It took Democrats more than a decade to pass a big climate law, but the hard work has only just begun. Two months after President Joe Biden signed into law the historic Inflation Reduction Act, his administration has begun the uphill task of pumping the law's hundreds of billions of dollars into the economy. That will mean hiring thousands of new federal workers — a challenge for agencies already depleted from the Trump years, when climate-related agencies such as EPA lost thousands of employees. EPA will also have to staff up an entirely new program: a $27 million national green bank created by the new law. Then there are the thousands of new IRS agents, tax attorneys, policy wonks and other energy experts needed to distribute tax credits and launch new programs. That's a tall order for the government, which doesn't hire as fast or pay as well as the private sector. After all, the private sector will need more workers, too. Jules Kortenhorst, CEO of independent clean energy firm RMI, estimated that the U.S. will need twice as many electricians. Worldwide, the demand could swell to four to five times the industry's current size. "There is going to be such a desperate shortage of electricians," he said. Also in demand, he said, will be project developers, investors, advocates and journalists. As agencies staff up, federal regulators still must write the rules overseeing the law's energy tax benefits. The Treasury Department recently asked the public to weigh in on renewable energy tax incentives, writes POLITICO's E&E News reporter Robin Bravender. "There is just so much to write and so much to implement," said David Burton, a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright. "I think it's going to be a heavy lift for them." There has been talk of roundtable discussions with industry groups, too, but those have not been scheduled, Burton said. "The timeline is not anytime soon," he said. All of this work could become exceedingly more difficult should Republicans win either the House or the Senate next month — and ramp up oversight of the Biden administration, potentially mucking up a bureaucratic process already in chaos. "We're transforming the economy," Joe Aldy, a professor at Harvard Kennedy School, told Bravender. "That's the goal here." It's Tuesday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host today, Kelsey Brugger. Arianna will be back tomorrow! Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to kbrugger@eenews.net.
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