Written by: Sara Dennis
This article is the fourth we’ll be posting, exploring the various areas and sectors the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) bill aims to address through investment and funding. If you’re curious about the other articles in our series, you can find them here: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3!
EV Infrastructure
Even though Electric Vehicles (EVs) are becoming more affordable and efficient, adoption rates in the United States fall behind those of China and Europe. Experts in the field cite our lack of extensive and unified EV charging infrastructure as one of the main reasons for this. With large gaps in our EV charging infrastructure, it makes some trips impossible, as the range of an EV is less than the distance between two charging stations. The IIJA, introduces the first national investment in EV charging infrastructure. With $7.5 billion dollars, the bill aims to fund the building of a national network of EV charging stations along highway corridors and in rural, disadvantaged, and hard-to-reach communities, as well as support and create domestic jobs.
Disaster Resiliency
Every year climate-related disasters happen around the globe, and the United States is no exception. Just in 2020, the US faced 22 extreme weather events and climate-related disasters with a “cumulative price tag of nearly $100 Billion” (FACT SHEET). These events can be flooding, drought, heat waves, wildfires, etc., and they can have severe and long-lasting impacts on people from illness to homelessness, trauma and more. Furthermore, the effects of climate-related weather events aren’t felt evenly among the population, people of color are more likely to live in areas that experience even hotter temperatures (than surrounding areas) during heat waves or extreme flooding, for example.
The IIJA would invest over $50 billion into making communities and the infrastructure they rely on less vulnerable to power outages, droughts, floods and other climate-related weather events. In addition to safeguarding infrastructure against natural disasters, the deal would also include some funding to make our infrastructure more resilient against cyber-attacks, another growing issue.
Power Infrastructure
In the last year the US has seen power outages due to wildfires, winter storms, hurricanes and more. The White House FACT SHEET references a Department of Energy study which found that “power outages cost the US economy up to $70 billion annually”. Additionally, the power grid scored a ‘C-‘ grade in the ASCE’s 2021 Infrastructure Report Card, which noted that despite increased spending on proactive resiliency measures, extreme weather is still an increasing threat. Furthermore, there’s an investment gap in all three of the major components of the electric grid – generation, transmission and distribution. The IIJA would invest $73 billion into power infrastructure, focusing on resiliency and the expansion of renewable energy. It also would create a new Grid Deployment Authority, investing in “research and development for advanced transmission and electricity distribution technologies” while also promoting smart grid technologies. Finally, some of the $73 billion would also go into research hubs, looking at advanced nuclear reactors, carbon capture technology and clean hydrogen.
Conclusion
If passed the IIJA would have widespread impacts, locally and nationally. It focuses on sectors that are long-due for investment and upgrades, like our roads, bridges, airports, public transit and drinking water infrastructure, as well as technology to help bring us into the future like EVs and EV Infrastructure, Electric Buses and more. Finally, it would also invest in communities, helping them reconnect, get better access to public transit, and aid with environmental remediation.
Sources:
1. “ASCE's 2021 American Infrastructure Report Card.” ASCE's 2021 Infrastructure Report Card, American Society of Civil Engineers, 19 July 2021.
2. Bhatia, Aatish, and Quoctrung Bui. “The Infrastructure Plan: What's in and What's Out.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 28 July 2021.
3. “FACT SHEET: HISTORIC Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal.” The White House, The United States Government, 1 Aug. 2021.
4. Kolodny, Lora. “The U.S. Is Falling Further behind China and Europe In Electric-Vehicle Production.” CNBC, CNBC, 30 June 2021.
5. Shivaram, Deepa. “Extreme Heat Is Worse For Low-Income, Nonwhite Americans, A New Study Shows.” NPR, NPR, 14 July 2021.
6. Wendover Productions, and Sam Denby. The Electric Vehicle Charging Problem. YouTube / The Electric Vehicle Charging Problem, Wendover Productions, 9 Feb. 2021. Accessed 10 Sept. 2021.