable, frequent rail service to more Americans became the cornerstone of the deal’s approach. In Virginia, we expect $1.2 billion over five years to improve public transit across the state, which will help cut down on Virginian’s commute time and vehicle emissions.
  • Vehicle Electrification: Virginia expects to receive $106 million over five years to expand electric vehicle charging stations. Virginia will also have the opportunity to apply for the $2.5 billion in grant funding dedicated to electric vehicle charging in the bill.
  • Transportation Infrastructure Repair: The IIJA will invest in repairs for our roads and bridges with a focus on climate change mitigation, resilience, equity, and safety for all users, including cyclists and pedestrians.
  • Highway Expansion: The largest chunk of funding that Virginia expects to receive is a whopping $7 billion for highway expansion. Unfortunately, our largest piece of spending from the IIJA will fund projects that further harm our environment. Highway expansion has been proven to actually increase levels of traffic and congestion by incentivizing more people to drive, which brings more polluting car emissions on the road along with it.

CLEAN ENERGY

  • Energy Efficiency: Virginia will receive a portion of the bill’s $3.5 billion national investment in building weatherization, which will reduce energy costs for families.

WATER

  • Chesapeake Bay: The EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program received a $238 million boost over the next five years. The investment comes at a pivotal time, as the Chesapeake Bay restoration deadline of 2025 rapidly approaches. The additional $47 million per year will further projects that reduce pollution and accomplish the Bay cleanup goals by 2025.
  • Drinking Water: Virginia expects to receive $738 million over the next five years to improve water infrastructure. This investment will ensure clean, safe drinking water for our communities.

LAND CONSERVATION

  • Extreme Weather Events: Infrastructure investments include preparation for more frequent extreme weather events caused by climate change. Virginia expects to receive $15 million over five years to protect our land from wildfires.
Investments to advance public transit in Virginia will protect our air, water, and human health from carbon pollution. Image credit: Harlow Chandler III

BUILDING BACK BETTER IN VIRGINIA

But wait–there’s more! Climate investments in the Build Back Better bill will be 10x greater than any climate funding our country has ever seen before. Of the bill’s $550 billion in climate spending, Virginia would receive $14.2 billion over a decade. To put that in context, the incoming funding would be seven times more than all spending by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality over the past decade.

The Build Back Better Act provides funding for nearly every policy issue area VCN addresses in Our Common Agenda, from transportation reform, to climate-smart agriculture, to industrial decarbonization, and everything in between. Here’s a breakdown of projects for Virginia from the proposed Build Back Better bill:

CLEAN ENERGY

  • Creates or expands clean energy tax credits for clean electricity options, energy efficient buildings, advanced energy manufacturing, and industrial decarbonization efforts.
  • Places a fee on methane emissions, a greenhouse gas that is 20x more potent than carbon dioxide.
  • Creates a Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (aka Green Bank) to provide low-cost financing for clean energy infrastructure projects.
  • Develops more than 150,000 new jobs through clean energy development and investments.
  • Enables more than 60,000 farmers to switch to renewable energy.
  • More than doubles the speed of wind and solar power expansion.
  • Creates rebates for electric appliances and energy efficient home retrofits.

WATER

  • Invests in climate-smart agriculture to reduce nutrient runoff into streams, rivers, and the Bay and reduces agricultural greenhouse gasses emissions.

LAND USE & TRANSPORTATION

  • Creates an electric bike (e-bike) tax incentive.
  • Provides funding to replace diesel school buses with electric school buses.
  • Provides consumer tax credits for electric vehicles.
  • Expands and speeds up the development of electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
  • Provides funding to replace polluting heavy-duty vehicles with clean vehicles.

LAND CONSERVATION

  • Provides funding for national, state, and local forest restoration and fuels reduction.
  • Provides funding for state forestry conservation programs.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

  • Creates a “Civilian Climate Corps” (CCC), a new climate conservation corps program which provides entry-level jobs in conservation and climate work.
  • Provides funding for community capacity building.
  • Provides funding for projects which address environmental justice, such as lead remediation, air pollution reduction, air pollution monitoring, and data collection on communities most burdened by climate change and environmental injustice

The Build Back Better Act includes the most significant investments in climate and clean energy, ever. We know that the effects of climate change are only going to get more severe unless we act now. Already, our beaches are flooding, our forests are burning, and our community is getting sick and dying from pollution. The Build Back Better Act is a major step in the right direction to address climate action, protect our landscapes, and enhance our rivers & streams.

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