How the American Jobs Plan Will Advance America’s Energy and Competitiveness Priorities

The American Jobs Plan will make massive, long-overdue investments in our nation’s core energy infrastructure, and the manufacturing supply chains needed to revitalize and modernize it. This investment is critical to positioning the U.S. to compete in the global economy, build an economy that works for working families, and confront the climate crisis at the same time. It will invest strategically to leave no American community behind—with specific support to ensure job creation and economic development in communities hurt by the decline of coal, and for communities that have been left behind by environmental injustice and the burdens pollution.

This document identifies the energy-related provisions in President Biden’s plan, particularly those where the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) will play a critical role scaling up new energy infrastructure, revitalizing American manufacturing, creating good-paying jobs in the energy sector, advancing environmental justice, and investing in clean energy R&D.

REBUILD AND TRANSFORM OUR ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE

Our nation’s clean energy future depends on infrastructure that is modern, cost-effective, resilient, equipped to power American life, and handle every threat posed by the climate emergency and foreign adversaries. The American Jobs Plan will invest $100 billion to reenergize America’s power grid and transmission systems, $621 billion to build world-class transportation infrastructure, $213 billion to upgrade American housing, and $50 billion to make it all more resilient. These investments will be essential to DOE’s work to:

Build a more resilient electric transmission system. The American Jobs Plan will:

• Create a targeted investment tax credit for the buildout of at least 20 gigawatts of high-voltage transmission lines

• Establish a new Grid Deployment Authority at DOE to finance and encourage the development of high-priority, high-voltage transmission lines by leveraging existing rights-of-way along roads and railways
• Invest in grid resilience in the face of increasingly severe weather events, like wildfires

Modernize power generation to deliver clean electricity. The American Jobs Plan will:

• Extend for 10 years  and phase down of an expanded direct-pay investment tax credit (ITC) and production tax credit (PTC) for clean energy generation and storage, paired with strong labor standards
• Create clean energy block grants for state, tribal, and local governments to support policies on zero-carbon power, worker empowerment, and environmental justice
• Use the federal government’s purchasing power to procure 24/7 clean power for federal buildings
• Establish an Energy Efficiency and Clean Electricity Standard (EECES) aimed at cutting electricity bills and electricity pollution, and increasing competition in the market, by:
  • Incentivizing more efficient use of existing infrastructure;
  • Continuing to leverage the carbon pollution-free energy provided by existing sources like nuclear and hydropower; and
  • Ensuring those facilities meet robust and rigorous standards for worker, public, and environmental safety as well as environmental justice

Win the electric vehicle market. The American Jobs Plan will:

• Support the buildout of full domestic manufacturing supply chains—from minerals, to batteries, to vehicles and components
• Retool existing auto plants so American autoworkers can compete in the global market for electric vehicles
• Offer consumers point-of-sale rebates to drive demand and ensure that American-made electric cars and trucks are affordable for every family
• Build a network of 500,000 chargers while promoting strong labor standards
• Replace 50,000 diesel transit vehicles, and electrify 20% of diesel school buses
• Electrify the federal fleet, including the U.S. Postal Service

Improve ports, waterways, and airports. The American Jobs Plan will:

• Invest in a Healthy Ports program to mitigate the cumulative impacts of air pollution on neighborhoods near ports, often communities of color

Put union building-trade workers to work upgrading homes and businesses to save families money. The American Jobs Plan will produce, preserve, and retrofit more than a million affordable, resilient, accessible, energy-efficient, and electrified housing units through targeted tax credits, formula funding, and grants. It will:

• Expand DOE’s Weatherization Assistance Program
• Establish block grant programs for state, tribal, and local governments
• Extend and expand home and commercial efficiency tax credits
• Establish a $27 billion Clean Energy and Sustainability Accelerator to leverage private investment in distributed energy resources; retrofits for residential, commercial and government buildings; and clean transportation.

REVITALIZE AMERICAN MANUFACTURING

Reports estimate that the products that reduce carbon emissions will create a $23 trillion global market over the next decade—and the size of America’s share will depend on smart manufacturing investments that give our workers and companies the tools they need to compete. The American Jobs Plan will invest $300 billion to retool American manufacturers and small businesses so they can do just that. These investments will be essential to DOE’s work to:

Strengthen manufacturing supply chains for critical goods. The American Jobs Plan will:

• Invest $50 billion to create a new office at Department of Commerce to monitor domestic industrial production and invest in the production of critical goods
• Invest $50 billion in domestic semiconductor manufacturing, securing U.S. leadership in a global market that supplies critical inputs for almost all our goods—from our cars to our refrigerators to our computers

Jumpstart clean energy manufacturing through federal procurement. The American Jobs Plan will:

• Invest $46 billion in federal buying power to support domestic manufacturing of clean energy, storage, building, and electric vehicle technologies

Increase access to capital for domestic manufacturers. The American Jobs Plan will:

• Invest more than $52 billion for existing access-to-capital programs to support modernizing supply chains, including the electric vehicle supply chain and other clean energy and grid technologies
• Extend the 48C tax credit program, which supplies clean energy projects with American-made parts and equipment

CREATE GOOD-PAYING ENERGY JOBS AND ADVANCE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

The new clean energy solutions that DOE will bring online are going to create millions of good-paying jobs—jobs that can sustain American families, and launch American communities into a greener future. The American Jobs Plan will deliver a number of those jobs, while targeting 40% of the benefits of climate and clean infrastructure investments to disadvantaged communities. These provisions will advance DOE’s priorities to:

Create near- and medium-term employment opportunities in coal and other energy communities , with jobs that match existing skillsets. The American Jobs Plan will:

• Invest $16 billion up-front to put hundreds of thousands to work in union jobs plugging oil and gas wells, and restoring and reclaiming abandoned coal, hardrock, and uranium mines

Invest in critical physical, social, and civic infrastructure in disadvantaged communities to spur their economic development. The American Jobs Plan will:

• Invest $5 billion in the remediation and redevelopment of Brownfield and Superfund sites, as well as related economic and workforce development
• Invest in the Economic Development Agency’s Public Works program—while lifting the cap of $3 million on projects—and in “Main Street” revitalization efforts
• Target economic development efforts through the Appalachian Regional Commission’s POWER grant program, DOE retooling grants for idled factories, and dedicated funding to support community-driven environmental justice efforts—such as capacity and project grants to address legacy pollution and the cumulative impacts

Build next-generation industries in distressed communities. The American Jobs Plan will:

• Pair an investment in 15 decarbonized hydrogen demonstration projects in distressed communities with a new production tax credit
• Establish 10 pioneer facilities to demonstrate carbon capture retrofits for large steel, cement, and chemical production, ensuring that communities are protected from increases in cumulative pollution
• Support large-scale sequestration efforts, in line with bipartisan SCALE Act, that leverage the best science and prioritize community engagement
• Reform and expand the 45Q tax credit for carbon sequestration projects, making it direct-pay and easier to use for hard-to-decarbonize industrial applications, direct air capture, and retrofits of existing power plants

INVEST IN CLEAN ENERGY R&D

DOE is America’s scientific solutions powerhouse, and home to 17 National Labs that power the discoveries behind the technologies that will make our clean energy future possible. In support of that mission, the American Jobs Plan will invest $180 billion in our nation’s R&D capabilities and the technologies of the future, while lifting up communities that have been left out of past investments. This support is critical to DOE’s work to:

Establish the U.S. as a leader in climate science, innovation, and R&D. The American Jobs Plan will:

• Invest $35 billion in the full range of solutions needed to achieve technology breakthroughs that address the climate crisis, and position America as the global leader in clean energy technology and clean energy jobs
• Invest $15 billion in demonstration projects for climate R&D projects, including utility-scale energy storage; carbon capture and storage; hydrogen; advanced nuclear; rare earth elements separations; floating offshore wind; biofuel/bioproducts; quantum computing; and electric vehicles
• Launch the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Climate (ARPA-C) to develop new methods for reducing emissions and building climate resilience, as well as expanding across-the-board funding for climate research

Upgrade America's research infrastructure. The American Jobs Plan will:

• Invest $40 billion in upgrading research infrastructure in laboratories across the country, including brick and mortar facilities and computing capabilities and networks such as those at DOE’s 17 National Labs.
• Create a new National Lab focused on climate that will be affiliated with an HBCU

Eliminate racial and gender inequities in R&D and STEM. The American Jobs Plan will:

• Invest $10 billion in R&D at HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions
• Invest $15 billion in creating up to 200 centers of excellence that serve as research incubators at HBCUs and other minority serving institutions to provide graduate fellowships and other opportunities for underserved populations, including through pre-college programs