Recently, renewable energy projects across the country have found themselves tangled up in courts, with tribal governments and regulators over how and under what circumstances they are permitted on or near tribal lands. Many of these tribal land are located in the American Southwest or Midwest and are excellent places for the potential development of solar and wind development. But not so fast! A federal judge in Oklahoma ordered wind turbines be removed from tribal lands, ruling the developers had violated federal law by not seeking mineral rights from the tribes affected. In Arizona, two tribes and two nonprofits sues the Bureau of Land Management, to prevent and massive transmission project from going through their tribal lands. And tribes objected to putting wind farms in the Pacific Ocean off the Oregon coast.

It’s hard to remember the name of this law, because it actually doesn’t have anything to do with inflation but everything to do with addressing the climate crisis. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is the largest investment in clean energy in the history of the world. It is the first significant exceleration towards a pathway to netzero, as it is designed to decarbonize the US economy, shore up supply chains, and reduce dependence on China.