Where the Biden Infrastructure Bill Will Help Birds
Written by Andy McCormick
President Joe Biden has proposed a multi-trillion-dollar funding bill with strategies to control climate change at its center. The U. S. House of Representatives has passed the bill and the Senate has begun discussion of the large funding package. President Biden is hoping it will get to his desk for his signature within a few months. The plan is a huge effort to improve the U. S. response to the economic decline resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, make a head-on attack to reverse the process of climate change, and correct some of the basic inequalities in our society that have become more blatant over the past few years. Within these proposals there are provisions for improving and protecting natural areas including habitat for birds and other wildlife.
The Environmental Protection Agency has previously declared that the transportation sector is the largest source of carbon emissions in the country. To address this cause of global warming the infrastructure bill provides $174 Billion dedicated to the development of electric vehicles and the installation of 500,000 new electric vehicle charging stations. This is direct funding to curb the warming trend resulting from climate change. However, the bill also recommends $115 billion for modernizing roads, highways, and bridges, and additional money for airports and ports. These improvements, although needed, may encourage more driving and other travel with the potential for additional carbon emissions, some of which may offset the gains made by the increased use of electric vehicles.
The $20 billion slated for the creation of a Civilian Climate Corps will reconnect Americans of all backgrounds to conserving our public lands and waters while advancing environmental justice. There are also plans to decontaminate old mines and to plug old wells as part of the superfund environmental clean-up. An additional $213 billion is proposed for creating and retrofitting over two million housing units as another way to reduce energy use and create jobs for thousands of people.
Rebuilding the nation’s capacity to deliver clean drinking water in non-lead pipes to all Americans in cities like Flint, MI and small towns in areas affected by the western drought are also a big part of the plan. Related to this clean water initiative is the restoration of nature-based infrastructure to maintain forests, wetlands, watersheds, and coastal and ocean resources. Biden also wants to include a continuation of programs to restore the Florida Everglades and the Great Lakes. Both of these long-term programs have been supported by the National Audubon Society for many years. In the west, improvements in Tribal water systems and relief for drought-stricken areas are other areas where these improvements could also help wildlife including birds.
The emphasis in the infrastructure bill is to rebuild America around the driving force to control climate change and create green jobs for millions of Americans. Many aspects of American could improve under these measures and as Audubon members we can work together “to protect, preserve, and enhance natural ecosystems and our communities for the benefit of birds, other wildlife and people,” as the EAS mission statement proclaims.