Climate Bill Improves Air Quality Despite Fossil Fuel Benefits

Marginalized communities inundated with air pollution could be some of the biggest beneficiaries of the tax and climate bill.

Environmentalists say the bill would bring potentially transformative local air quality gains, despite a tradeoff of benefits to the fossil fuel industry.

Along with climate provisions such as incentives for clean energy and methane reduction, the Inflation Reduction Act (H.R. 5376), carves out a host of funding opportunities for community-level air quality actions in polluted areas. The Senate passed the measure on Aug. 8, and the House is slated to take it up Aug. 12.

The deal—an ...