As Congress turns to rebuilding our economy and our infrastructure, we urge you to support policies that will safeguard Creation, address the impacts of climate change on our most vulnerable siblings, and fulfill our moral obligation to leave a habitable world for future generations. Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities, as well as low-income communities, have been hit the hardest by the triple health, economic, and environmental crises we face.

We need to invest with justice, and we call on Congress to meet President Biden’s campaign promise that 40% of all funds spent combating the climate crisis be spent in the environmental justice communities hurt the most by our current polluting economy.

Furthermore, the devastating winter storms of February and the massive wildfires of 2020 demonstrate the urgent need to upgrade our infrastructure, including our electrical grid, power supply, and water infrastructure to withstand extreme weather events that are becoming the new normal. \

The American Jobs Plan is a bold roadmap that will create jobs and tackle environmental injustice and the climate crisis. Interfaith Power & Light is excited to see this proposal, and yet we also know that more is needed.

We call on Congress to take up President Biden’s proposal and strengthen it to be in line with the THRIVE Act, a plan sized to meet the needs of our infrastructure and our climate. Specifically, we are excited to support an infrastructure package that does the following.

• Modernize the grid and expand clean, renewable energy sources
  •  Sustainable infrastructure makes us better prepared for climate-fueled disastersl. We need to modernize our electrical grid, increasing its climate resiliency and ensuring it is prepared for a future with solar panels on every roof and wind turbines across the country.
  • Clean energy creates jobs and cuts air pollution, a win for both our communities and Creation. Now is the time for a national Clean Energy Standard to get to 100% net-zero climate pollution in electricity by 2035, while also expanding investments in clean energy tax credits for wind power, solar power, and more.

• Upgrade our water infrastructure to ensure clean, pure water for all
  • Too many communities, especially in low-income urban neighborhoods and in Indigenous communities, don’t have access to clean water. We must invest in lead pipe remediation, as well as programs like the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and the Clean Water State Revolving Fund that help expand clean water access in rural communities.

• Electrify transportation and expand public transit
  • Incentivize electric vehicles—from personal vehicles, to school buses, to commercial truck fleets and more. We must invest in battery technology and manufacturing, while also enacting policies that make it easier to buy electric vehicles, build charging infrastructure, and ensure they are affordable to all.
  • Invest in mass transit infrastructure and electrification. Nearly 3 million essential workers depend on safe, reliable public transportation—by extension, we all do. If our transit systems don’t make it through this crisis, it will be a disaster for both our communities and our climate. Congress should provide emergency funding to keep systems running during the crisis as well as longer-term investment aimed at expansion and electrification of existing services.

• Include the RECLAIM Act (Revitalizing the Economy of Coal Communities by Leveraging Local Activities and Investing More Act – HR 2505)
  • The RECLAIM Act will distribute $1 billion for clean up and economic development in communities with abandoned coal mines. The Abandoned Mine Land (AML) funds are already collected and ready to use to clean up abandoned coal mines and the lands and waters polluted by them. AML restoration will also promote economic diversification, targeting our neighbors in the most economically distressed coal communities across the nation.

States and tribes can use the money to develop strategic mine reclamation projects that are linked to development projects on the reclaimed sites. The RECLAIM Act will assist communities struggling with job loss by diversifying their economies and creating jobs doing mine reclamation across the country.