Press Releases

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) today joined her colleagues in the House of Representatives to pass H.R. 4447, the Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act. This legislation makes long overdue reforms to American energy policy, authorizing major investments in the transition to a low-carbon and eventually a net zero future. H.R. 4447, which passed the House 220 to 185, includes programs to develop and deploy renewable energy resources, improve home energy efficiency, electrify transportation, modernize the grid, prioritize environmental justice, and reduce overall carbon pollution. 

“While measures in this bill will do a lot to get the US on the right track as we grapple with the economic and societal challenges that a necessary rapid transformation to clean energy requires, much work remains ahead to address the climate crisis,” said Pingree. “This bill is an important step on a path toward green job creation because it invests millions in workforce training within the clean energy sector, which is a win for Maine’s future economic growth.”

Two of Pingree’s amendments were adopted in this legislation. Pingree’s amendment with Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) includes agricultural and grazing practices and forest management and afforestation as additional priorities in the Department of Energy carbon removal program established in H.R. 4447. This will establish a research, development, and demonstration program to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere on a large scale, prioritizing technologies and strategies that have the potential to meet emissions reduction goals outlined in the Paris Agreement. 

Pingree’s other amendment includes research and development that reduces impacts on existing ocean uses as a purpose in the Department of Energy’s wind energy research and development grant program. It will also add increasing coordination between offshore wind and existing users, including the commercial fishing industry, as a purpose of the program.

The bill includes the following provisions:

• Brings clean, reliable energy to marginalized communities, including $25 million for grants to deploy energy storage and microgrids in rural communities and $1 billion for solar installations in low-income communities.
• Sets new energy efficiency standards for buildings, which roughly count towards 30% of greenhouse gas pollution, and provides funding for schools, homes, municipal buildings, and manufacturing facilities to improve efficiency and deploy energy-efficient technologies.
• Includes funding and other measures to modernize the electric grid, such as programs to improve resilience and reliability, enhance cybersecurity, protect critical infrastructure and supply chains, and improve transmission planning. 
• Invests in the technology and infrastructure needed to electrify and substantially reduce emissions from the transportation sector, which is the largest source of greenhouse gas pollution in the U.S. 
• Authorizes over $36 billion for transportation electrification, including through grants and rebates to deploy electric vehicles and related charging infrastructure. 
• Authorizes $650 million to deploy low- and zero-emissions school buses, $375 million for the Clean Cities Coalition Program, and $2.5 billion for the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act. 
• Includes a phasedown of the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a highly potent greenhouse gas, by 85 percent over 15 years. Enacting this provision could help avoid up to 0.5 degree Celsius of warming while creating American manufacturing jobs and making U.S. industry more competitive globally. 
• Prioritizes clean energy projects located in low-income and marginalized communities and advances the development of technologies and practices that expand access to clean energy. 
• Creates new environmental justice grant and training programs to empower communities and reduce health disparities. 
• Establishes a clean energy workforce development program to educate and train the next generation of clean energy researchers, scientists, and professionals, including through grants to eligible businesses. 

Pingree is well-known as a leader for Congressional action on the looming climate crisis. She is an original cosponsor of the Green New Deal and a vice chair of the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition. Pingree is a supporter of the THRIVE Agenda, a comprehensive economic renewal agenda that mitigates the impacts of climate change and ensures that future economic recovery efforts prioritize the needs of the environment. In January, she launched a website aggregating the more than 80 pieces of legislation she supports that would address the climate crisis. The website can be found at pingree.house.gov/climatechange.

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