Recent funding from the Inflation Reduction Act was dispersed across Pennsylvania to support clean energy projects. As federal funding is cut in several areas and efforts are made to repeal these grants and tax credits, PennEnvironment Research and Policy Center released an interactive map to emphasize the impact of this funding on communities statewide.
Ellie Kerns, Climate and Clean Energy Advocate with PennEnvironment, called the investments in renewable energy and climate friendly practices historic and emphasized their value to communities’ energy and money saving efforts.
Projects statewide include solar panel installations at dairy farms and churches, tree planting initiatives in cities, and the replacement of a drive-in movie theater’s projector light with a more energy efficient bulb.
Four projects in the Lehigh Valley have received funding from the Inflation Reduction Act:
- The Easton Urban Forest Equity Project received $1 million to expand the city’s tree canopy, create an urban forestry apprenticeship program, provide trees to residents, parks, and green space stewards, and better care for existing trees.
- Lehigh University and Allentown communities are working together with the help of a $499,000 grant to conduct air monitoring that will identify sources of pollution and eliminate resulting health risks.
- The City of Allentown received almost $1 million to support urban forest management through an updated tree inventory, the planting of more trees citywide, and maintenance of the current tree canopy.
- Mack Trucks’ Lehigh Valley factory received $208 million to transition to production of electric vehicles and create hundreds of union jobs in the next five years.
Inflation Reduction Act funding in Pennsylvania exceeds $3 billion. As a result of energy-saving projects funded by the source, 160,000 Pennsylvanians saved more than $260 million in the first year, according to PennEnvironment.
