PORTLAND, Maine — Wednesday marked one year under the Inflation Reduction Act.
The White House touts it as a landmark bill under the Biden administration. Biden's Environmental Protection Agency, as well as various Maine-based environmental groups, have called the law the most significant climate legislation ever in the United States.
Its language is broad and complex, but some of its major goals are to reduce healthcare and drug costs, including allowing Medicaid to negotiate prices, reduce carbon emissions by 40% by 2030, and reduce renewable energy costs through tax credits and tens of millions of federal dollars coming to Maine alone.
On Wednesday afternoon, climate, labor, and legislative leaders marked the day in Portland.
"Thanks to the IRA’s resources, and commitments to working people, we’ve got a real shot at powering our state with clean energy while creating thousands of high-quality, often union jobs," said Cynthia Phinney, president of the Maine AFL-CIO.
Lindsay Bourgoine works for ReVision Energy, a Maine-based solar company relying on the stability of green energy availability. She was not at the Portland event but marked the milestone.
"I think the American public is now seeing, largely because of the Inflation Reduction Act, a lot of benefits and understanding that clean energy can be both affordable and abundant; homegrown — it's something that we can have here," Bourgoine said.
Richard Burbank heads Evergreen Home Performance, specializing in insulation installation. He said home energy rebates for residents are the highest they've ever been.
Now, he cautiously watched the Mills administration, as it wrote a framework for some $72 million in federal money on its way to Maine beginning next year.
"What I'd really like to see is that they involve contractors early," he said. "Because contractors are the ones that are actually in the homes installing this work."