Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act (H.R.4447)
This bill seeks to promote the development of clean energy, increase the energy efficiency of buildings, homes and industries, and promote the development of carbon capture and greenhouse gas reduction technologies — all in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas and other emissions that contribute to climate change.
Among its provisions, it reauthorizes and expands numerous federal research and development programs for renewable and alternative energy sources; authorizes programs to help make homes, public buildings and industries more energy efficient; reauthorizes and expands research and development programs for carbon capture and other technologies that help reduce greenhouse gases and other pollutants; authorizes programs to modernize the national electric grid and make it more resilient, and to build out a national system for recharging electric vehicles; and establishes and expands policies and programs to support the deployment and commercial applications of clean energy technologies and U.S. manufacturing, as well as the development of clean-energy jobs.
In addition, it includes environmental justice provisions that require all federal agencies to identify and mitigate the adverse human health or environmental impacts that federal programs or activities have on minorities and low-income communities, and it promotes investments in clean energy projects in low-income areas and disadvantaged areas impacted by climate change.
(As of press time, Democratic leaders had not identified the total dollar level of authorizations and other support included in the measure.)
Promote Clean Energy
The bill reauthorizes and expands numerous Energy Department programs that fund research into renewable and alternative energy sources, including solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, hydroelectric energy and nuclear power.
It also reauthorizes the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), the Energy Department's research agency, authorizing a total of $3.3 billion through FY 2025.
Renewable Energy Research
The measure authorizes through FY 2025 numerous renewable energy research programs, including totals of $1.6 billion for solar energy, $603 million for wind power, $671 million for advanced geothermal projects, and $815 million for water-based power (including both hydroelectric and marine power generation research).
Clean Energy Technology
The bill authorizes a series of national clean energy technology transfer programs, including $200 million over four years for a Regional Clean Energy Innovation Program, $60 million for a National Clean Energy Incubator Program, and $12 million for a clean technology university prize program, especially at minority serving institutions. It also authorizes a number of pilot programs and activities at national laboratories.
Nuclear Energy
The bill expands current Energy Department programs for a range of commercial nuclear reactors and encourages the development of new, advanced reactor designs, and it authorizes funding for nuclear engineer training programs.
It creates a high-assay, low enriched uranium research and development program to build the capability of producing the needed amounts of such fuel for advanced nuclear reactors by Dec. 31, 2025. It also requires the department to establish a used nuclear fuel program that incorporates both open and closed fuel cycle technologies, and it creates an advanced fuels program for both light water and advanced reactors that focuses on proliferation resistance and accident tolerance.
It also reauthorizes several nuclear educational research and development programs, including the university nuclear leadership program ($15 million a year), radiological facilities management ($20 million annually through FY 2030), and the nuclear energy university program (earmarking 20% of nuclear energy research and development programs funding each year).
Energy Efficiency & Pollution Reduction
To help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the bill supports research into carbon capture and other greenhouse gas reduction technologies, and it authorizes several programs to help increase energy efficiency and reduce power usage by consumers.
Energy Efficient Buildings
The measure establishes "green" model building codes and authorizes $250 million over ten years for the Energy Department to provide financial assistance to contractors, homebuilders, architects and associated groups to help them adopt and implement updated energy efficient building standards. It also authorizes a grant program to train individuals on energy efficient technology installation.
It reauthorizes the Energy Department’s weatherization assistance program, which helps low-income households (including the elderly and individuals with disabilities) pay for improvements to a home’s weatherproofing and thereby reduce heating and cooling costs, and it expands the program to add a direct competitive grant to entities that provide weatherization services.
The bill also creates an Energy Department homeowner rebate program to subsidize the cost of replacing or updating their HVAC system or insulating their homes to make them more energy efficient, authorizing $6 billion through FY 2025 for such federal or state rebates should states establish their own rebate programs. It authorizes $500 million for grants to contractors whose employees complete a training program on home energy efficiency improvements.
For federal buildings, it requires the department to revise its energy efficience performance standards so that new buildings and those undergoing major renovations meet or exceed international or American energy standards (or the state standard, if it is more strict). It also establishes a Federal Smart Building Program to implement automated "smart building technology" for all federal buildings.
It also reauthorizes grants to states to help local governments improve the energy efficiency of public buildings, and it creates a Better Building Program to provide technical assistance for entities to set and achieve goals to improve energy efficiency, reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants, and reduce embodied carbon in commercial and residential buildings.
Other Energy Efficiency Programs
The bill modifies the Energy Department’s industrial energy efficiency program to clarify its focus and promote efforts to deploy technologies that will increase energy efficiency in energy-intensive industrial sectors. The department must also establish new partnerships with academia and industry groups to identify and develop new energy-efficiency methods and technologies.
It expands the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program to allow for projects that reduce fossil fuel emissions and diversify energy supplies, including by facilitating and promoting the use of alternative fuels.
Carbon Capture Technologies / Emissions Reductions
The measure reauthorizes and expands several Energy Department programs that conduct research on and demonstrate methods to mitigate the carbon and other greenhouse gases that are emitted from fossil fuel power sources — including the capture, storage and usage of carbon from power plants, and the development of improved methods to detect methane leaks from natural gas systems.
It establishes a financial assistance program to help states repair and modernize their natural gas systems without passing along higher utility costs to low-income customers.
It also includes provisions to reduce vehicle greenhouse gas emissions and make vehicles cleaner and more energy efficient. It reauthorizes the transportation electrification program and the domestic manufacturing conversion grant program, as well as the advanced technology vehicles manufacturing incentive program to promote the electrification of the transportation sector and the domestic manufacturing of advanced technology vehicles.
Finally, it establishes a Clean Cities Coalition Program through FY 2025 to help reduce petroleum consumption, improve air quality, promote energy and economic security, and encourage deployment of a diverse, domestic supply of alternative fuels in transportation.
Industrial Innovation & Competitiveness
The bill establishes a national plan for smart manufacturing technology to improve productivity and energy efficiency.
It authorizes $500 million for a new Energy Department program to support research and development of technologies that reduce industrial emissions, and creates a program to provide technical assistance to industrial sectors that adopt emissions reduction technologies.
The measure also requires the Energy Department to establish a program of research, development, demonstration and commercial application to assure the long-term, secure and sustainable supply of energy critical materials.
Energy Infrastructure
The bill authorizes several programs to modernize the national electric grid, which is the network of generators, substations, transmission and distribution systems that connect electricity producers to consumers. These include research programs to support the development of improved energy infrastructure technologies and to incentivize their commercial use.
Electric Grid
The bill creates an Energy Department program to support research and development projects designed to improve the resiliency, performance or efficiency of the electric grid, including by deploying technologies to improve system distribution and projects related to transmission and operation. It authorizes a total of $3.5 billion through FY 2025 for this program.
It also reauthorizes and expands research and development programs for new electric grid planning, modeling and integration technologies and methods — authorizing $930 million for electric grid modeling and smart grid demonstration projects, $116 million to support research and development of hybrid energy systems that combine power from multiple renewable energy sources, and $290 million to support the integration of distributed renewable sources into the electric grid. It also authorizes a research and development program to improve the cybersecurity and physical security of electric grid components, authorizing a total of $829 million.
The measure directs the Energy Department to establish a department-wide research and development program to promote the development and deployment of energy storage systems, which help maintain reliable electricity for those electric grids that utilize the electricity generated from renewable sources, such as wind or solar power, which can vary in output.
It authorizes $25 million through FY 2025 for a new program to provide grants and technical assistance to rural energy cooperatives or groups of rural energy cooperatives to develop and demonstrate energy storage and microgrid projects that use energy from renewable sources (a microgrid is a portion of the electric grid that can operate independently from the larger grid as necessary). It also authorizes $20 million for a competitive grant program to encourage communities to adopt a model expedited permitting process for distributed energy systems (i.e., systems that support onsite or local energy use, such as onsite solar panels or fuel cells).
Finally, it includes provisions to improve coordination between regional electrical grid operators to ensure the efficient distribution of energy across the national network, and to promote the development of renewable energy projects on both federal and tribal lands.
Energy Investments in Low-Income Areas
The measure authorizes $1 billion through FY 2025 to establish a grant program to assist operators of solar power installations that are located in, or serve, low-income and otherwise underserved areas.
It establishes an independent, nonprofit entity (the Clean Energy and Sustainability Accelerator) with a 30-year charter to finance clean energy, emissions reductions and climate resiliency projects in marginalized climate-change impacted communities, authorizing $10 billion over six years.
Dam Power Generation & Safety
The bill expands the Energy Department's hydroelectric production incentives program, making nonfederal dams located in areas where there is inadequate electric service eligible for grants if the area has a generating capacity of less than 10 megawatts.
It requires the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), in considering operating permits for a new dam, to require that such dams are operated and maintained in a manner that ensures dam safety and public safety. In assessing the financial viability of an applicant for a dam license, FERC must ensure that applicants will be able to meet safety requirements when operating the dam.
Electric Vehicle Infrastructure
The measure supports electrical vehicle infrastructure by establishing a five-year rebate program for installing publicly accessible electric vehicle supply equipment. It requires states to encourage the deployment of electric vehicle charging stations, or to authorize the recovery of capital investments in electric vehicle charging networks by utilities, and it updates model building codes to integrate electric vehicle supply equipment. It also directs the Energy Department to ensure that the electric vehicle programs in the bill consider the needs of underserved or disadvantaged communities.
Environmental Justice & Other Provisions
The bill makes it the responsibility of all federal agencies to achieve environmental justice as part of their mission — by identifying, addressing and mitigating disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of the programs, policies and activities of the federal agency on populations of color, communities of color, tribal and indigenous communities, and low-income communities in the United States.
It gives individuals the legal right to seek relief from agencies that fail to comply with the bill's environmental justice provisions, or to ensure an agency does comply.
It creates a working group within EPA to provide guidance to federal agencies on ways to identify disproportionately high and adverse human health and environmental effects, to assist in updating an environmental justice strategy, and to identify important areas for federal agencies regarding environmental justice. It also permits EPA to award grants to help parties participate in decisions impacting the health and safety of their communities.
Green Energy Workforce Development
The measure establishes a new energy workforce development program, authorizing $100 million over five years, and it creates two new grant programs to train workers in different aspects of the energy sector — one by helping businesses pay the wages of employees who are being trained, and the other to support offshore wind career training programs.
It also authorizes $500 million over five years for activities within the Energy Department that promote economic development of minority, women and under-represented individuals and specifies that at least half of the funding must be used for loans to minority business enterprises.
Other Provisions
The measure also does the following:
Generally requires that all iron, steel and manufactured goods used in the construction, maintenance or repair of a public building or other public infrastructure funded pursuant to this bill be produced in the United States.
Requires the payment of prevailing wages for all laborers and mechanics employed on projects funded by the measure.
Directs EPA to phase down the use of refrigerants known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and requires all entities that produce, import, export, reclaim, destroy, and use any covered HFC to regularly report those amounts to EPA.
