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Earth Matters: 1000s interested in Climate Corps; IRS rule will help lower-income people afford EVs [1]

['Daily Kos Staff Emeritus']

Date: 2023-10-15  

Three weeks ago, President Joe Biden took the action many climate activists had been pushing for a long time—forming an American Climate Corps. The idea is to put tens of thousands of young people to work on climate-friendly projects like installing solar panels, removing invasive species, restoring wetlands, building resiliency, and other such efforts in the move to a green economy. A job and job-training program all in one.

In what can only be viewed as exciting news, the White House said on Thursday that since its September announcement, more than 42,000 people have dropped in to the corps’ website to express interest. More than two-thirds of those were between the ages of 18 and 35, according to National Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi, who told Chase DiBenedetto at the news website Mashable:

"All across the country, young people want to be part of the solution. They want to be part of physically building the clean energy economy. They want skills that catapult them into careers in this new and growing clean energy economy. We've also been hearing from employers that there's a lot of value in opening up new pathways to these clean energy jobs. So we feel vindicated. We feel very positive about the momentum. We're going to keep working to recruit even more folks."

The first contingent of 80 American Climate Corps participants will join the AmeriCorps NCCC Forest Corps , a partnership between AmeriCorps and the U.S. Forest Service. They will work on conservation, reforestation, and wildfire prevention. AmeriCorps already has about 14,000 participants working on various climate projects.

Modeled on the New Deal Civilian Conservation Corps of the Great Depression, which employed 3 million men—and about 8,500 women in the ridiculed “She-She-She” program—the idea of creating a modern version has been floating around for 20 years. Here was my take on it in 2009: Resurrect and Energize and Modernize the Conservation Corps.

Initiated 90 years ago in the earliest days of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration, the CCC’s work can still be seen in some parts of the country. The participants not only planted millions of trees, but also built durable stone guard rails, footbridges, picnic areas, and campgrounds in local, state, and national parks. As James Lardner writes, “It had equally notable effects on the health and outlook of the men who served. Most were undernourished as well as unemployed when they signed up. They came home with muscles, tans, and, according to a letter sent to corps headquarters, in Washington, by a resident of Romeo, Colorado, an ‘erect carriage’ that made them easy to pick out from the rest of the young male population.”

The program was hardly flawless. It was deeply infected by racism. When it began, the CCC was fully integrated, with veterans, white people, and African Americans all working together in integrated camps. But many local communities, and not only in the South, objected to this. Within two years, Jim Crow had joined the CCC and Black people were placed in segregated camps. Separate programs were also developed for veterans and American Indians in their own camps.

AmeriCorps CEO Mark Smith told DiBenedetto that things will be different this time:

"In the launch of the American Climate Corps, we talked a lot about inspiration from President Roosevelt and the [Civilian Conservation Corps]. But that was—you know—all white boys. There was no focus on equity. There was no focus on justice. And so we are completely turning that on its head. The American Climate Corps is going to be completely centered on climate justice and equity."

Back before Sen. Joe Manchin scuppered the Build Back Better Act, it included $30 billion for a Civilian Climate Corps. That would be enough to bring a lot participants aboard. But the administration has only been able to cobble enough funding together from several agencies to hire about 20,000 young people for the corps.

Two days before Biden announced the corps, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey reintroduced S.1244, the Civilian Climate Corps for Jobs and Justice Act." That bill proposes creating a corps funded with enough money to hire 1.5 million participants by 2028.

On Thursday, Biden phoned one of the people who had visited the American Climate Corps’ website.

x Diana is a young woman who's raising her voice to fight for environmental justice for families like hers.



She expressed interest in joining the next generation of clean energy, conservation, and climate resilience workers in our American Climate Corps —



So, I gave her a call. pic.twitter.com/iV9cONo9Vg — President Biden (@POTUS) October 12, 2023

WEEKLY ECO-VIDEO

x YouTube Video

GREEN BRIEFS

The Treasury Department has proposed new rules for handling EV tax credits that will provide point- of-sale discounts instead of requiring buyers to get the credit when they file their federal income taxes. Better yet, eligibility for the full credit will no longer be based on a buyer’s tax liability. That’s good news for getting EVs into the hands of less affluent Americans. If the rules are issued as proposed after a 60-day public comment period, they will come into force January 1, 2024.

Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 EV

Ingrid Malmgren, policy director at nonprofit Plug-In America, told CNBC, “It’s great news, especially from an equity standpoint and for people who may not have as much disposable income. It really will make [an EV purchase] more affordable for them.”

Even the most avid advocates of switching to electric vehicles recognize that this transformation by itself won’t solve the climate crisis. And it’s obvious that making cities denser and servicing them with far more public transit are essential elements of mitigating or preventing some impacts of that crisis. But while we work to make those things happen, the quicker the world adopts EVs, the better off we’ll be.

The Inflation Reduction Act’s EV tax credits were designed to help speed the green transformation along, with up to $7,500 for a new EV and $4,000 for a used one. Annual income limits restrict the credit for a new EV to $300,000 for married couples filing a joint tax return; $225,000 for heads of household; and $150,000 for single tax filers. To be eligible to get the used EV credit, the income limit is half as much.

Unfortunately, just as with the former federal EV tax credit, a buyer can currently only get the full credit if their federal tax liability is large enough. If it isn’t, they get a reduced credit or nothing at all because it is “nonrefundable.” What this means is that more affluent people get full advantage of the credit while low- and many middle-income people are out of luck because they don’t earn enough money to owe $7,500 or even a $4,000 in taxes. If, for instance, a would-be buyer’s tax liability is $3,000 and they buy an EV, they lose out on $4,500 that a wealthier person gets. Unlike some other tax credits, the remaining EV credit also cannot be carried over into future tax years, which would eliminate the inequity.

In addition, as noted, right now buyers only get the IRA’s EV tax credit when they file their taxes, the same as with the previous EV credit. But i’s always been the plan—originally pushed in the ill-fated Build Back Better Act—to make the IRA credits available at the point of sale come January 1. As the Treasury has proposed, participating dealers will apply the credit as a discount by knocking $7,500 off the price upfront. They will not be required to certify whether the buyer meets the income eligibility limits. If it turns out that a buyer has exceeded those, the IRS will require the credit to be repaid when taxes are filed.

From the Treasury Department’s guidance released Oct. 6:

Later this month, dealers will be able to register via IRS Energy Credits Online, a new website. This registration is a requirement for dealers to offer consumers clean energy tax credits for qualifying electrified products. Starting in January, registered dealers will be able to submit clean vehicle sales information to the IRS and promptly receive payment for transferred credits. Energy Credits Online demonstrates the IRS’ commitment to delivering a world-class customer service experience and helping taxpayers receive the credits and deductions they are eligible for. [...] For buyers to be eligible to claim or transfer a credit starting January 1, 2024, the dealer they purchase their vehicle from must first register with Energy Credits Online. Dealers will also use Energy Credits Online to submit “time of sale” reports, which will confirm vehicles’ eligibility for a credit, whether or not the buyer chooses to transfer the credit to the dealer. When a buyer chooses to transfer the credit, registered dealers will reduce the purchase price of the vehicle or provide cash to the buyer. The amount provided must equal the full amount of the credit available for the eligible vehicle. When completing the sale, the dealer will electronically submit information regarding the transfer, including a time of sale report, to receive an advance payment for the value of the credit. The IRS expects to issue advance payments within 72 hours.

Jamie Wickett, a partner at law firm Hogan Lovells which specializes in federal tax policy and energy, told CNBC, “I think it is a real game-changer for all consumers to be able to get that rebate at the point of sale. Immediately, a $50,000 vehicle becomes $42,500.” That’s less than the average price for a new internal combustion engine car in the United States. But there are ever more EVs that start well under $40,000. A 2023 Nissan Leaf, for instance, a car with a 125-mile range between recharges, can be had for less than $30,000 before credits.

MANY STATES and other jurisdictions ALSO HAVE TAX CREDITS FOR EVS

People who meet the eligibility requirements can not only access the federal tax credit for EV purchases, but also from nearly a dozen states. In the case of Maine, the state and federal credit together can knock $15,000 off the cost of a new EV. Unlike the federal credit, getting the full amount of credit doesn’t depend on income levels in most states. Maine—$7,500; Colorado—$5,000; Vermont—$5,000; Connecticut—$4,250; Illinois—$4,000; New Jersey—$4,000; Massachusetts—$3,500; Maryland—$3,000; Delaware; $2,500New York—$2,000; Pennsylvania—$2,000.

Additionally, some regional, county, special districts, and utilities offer EV incentives. See, for instance, this site detailing such incentives in California jurisdictions. In one case, households with low enough incomes can get a $9,500 credit in addition to the federal credit.

You can check for EV credits in your state at the interactive site, Electric for All, and at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center.

Rystad Energy is an independent research company. They announced the results of their latest study on EVs last week:

Our analysis shows that battery-powered vehicles contribute at most half the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) of diesel or gasoline cars across their lifecycle, regardless of the country of operation. Even in countries where the power grid is dominated by fossil fuels, battery-powered cars emit less CO2e than internal combustion engine (ICE) cars over their lifecycle.* As renewable sources replace coal and gas-fired generation, emissions related to the operation of BEVs could drop by 86%. Our in-depth research of lifecycle BEV and ICE vehicle emissions considers every stage of the manufacturing process and the vehicle’s operation. This includes the manufacturing of the vehicle’s body, known as body in white (BIW), powertrain assembly, maintenance, fuel and electricity-related emissions and battery production for BEVs. We are conscious that there are often societal and humanitarian impacts associated with EV manufacturing, battery production and associated mining. However, this research is purely focused on the emissions comparison between battery electric and traditional-fuel vehicles.

RESOURCES & ACTION

ECOPINIONS

There’s still a chance for America to reach net-zero, but it requires drastic action by Lyric Aquino at Grist. The United States could meet its climate targets by 2050 by reaching net-zero emissions — the state in which the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere is balanced by the amount removed — but only if lawmakers take immediate action. To reach net-zero, the U.S. will need to focus on making electric vehicles more accessible to consumers, decarbonizing buildings, and increasing the use of clean energy. That’s according to a new report from ICF Climate Center, a global advisory and technology services provider. But to meet climate goals, lawmakers will have to look beyond just electric vehicles. According to ICF, there are roughly 110 million buildings in the U.S., which are responsible for 35 percent of the country’s total energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. Most of those emissions come from electricity use and fossil fuels burned for heating. However, more than one billion energy efficient repairs and measures need to be taken to decarbonize buildings, such as installing high efficiency lighting and lighting control systems, or high efficiency appliances like boilers, furnaces, hot water heaters, and air-conditioning devices.

UAW President Shawn Fain

UAW Makes the Brave New Economy a Lot More Worker-Friendly by Harold Meyerson at The American Prospect. Until Friday [Oct. 6], the U.S. auto companies were almost uniformly resisting the idea that their employees in the EV industry would receive wages and benefits comparable to those that UAW members had long received. Now, GM (and almost surely Ford and Stellantis, following in its wake) will effectively ratify the UAW’s argument that work in the new EV economy can provide the living standards that once enabled UAW members to thrive. The UAW can now take that selling point to the workers at Tesla, and at the non-union EV factories springing up in the South. And President Biden can cite this breakthrough as a concrete refutation of Donald Trump’s harangues that the shift to EVs foretells the doom of American workers. In announcing this epochal development, UAW President Shawn Fain said that GM changed its position on the eve of the union’s threatened expansion of its strike to the company’s huge plant in Arlington, Texas, which, Fain said, is GM’s single biggest revenue producer. The escalation to a key GM facility echoes the tipping point in the UAW’s sit-down strike in Flint, Michigan, in 1937, which led to the unionization of most American manufacturing.

California Can Do It by Juliet Christian-Smith at the Union of Concerned Scientists. California has been at the forefront of everything from limits on greenhouse gas emissions and 100% renewable energy requirements, to a human right to water. And just last month California filed the most significant lawsuit for climate deception and damages to date, and over this past weekend, Governor Gavin Newsom signed two important climate disclosure bills. The state continues to lead. But we can’t take our eyes off the details. Planning and action at the state and local level must catch up with the ambitious targets we Californians have set. Not only are these policies necessary for California’s future, many of these policies have been exported to other states, and even the federal level. We are at a critical moment in California where the clean energy and transportation transition is well underway, yet the stakes are high if we don’t get that transition right.

Hamas attacked because we're not drilling enough. Not-Speaker Kevin McCarthy blames the Israel-Hamas war on the Green New Deal by Brad Johnson at Hill Heat. Deposed House Speaker Kevin “Joe” McCarthy, seeking to regain his position, blamed President Joe Biden’s climate policy for the Israel-Hamas war. Seriously. Speaking as if he were lobbying to become the next CEO of ExxonMobil, McCarthy said of Hamas that “evil feels they can move” because Biden “went after our allies like Saudi Arabia” and committed “attacks on American energy production.” McCarthy argued that the war in Israel means that American foreign policy should be more production of fossil fuels, more climate denial, and more demonization of the immigrants fleeing climate destruction.

Jan-Michael Archer

How to free ourselves from the scholar-activist dilemma by Jan-Michael Archer at Environmental Health News. “Fairly paying Black people for their time makes me a bad scientist?” This question came out of me with a frustrated sigh. The Institutional Review Board (IRB), whose job is to judge whether or not proposed research studies involving humans are ethical, had rejected my recent proposal. My project, which would have paid $100 to participants from environmental justice communities in the Washington, D.C. metro area to act as citizen scientists and monitor air quality in their neighborhoods, was deemed “coercive.” The board was concerned that this compensation was so high that community members would take the money and run rather than engage. I was instructed to review IRB guidelines on researcher bias and conflicts of interest. I felt insulted. What was being said about the integrity of my participants? Or my own integrity? Perhaps more importantly, what was not being said about a public university’s obligation to serve local communities?

Keeping Cattle on Public Land Is Bad for People, Cows, Wildlife, and the Planet by Erika Schelby at Wiki Observatory. When conservationist Aldo Leopold persuaded the U.S. Forest Service in 1924 to establish the nation’s first federally approved wilderness of more than 500,000 acres around the headwaters of the Gila River in southwestern New Mexico, he did not anticipate that this priceless pristine land would be invaded by cattle. This problem would take root around the mid-1970s after a bankrupt rancher “abandoned his cattle in the wilderness.” Similarly, he did not foresee the shrinking of global wilderness areas, the issuing of destructive grazing permits for 1.5 million cattle on U.S. public lands, or the challenges posed by planetary climate change. To this day, unbranded feral livestock in the Gila Wilderness cause extensive damage to a delicate riparian ecosystem and the land and wildlife on this protected federal terrain. Livestock waste also harms the Southwest’s last free and untamed stretch of a major river—the Gila, a tributary of the Colorado River. As soon as this wild stream leaves the Gila Wilderness and continues its long journey to Yuma, Arizona, where it joins the Colorado River, every drop of it is spoken for.

ECO-TWXXT

x Not all farms are small and cozy....



This is the true scale of how farm animals are raised in parts of the United States. Let’s restore respect for all living beings.#ActOnClimate #climatechange #ClimateEmergency #climate pic.twitter.com/KIdaopEs4m — Mike Hudema (@MikeHudema) October 13, 2023

HALF A DOZEN OTHER THINGS TO READ (OR LISTEN TO)

GREEN LINKS

AmazThe Mississippi Is Losing Its Fight With the Ocean • Coal’s Coming Decline Has Miners Facing 400,000 Layoffs by 2035 • Future Medicines May Be Threatened by Plant Extinction, Report Warns • Future Medicines May Be Threatened by Plant Extinction, Report Warns • Ancient Maya reservoirs offer lessons for today's water crises • Millions of children are displaced due to extreme weather events. Climate change will make it worse • Heavy trucks likely not zero-emission in the near future, says decarbonization study • Special wildlife exits on busy roads help protect endangered ocelots

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