Ava Malin
Research Mentor(s): Devin Judge-Lord
Mentor Department:
Authors:
Session: Session 3 (11:00am – 11:50am)
Presentation Type: Poster 104
Abstract
Even though the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) Advanced Manufacturing Credit was one of the most impactful bills for the climate, the real fight has less to do with environmentalists and alternative energy sources and more to do with types of batteries. Each time a new government regulation is proposed, a multitude of businesses, organizations, NGOs, and elected officials submit comments to express the desire to make changes when it is finalized. Some groups work in coordinated efforts as parts of coalitions to strengthen their requests. This research consists of reading each comment on a proposed regulation and making note of coalitions, positions on the proposed rule, specific policy asks, and whether or not the change was made, referred to as a comment’s ‘success’. Through the analysis of public comments, we can draw the conclusion that while it would be simple to assume the debate over the IRA would be between environmentalists and big oil companies, it is more often the case that commenteres were businesses asking for change on technical matters such as adding examples or changing wording as ways to give themselves an advantage over other companies. Instead of seeing a fight for greener energy, we see a fight for businesses to get a leg up over competition, the motivation being economic gain as opposed to fighting climate change.
