Energy transition at centre of US spending debate

US Republican leaders said May 27 a proposed infrastructure spending bill will transfer the cost of the energy transition to consumers, though advocates said it was time to act.

Republicans are in the minority in the US Congress, but hold considerable influence over policy in Washington. Senator Shelly Moore Capito, a Republican representing West Virginia, on May 27 introduced an eight-year, $928bn spending bill she said was the counteroffer to president Joe Biden’s initial infrastructure spending plan of around $2 trillion.

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Joining Capito, Roy Blunt, a Republican representing the state of Montana, suggested the offer from Biden and his fellow Democrats included items that did not address infrastructure shortfalls like roads and bridges.

“We don’t mind debating the other things in the bill and see if that’s what the American people want to do,” he said. “But let’s not do it under the guise of infrastructure.”

Elsewhere, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said the Biden-led proposal was “full of the sort of policies that could increase the price of gas at the pump.”

Unlike his predecessor, Donald Trump, who heavily favored the fossil fuels industry, Biden has put the US economy on the energy transition pathway, setting a goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. Two new major wind farms have been endorsed so far since Biden took office in January.

Bipartisan measures, meanwhile, have emerged in support of clean technology such as carbon capture and storage, though the broader Republican party has shied away from a full endorsement of Biden’s initiatives.

“We remain concerned that their plan still provides no substantial new funds for critical job-creating needs, such as fixing our veterans’ hospitals, building modern rail systems, repairing our transit systems, removing dangerous lead pipes, and powering America’s leadership in a job-creating clean energy economy, among other things,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

Collin Rees, a senior campaigner at climate advocacy group Oil Change International, said the Republican counteroffer was a “deadly non-starter" because it continues with Trump-era "giveaways" to the fossil fuels industry. “This plan is a joke," he said.

Fossil fuels continue to dominate the US energy landscape. The federal government estimates that coal continues to be favoured in the power sector because of higher natural gas prices, while renewable power resources such as wind and solar can expect only incremental growth in the coming years.