The United States Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is poisoned.
It’s bad enough that it divided the climate money by ten and then changed it to be about “energy security” (probably better known as drill mania), taking our earmarked climate change save-the-world money and instead dedicating much of it to burning the world.
The snake in the grass is hiding in section 50265. This section blocks sun&wind power on federal land until oil and gas have gotten a stab first, in each calendar year.
Every time the Bureau of Land Management is about to develop solar or wind, they first need to make sure that earlier in that year, all gas or oil developers have gotten at least half of what they expressed interest in (up to a minimum of two million acres. A threshold so big that it’s meaningless. That’s bigger than the entire state of Delaware, or Brunei, or Palestine). So sun&wind on federal land becomes—by law—completely dependent on oil and gas. There’s also a bug—the fossil mob need to get at least half of what they expressed interest in—so if they flake out or if there is any hesitation or problem or issue with the fossil development, that blocks sun&wind!
And it’s even worse for offshore, where there’s no “half of expressed interest” clause. Lease at least 60 million offshore acres to fossil drillers, or forget about any sun&wind at sea. (Probably better known as the entire area of the United Kingdom, or Uganda, or Ghana, or Romania, or any of the 48 US states smaller than Texas; only Alaska is bigger)
So for the first time in history, development of sun and wind is gated by the development of oil or gas.
That’s in addition to clauses also approving disputed oil pipelines, and billions of dollars gifted to the oil industry in the form of new carbon credits for them.
The bill places high hopes on fossil-burn-adjacent capture and storage pie-in-the-sky programs. Now, I’ve spoken out in favor of capture and storage, because we need to net negative, but that’s in addition to stopping burning. Capturing while perpetuating a burn site (such as power plants) is wack compared to the much more efficient solution: leave it in the ground! This supposed tech is some perpetuum mobile bullshit where you pretend to burn the cake and have it too, while raking in billions in govt subsidies.
SEC. 50265. ENSURING ENERGY SECURITY.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Federal land.--The term ``Federal land'' means public lands
(as defined in section 103 of the Federal Land Policy and
Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702)).
(2) Offshore lease sale.--The term ``offshore lease sale''
means an oil and gas lease sale--
(A) that is held by the Secretary in accordance with the
Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.); and
(B) that, if any acceptable bids have been received for any
tract offered in the lease sale, results in the issuance of a
lease.
(3) Onshore lease sale.--The term ``onshore lease sale'' means
a quarterly oil and gas lease sale--
(A) that is held by the Secretary in accordance with
section 17 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226); and
(B) that, if any acceptable bids have been received for any
parcel offered in the lease sale, results in the issuance of a
lease.
(b) Limitation on Issuance of Certain Leases or Rights-of-way.--
During the 10-year period beginning on the date of enactment of this
Act--
(1) the Secretary may not issue a right-of-way for wind or
solar energy development on Federal land unless--
(A) an onshore lease sale has been held during the 120-day
period ending on the date of the issuance of the right-of-way
for wind or solar energy development; and
(B) the sum total of acres offered for lease in onshore
lease sales during the 1-year period ending on the date of the
issuance of the right-of-way for wind or solar energy
development is not less than the lesser of--
(i) 2,000,000 acres; and
(ii) 50 percent of the acreage for which expressions of
interest have been submitted for lease sales during that
period; and
(2) the Secretary may not issue a lease for offshore wind
development under section 8(p)(1)(C) of the Outer Continental Shelf
Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1337(p)(1)(C)) unless--
(A) an offshore lease sale has been held during the 1-year
period ending on the date of the issuance of the lease for
offshore wind development; and
(B) the sum total of acres offered for lease in offshore
lease sales during the 1-year period ending on the date of the
issuance of the lease for offshore wind development is not less
than 60,000,000 acres.
(c) Savings.--Except as expressly provided in paragraphs (1) and
(2) of subsection (b), nothing in this section supersedes, amends, or
modifies existing law.