$3.5 Trillion Budget Agreement Between President Biden, Senate Democrats Includes Minnesota Senator’s Clean Energy Push

(KNSI) – A clean energy standard crafted by U.S. Senator Tina Smith is included in the $3.5 trillion budget agreement discussed by President Joe Biden and some Senate Democrats on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The proposed reconciliation budget bill would complement a bipartisan, $600 billion infrastructure and broadband access bill. The $3.5 trillion bill focuses on “human infrastructure” like childcare, elder care and more.

The clean energy standard would establish grants and tax incentives for energy utilities to invest in and source more of their power from renewable sources. It would also penalize energy utilities that don’t progress toward getting more power from clean energy sources, but it would not apply a tax on carbon.

“This clean energy standard is about investing in clean energy; it is a budget-based plan, and so it clearly fits within a budget bill,” Smith said, noting that the standard is taking on a budgetary approach rather than a regulatory approach for energy utilities. “We have been working closely with the Department of Energy and the White House and all of the relevant committees to do our best to ensure that it will fit within the parameters of a budget reconciliation bill.”

The proposed standard would provide flexibility for those utilities in how they source that clean energy, be it from solar farms, wind farms, nuclear plants or a combination of various sources. For more moderate Democrats who are leery about phasing out fossil fuels, Smith says natural gas power coupled with carbon capture technology could be one way utilities achieve the standard’s goals.

“Our goal is to add clean energy into the mix so that we get to net-zero carbon emissions from the utility sector,” Smith said. “It’s also important to note that we say that every utility starts from where they are, so we don’t penalize utilities that are, maybe, starting with a mix of 10 percent clean energy, for example.”

While the fine details of the standard haven’t been decided — the reconciliation budget bill will be written after the Senate passes a budget resolution, which is projected to happen as late as early August — Smith says the current plan from Senate Democrats lays out a goal of 80 percent clean electricity by 2030. In June, Smith told KNSI that a potential benchmark would be 75 to 80 percent clean energy in 15 or 20 years.

“This is about our health, it is about our environment, it is about our environment, it is about jobs,” “I believe strongly that a clean energy future is going to happen, and the United States has a choice to lead or to follow. And with these kind of practical and progressive policies, I believe we’ll be in the forefront.”

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