To an overflow audience that included Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and numerous other state and local officials at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris explored the benefits of the billions of dollars of the Investment and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). As she has done at previous events touting the two acts, Harris put special emphasis on the importance of the green transition to young people.
A suburb northwest of Denver that is part of the state’s 7th congressional district and home of my high school alma mater, Arvada is represented by Democratic freshman Rep. Brittany Pettersen, who appeared as part of a roundtable at the event, along with Sasha DiGiulian, a professional rock climber and climate activist. You can see a video here.
Harris brought optimism to the event. “This really is a transformational moment,” she said. “And so when we think about it in terms of what it means for our youngest, be it our children, our young leaders, if you are in high school or college, what this means in terms of ... innovation around a clean energy economy, the new jobs that will be created, then what that means of diversifying and up-skilling the workforce to take on these jobs, it's very exciting.”
RELATED STORY: Two years ago, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were inaugurated. What have they accomplished?
Harris also noted, “When we’re talking about that workforce, then we’re talking about good-paying jobs with good benefits and a pension and the ability to buy a home and take your family on vacation, you know, once a year."
The governor’s office on Monday provided an example of how the IRA and IIJA can make good on those promises, with an announcement that Amprius Technologies will be opening a factory to help manufacture lithium ion batteries in Brighton, a city 20 miles north of Denver. The project includes a $50 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.
In his introductory remarks, Polis said, “It makes sense that the vice president would choose our state for a very important conversation about the environment, climate and sustainability and that’s because we like to think we’re doing a lot right here in Colorado. Extreme drought threatens our agriculture, our recreation industry—the situation around water in the west is becoming more and more difficult.”
Harris addressed the water issue. “We need to be equally invested and prioritize in everything from conservation and recycling to water storage, in particular underground water storage. We have grown up with a system that when there are floods the state of mind is to address the emergency at the moment, which means for many states that are coastal in particular, flush that water into the ocean instead of capturing it.”
She said the administration plans to use new satellite technology that is mapping where reduced water supplies are now or may in the near future become problematic. By providing the data from such mapping to farmers, she said, “They can then make decisions about when they are planting their crops and what kind of crops to plant.”
Andrew Fraieli at the Arvada Press reported:
Colorado itself, as of 2022, is seventh in the nation for energy production according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, being fifth for crude oil production just below Louisiana. Renewables accounted for 35% of that in 2021, with wind power contributing 80% of all renewables, according to the EIA.
[...]
Polis touted his administration’s 2019 plan for Colorado to be 100% renewable energy by 2040 before Harris spoke. Part of that plan focuses on growing the state’s fleet of electric vehicles and infrastructure, with one piece of legislation in 2019 that authorized public utilities to provide charging stations. As of January 2022, Colorado had more than 3,500 public electric vehicle charging ports — eighth in the country, according to the EIA.
In addition to Polis, two other introductory speakers—Shere Walker-Ravenell of the Black Parents United Foundation and Olga Gonzalez of Cultivando—reminded the audience of how climate change and environmental pollution disproportionately harm communities of color and those that are low income. As an example, Gonzalez made note of pollution from the Suncor oil refinery, which processes nearly 100,000 barrels of oil a day. In 2020, after years of wrangling, Suncor agreed to a $9 million settlement with the Colorado Department of Health for relentless violations of air quality standards. That settlement still didn’t persuade area residents that all would now be well.
Gonzalez said, “We ask you to join us in pushing for regulations that actually protect human health so that our children do not continue to be sacrificed for the sake of cheaper gasoline.”
As for dealing with disproportional harms, the vice president has been at the forefront of the administration’s campaign to replace all the nation’s lead water pipes within a decade. As many as 10 million lead service lines still deliver water to more than 400,000 schools, offices, homes, and day care centers nationwide.
In January, Harris hosted a White House summit on the issue. In February, she visited Newark, New Jersey, whose removal of 23,000 lead pipes in three years could serve as a model. She noted in a discussion at the time, “Lead pipes do exist in high-income communities, but in high-income communities they have the income to fix it, which means that whether it gets fixed or not might be a function of how much money you have.” And that’s not right.”
A big problem with replacing lead pipes is that with all the political dealing that went on two years ago over the IIJA, only $15 billion was ultimately approved for this purpose. The White House had sought $45 billion. Even that may not be enough.
The dangers of lead in the environment have been recognized for decades. Researchers at the Brookings Institution explain why those pipes must be removed:
When a person swallows or breathes in lead particles, the body stores the toxin in the blood, bones, and tissues, where it accumulates over time. According to the Centers for Disease Control, there is no safe level of lead exposure. Lead is particularly harmful to children, causing reduced IQ, language development, and attention span, and increased aggression and impulsivity. In addition, prolonged exposure for both children and adults can damage the brain and nervous system, reduce fertility, and increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, kidney disease, and likely even cancer. [...]
Disparities in lead exposure also exacerbate social inequities. According to a recent study in JAMA Pediatrics, children in high-poverty areas are nearly 2.5 times as likely to have elevated blood lead levels than children in low-poverty areas, and children in predominantly Black zip codes are about 9 percentage points more likely than children in predominantly white zip codes to have detectable lead in their blood. Due to racial disparities in lead exposure, Black infants are estimated to experience around a 50% higher average loss of IQ points attributable to blood lead than white or Hispanic infants, and an estimated $47,000 loss in lifetime earnings, compared to white and Hispanic losses of around $30,000. Furthermore, a number of studies have found that a given increase in blood lead levels can have larger effects on cognition, academic performance, and earnings for disadvantaged students than for their peers.
Montana schools offer just one example of this widespread problem. State officials mandated that schools test lead. As of mid-February, 74% of schools submitting samples found at least one faucet or drinking fountain with high lead levels.
The social, economic, and, yes, political benefits of the IRA and IIJA will be unfolding for years. That provides Democrats with a ready-made ability to point to crucial projects made real in thousands of communities from coast to coast compared with the record of Republicans, all of whom opposed the IRA and most of whom opposed the IIJA. Intensive lauding of real accomplishments vs. the hollow promises of the Party of No can be a powerful tool for returning that party to minority status in the House and state legislatures across the nation.