USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – The mammoth spending bill Congress approved Monday to curb the spiraling pandemic and prevent a government shutdown carries another description: a substantial step to confront climate change.
Environmental advocates are touting the $2.3 trillion bill as a potential game-changer thanks to tax breaks for renewable energy sources, initiatives to promote carbon capture storage and a significant phasedown of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) that are a key culprit to the planet s warming.
In addition, the measure not only eliminates the Trump administration s proposed deep cuts to federal climate science programs but adds millions to those programs for 2021.
“Passage of this bill represents real forward progress on climate change and clean energy. said Lindsey Griffith, federal policy director at the Clean Air Task Force, who calls the package the most significant U.S. federal climate legislation ever.”