An analysis from the University of Massachusetts Amherst found the more than 100 climate, energy and environmental investments in the Inflation Reduction Act will create more than 9 million good jobs over the next decade. (Adobe Stock)

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By Kathryn Carley

Tuesday, August 13, 2024   

Nearly two years since the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law, Maine communities continue to benefit from federal funding aimed at increasing the state’s climate resilience.

The state benefited from more than $70 million to accelerate the installation of heat pumps in homes across the state.

Marshall Archer, deputy mayor of Saco, said it means energy savings for Maine families, especially those in northern towns reliant on home heating oil.

“That will put us onto the electric grid and get us off the oil grid,” Archer explained. “This is monumental. This will put thousands of heat pumps and take us off the oil dependence.”

Archer pointed out the energy transition is also creating jobs, especially in environmental-justice communities overburdened by pollution. Nearly 4,000 Maine workers helped increase heat pump installation in 2022, according to a state report.

Volatility in global markets and rising energy prices spurred Maine Gov. Janet Mills to set a statewide goal of using 100% clean energy by 2040.

Alex Cornell du Houx, president of Elected Officials to Protect America and a former Maine state representative, said as a Marine he saw firsthand the instability caused by America’s oil dependence. He argued a clean-energy transition in Maine and beyond is setting an example for other countries to follow.

“It’s easier to repair. It’s cheaper to produce. It’s win, win, win,” Cornell du Houx emphasized. “The result is we have a more secure United States and a more secure world.”

Cornell du Houx stressed the Inflation Reduction Act sends a global message of the importance of building climate resilience against natural disasters, which also spur instability and migration.

Jordan Meade, an adviser to Parliament in the United Kingdom, said it also helps defeat autocrats such as Russian President Vladimir Putin, who depends on oil to fuel his war in Ukraine. Meade encouraged policymakers to share their expertise in growing clean-energy projects and jobs to reduce conflicts worldwide.

“Be bold with that American leadership,” Meade urged. “Take it back to all of us so that we, when our time comes, can learn from you and accelerate at the same pace as you.”

Meade added officials in England have been eying the nearly $400 billion investment made by the Biden Administration. The legislation is predicted to yield more than $5 trillion in global economic benefits from reduced greenhouse-gas pollution by 2050.