S&P Global: "US Building New Onramp to Clean Energy Transition through Fossil Fuel Towns"
A story about the Inflation Reduction Act's "energy communities" provision pulls on RFF Fellow Daniel Raimi's expertise.
"The energy communities provision in the [Inflation Reduction Act] will likely increase clean energy investment in eligible communities, but much will depend on how Treasury interprets the text of the law," said Daniel Raimi, a fellow at Resources for the Future, a nonprofit research group. "One critical question that Treasury will need to answer is whether, once a location is designated as an 'energy community,' it remains an energy community," Raimi said. "That's because one of the major ways that energy communities are defined is based upon fossil fuel employment rates and overall unemployment rates."
Because those rates change frequently, some locations will meet the eligibility criteria one month, then miss it the next, according to Raimi.
"Investors will look for as much consistency and certainty as possible when making their decisions about siting new clean energy infrastructure, and will hope that Treasury interprets the text to provide as much consistency and stability over time as possible," Raimi added.
