Climate Point: Feds tee up $1 trillion to fix pipes, bridges and more. Who will get it?

Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and the environment. I'm Janet Wilson in Palm Springs.

Well, they did it. Late Friday, Congress passed President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and a jubilant Biden has promised to sign it soon. Backers promised everything from clean drinking water for kids to electrifying the U.S. Postal Service's aging fleet of trucks. Increased broadband access, repair or replacement of sagging bridges and major investments in EV charging stations are all part of the promised goods.

Water is one focus, with $82 billion allocated for projects. Experts say there's good news in the package on that front, including a shift away from the 20th-century focus on large dams to more sustainable, climate-change resilient projects. That includes some help for impoverished communities with tainted or no drinking water. But they say despite the package's size, far more needs to be done to prepare U.S. water systems "to withstand the stresses and shocks of climate change."

"As with all federal legislation, the final bill was a compromise," write Pacific Institute authors Peter Gleick, Amanda Bielawski and Heather Colley in an analysis this week. "Many important investments in initial versions of the bill were watered down. For instance, earlier drafts included far more money to help remove legacy lead drinking water pipes. While the $15 billion provided ... is a start, far more funds will have to be found to complete that vitally important job."

They added: "The ultimate success of these investments to address U.S. water problems will depend on how the authorized funds are actually allocated and spent." In other words, who will get the money?

Sweeping climate projects that weren't funded in this round could find new opportunities in the massive $1.85 trillion Build Back Better Act, if Congress sticks to its word to allow a vote on that bill by next Monday, and Democrats round up enough votes to pass it.

Here are some other stories that may be of interest:

Must-read stories

Disaster harvests. Growing numbers of migrant workers are trailing hurricanes and wildfires the way farmworkers follow crops, contracting for big disaster-recovery firms, and facing exploitation, injury and death, according to a gripping story by Sarah Stillman for the New Yorker. What began as small-town painting or home fix-it companies have morphed into national companies, with backing from hedge funds that often invest in the fossil fuel extraction that is causing larger, more frequent hurricanes, floods and other mayhem.

Many workers take pride in their efforts — and face threats of being deported if they speak up about being injured or not being paid. Stillman and Matt Nadel of the Yale Investigative Reporting Lab tallied more than 40 resilience workers’ deaths from heatstroke, flesh-eating bacteria, falls and electrocution. Many more deaths have likely never been counted. 

There are sweet moments, such as when a white mortician quietly takes down a sign reading “Strangers Will Be Shot” after Latino migrant workers cleaned his community's ravaged homes. 

Planet shrinking. Ben Doyle, 16, often feels "pervasive guilt" creep up when he leaves the water running a little too long while brushing his teeth, or when he drinks from a plastic bottle. "I really feel like I’m only hurting myself and acting against my interests and the interests of everybody around me."

Doyle, from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, said he experienced "hopelessness" when the U.S. withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement in 2020. He's one of many members of Generation Z — people currently 9 to 24 years old — experiencing "climate anxiety."  A global survey found 45% of young people surveyed said their feelings about climate change negatively affect their daily life and functioning. 

But those experiencing anguish can now see "climate-aware" therapists, write Hadley Barndollar and Alex Kuffner for USA Today. Kelsey Hudson, a therapist at Boston University's Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, said climate "distress" shouldn't be seen as a diagnosis, but as a rational response to an existential crisis. 

"Many of my clients are angry with the focus on individual action, versus the need for societal action," Hudson said. 

Recount. The societal plan to save the world from the worst of climate change is built on data. But the data the world is relying on is inaccurate. Many countries are underreporting greenhouse gas emissions to the United Nations, a Washington Post investigation finds. An examination of 196 nations' reports reveals a giant gap between what they declare their emissions to be versus the greenhouse gases they are sending into the atmosphere. The gap ranges from at least 8.5 billion to as high as 13.3 billion tons a year of underreported emissions — big enough to move the needle on how much the Earth will warm. The math matters as countries struggle to move forward with more aggressive reduction plans at a critical climate summit In Scotland this week. 

Political climate

Tea leaves. The United Nations on Wednesday released a draft accord that urges countries to strengthen in the next year plans for cutting planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, per The New York Times. The draft urges nations to speed up phasing out of coal and to stop subsidizing oil and gas. It will be used as a template to strike a deal among nearly 200 countries as the two-week global climate summit in Glasgow nears its end Friday.

But there are no firm deadlines or enforcement mechanisms in the document, pointing to continued hurdles ahead as negotiators try to reach a consensus at the summit known as COP26. 

Quasi-electrifying. In other climate policy news, six major automakers and dozens of countries and cities agreed to phase out gas car sales. But not the U.S., China or Germany, or the world's top two carmakers, Toyota and Volkswagen. Reuters Simon Jessop, William James and Nick Carey report.

Going under. In a dramatic bid to illustrate his nation's already dire climate change experiences, the foreign minister of Tuvalu stood at a lectern dressed in a suit and tie and called on the United Nations for urgent action against climate change.

Then the camera zoomed out, and revealed he was actually standing knee-deep in the sea. Simon Kofe recorded the now-viral speech to the U.N. climate summit to raise awareness about how rising sea levels have affected the small Pacific island nation.

In the speech Tuesday, Kofe pleaded for "bold, alternative action" against climate change on behalf of Tuvalu, whose islands are sacred to its residents, as Doyle Rice reports for USA Today. "We cannot wait for speeches when the sea is rising around us all the time."

Hot takes

Farming the sun. Indiana is set to become the site of the nation's largest solar farm. At 13,000 acres, it is aptly named the Mammoth Solar project, writes Sarah Bowman with the Indianapolis Star. Dozens of farmers are signing on.

The project — a partnership between Indiana and Israeli-based Doral Renewables LLC — is expected to bring a roughly $1.5 billion investment to the state over the next five years. It will also mean huge financial gains for local landowners as well as the counties where it’s located. 

Farmer Norm Welker, 62, says: “We’ve always harnessed the sun, and have enough sun to grow a corn crop. But now, we are harvesting it far more efficiently than we’ve ever done.” 

Bulldozed. A long-cherished plan to restore part of the Salton Sea, California's largest water body, has been bulldozed as air regulators and a powerful water district spar over the land. One water district board member scoffed at the project, on which $1.5 million in public funds has been spent, comparing it to a Monty Python skit. Two Congressmen are probing what's going on, as I report for The Desert Sun.

No exit. Customers of Oklahoma Natural Gas could be hit hard by additional monthly costs to retire the $1.37 billion the utility spent to acquire natural gas during February's winter storm. Monthly costs could climb if the utility receives approval to recover those costs, according to a case filed at Oklahoma's Corporation Commission.

Adding insult to injury in a year when natural gas prices are already soaring, customers could be stuck with a hefty "exit fee" if they choose to retrofit their home to rely more on electricity than natural gas. Jack Money with the Oklahoman reports.

And another thing

Faces of COVID: tons of ocean plastic. Remember that face mask you lost or shed in the street the other day? Its destination may be the ocean, reports Farha Fatima-Tul with USA Today. A new National Academy of Sciences study finds that more than eight million tons of plastic waste generated from COVID-19 related medical equipment, and an estimated 25,000 tons of that has entered the world's oceans so far.

Because it's cheap and durable, plastic is preferred for medical devices. During the pandemic, much higher levels are being used for masks, gloves and face shields. But a large amount is not recycled properly, and often finds its way into oceans, endangering marine wildlife and raising virus transmission and other human health risks. Plastic bags used for online shopping deliveries are showing up more frequently too.  

The study conclude structural changes need to be made in waste management, and pandemic epicenters need resources to handle waste better. While litterbugs are a problem, the main culprit is hospitals. 

That's all for this week. Hang onto that mask, and for more climate, energy and environment news, follow me @janetwilson66. You can sign up to get Climate Point in your inbox for free here.