Vice President Kamala Harris visits Seattle to discuss clean energy

SEATTLE — Vice President Kamala Harris paid the Emerald City a visit Tuesday afternoon. The VP landed and took off from Boeing Field, in between she spoke at and toured green construction company, McKinstry.

The Vice President’s visit coincided with the first anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act. It offers, “funding programs, and incentives to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy,” according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s website. Both organizations and homeowners can benefit. 

Vice President Harris was joined by Seattle’s Mayor Bruce Harrell, Washington Governor Jay Inslee, Washington Senator Maria Cantwell, and US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

“We have to recognize in reality, this is not your grandmother’s climate change anymore,” said Governor Inslee.

All who spoke at McKinstry emphasized the urgency of getting off fossil fuels after the horrific wildfires in Maui and even the blistering heat Washington is facing.

“All of that to say it is clear the clock is not just ticking, it is banging,” said Vice President Harris.

VP Harris then explained the crux of the Inflation Reduction Act.

“This work was designed to dramatically expand solar and wind energy production, to lower energy costs for working families, and put millions of electric vehicles on the road. We are creating millions of good-paying, clean-energy jobs. We are rebuilding America’s manufacturing and driving American innovation,” said Vice President Harris.

In 2022, she helped push the legislation through Congress with a tie-breaking vote. It’s a 10-year investment plan that incentivizes organizations, both for-profit and non-profit to switch to clean energy. Homeowners can also get in on the action.

“So they can install insulation and new windows, with of course increased energy efficiency and lower energy bills, so they can better afford to replace their gas-burning furnace with an electric heat pump to heat and cool their home which costs less money to run,” said the Vice President.

Homeowners can get up to $3,200 annually to, “lower the cost of energy-efficient home upgrades by up to 30%,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s website. 

Vice President Harris also said that previous efforts to move away from fossil fuels failed to get clean energy to everyone, especially the people who live far away from solar plants and wind farms. She said the Biden-Harris administration will tackle that problem too.

“Also building thousands of miles of new high voltage transmission lines,” said VP Harris.

The move to clean energy is predicted to create jobs as well. Here in Washington, VP Harris attributed 400,000 new jobs to the Inflation Reduction Act.

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