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The Inflation Reduction Act could prove to be transformative — if the administration follows through with implementation. Successful implementation will require rulemaking to craft regulations that actually implement the new law, and significant investments in capacity at federal agencies to carry out necessary rulemakings and distribute grant funds made available by the IRA.
Many federal agencies are still recovering from damage inflicted during the Trump administration in the form of funding cuts and declining staffing levels. Many career civil servants, discouraged by the Trump administration's policies, left their jobs and took their experience with them, and those jobs often went unfilled.
Effective and efficient implementation of the IRA will require significant and rapid staffing additions to replace lost capacity and to develop implementing regulations that will turn the IRA's policy goals into reality on the ground.
As University of Utah law professor Jamie Pleune explained on the Landscape in a discussion of the National Environmental Policy Act and energy infrastructure permitting reform, "Unproductive delays are delays that are caused by a lack of agency capacity - not having the person who has sufficient expertise to analyze the project, not having mentoring within the agency to help someone who's new get through the process efficiently, not having an adequate budget to be able to properly and quickly process the permit."
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If we really want to help our neighbors, we should be honest with the thousands of people...who are banking on a dream that science tells us will more likely turn out to be a nightmare. ...we need state rules that halt building in places we know will be hit by repeated disasters, and set expectations for people who choose to live there anyway.”
