Biden administration’s fixation with identity politics could derail green initiatives
President Joe Biden’s comingling of identity politics with climate activism has created a potential opening for President Donald Trump to cancel multibillion dollar “wasteful, green boondoggles,” according to energy policy analysts. Ironically, the green agenda could be hoisted on its own intersectional identity politics petard.
The previous administration’s emphasis on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) initiatives, they argue, has ironically gummed up the works for at least some of Biden’s green grants organized through the Investment, Infrastructure, and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act. In the early days of the Biden administration, he created his “Justice 40” initiative with the goal that “40 percent of the overall benefits [of certain programs] flow to disadvantaged communities.”
(RELATED: Getting Back to an America First Energy Policy)
Intersectionality Creates Road Blocks for the Progressive Agenda
In an interview with Restoration News, Dan Kish, a senior fellow with the Institute for Energy Research (IER), said, “A problem with the Justice40 Initiative is that was trying to shoehorn a DEIA agenda into federal government without statutory support.” IER is a think tank that supports free market policies. “For example,” Kish said, “grantmaking at the Department was Energy was slowed down as the agency tried to insert these extra-legal requirements into energy R&D. How does 40 percent of the benefits of research into fusion energy ever flow to disadvantaged communities?”
Biden’s DEIA requirements built around racial and ethnic metrics intruded on all federal agencies during his time in office. Trump moved aggressively to end “radical and wasteful DEI programs and preferencing” in one of his first executive orders in January.
Ironically, Kish noted, it is Biden’s pursuit of race conscious standards that could lend a helping hand to Trump administration officials looking to unwind climate grants that populate key provisions of the Infrastructure, Investment, and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). How much the new Trump administration can do to save tax dollar dollars from being allocated for what Kish describes as “wasteful green boondoggles” is an open question.
“Biden’s EPA may have been slow in getting the money out the door,” Kish said, “which means there could be an opportunity here for the new Trump administration that redounds to benefit of taxpayers. But I can guarantee that there are going to be some examples of bureaucracy and the Justice40 and DEIA requirements prolonging the timelines and allowing Trump to revoke funds in the end.”
Identifying the Green Boondoggles
So, what are some of those boondoggles?
A Restoration News analysis of the Inflation Reduction Act found several examples. Section 60103 of the Act details state and municipal grants funneled through the EPA to the tune of almost $27 billion. These grants are tied in with the “Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund” specifically tailored “to provide grants and loans to low income / disadvantaged neighborhoods for zero-emissions technologies and other projects that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” according to the legislation.
Another multibillion-dollar example of an EPA grant worthy of scrutiny comes in the form of “Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grants.” These grants listed under Section 60201 of IRA include “climate related projects in disadvantaged communities (such as pollution monitoring, addressing indoor air pollution, and mobilizing ‘disadvantaged communities’ in state and federal rule makings and other public processes.” They will cost taxpayers $3 billion unless the Trump administration can find a way to cancel them.
Bonner Cohen, an energy policy analyst with the National Center for Public Research, a Washington-based free market think tank, sees no reason Trump officials not to be aggressive in cutting these wasteful programs. He cites a recent Supreme Court ruling that should give further impetus to the opponents of DEI in particular and racial quotas in general.
“In pursuing an ‘all-of-government’ approach to addressing the ‘climate crisis,’ Biden officials allowed their hubris to undermine both their climate and their DEI agendas,” Cohen said in an email. “DEI has been in full retreat ever since the Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision overturning racial preferences in university admissions, a precedent that applies to public and private entities beyond the education sector. Simply put, DEI lacks a legal foundation. The forced transition to green energy has encountered its own legal roadblocks along with public resistance to government mandates on the use of energy. ”
Virtually every federal agency has its finger in the pie. Under Section 60501 of IRA, Biden’s Federal Highway Administration is charged with releasing a “Neighborhood Access and Equity Grant Program” for a little more than $3.2 billion. This grant is designed to “improve walkability and transportation access for projects in disadvantaged and underserved communities.”
Cohen has a recommended call to action.
“The grants (handouts) lavished on ‘underserved communities’ for dual DEI and climate purposes now make for an inviting target for a Trump administration determined to do away with both,” he said.
Restoration News has released multiple groundbreaking reports on wasteful green energy schemes. A weekly column rounds up the worst of the offenders in our Energy & Environment collection. Our expert researchers have tracked down billions in useless public spending based on junk science. Learn more in our comprehensive report: How the Left’s Global Warming Ideology Wrecked Science—And How to Stop It.
(READ MORE: Investigations into Self-Described “Climate Friendly” Financial Company Could Trip Up Arizona Democrats)
