The Walker River flooding in 2023. (Photo: Jeniffer Solis/Nevada Current)
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As Nevada struggles with impacts of the climate crisis, U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford on Monday touted more than $800 million of federal investments being allocated to tribal communities in Nevada for mitigation measures and infrastructure projects.
During a virtual roundtable with the Native Voters Alliance of Nevada and the Department of Energy, Horsford credited President Joe Biden for signing the Inflation Reduction Act, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the American Rescue Plan Act.
Those bills, he said, made an “ historic investment in clean energy” and will ensure those hardest hit by the climate crisis, such as tribal communities, receive increased funding for infrastructure and other climate crisis mitigation measures.
“ Native communities have faced chronic under-investment for generations and climate impacts include drought, wildfires, rising sea levels, extreme weather events have all exacerbated pre existing challenges and inequities for those in Native communities,” Horsford said.
The Biden-Harris Administration, he said, put forward the “Justice 40” initiative, a 2021 executive order designed to direct 40% of spending on clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, clean transit, and legacy pollution remediation to disadvantaged communities, including tribal nations.
About $45 billion to indigenous communities has been allocated around the country for clean energy infrastructure and climate impact mitigation under legislation passed by Congress, according to Matthew Dannenberg with the Department of Energy and Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs.
Some projects are already underway in Nevada.
Walker River Paiute Tribe is using $12 million of funding for a water system improvement project to secure a reliable and sustainable water supply for well users on the tribe’s reservation.
Mathilda Guerrero, the government relations director for Native Voters Alliance Nevada, said communities are working to access those dollars for other projects throughout the state.
The extreme weather conditions have underscored the importance of the funding, she said.
Reno and Las Vegas “are the fastest warming cities in our nation,”Guerrero said. “Our record 120 degree temperature is just the beginning, which is why these investments are important.”
Of the money being allocated to tribal communities, Dannenberg said $5.5 million was set aside for tribes in Nevada for home electrification projects to help upgrade appliances and appliance rebate programs, which is just getting off the ground.
T he funding will aid indigenous communities in cutting energy costs, he said.
“There were five days over 115 degrees in Las Vegas,” Dannenberg said, referring to record-breaking temperatures in early July. “ As our planet continues to warm it is vitally important that access to clean energy and climate resilience is available to everyone and tribes are not left behind.”
Another $10 million going to strengthen and modernize Nevada’s tribal communities’ power grid against wildfires.
The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law in 2022, allocated $370 billion to clean energy programs .
The American Rescue Plan Act, a Covid relief package that allocated billions of dollars in funding to Nevada, also allowed communities to invest in projects related to climate change.
Both bills were passed and signed into law by Biden without a single Republican vote.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, known as the bipartisan infrastructure law after garnering Republican and Democratic support, has also provided some funding to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis.
“ These investments are not just about energy,” Horsford said of the bills. “They are about jobs, they are about health and they are about the future of our planet.”
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