Climate policy outlook: Tesla's shoes are about to be filled

Here is this week’s update on important upcoming and ongoing climate policy developments: 

• In the wake of Tesla’s reversals of course on its supercharger unit, the Biden administration has opened applications for a $1.3 billion electric vehicle (EV) and charging funding opportunity. The Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program (CFI) — created by the 2022 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — is designed to create public charging infrastructure. The CFI program lowers even more barriers to Tesla competitors seeking to fill the space recently vacated by the EV giant. It presents “an awesome opportunity for other charging operators like us to full in the gap,” said David Jankowsky, CEO of charging firm Francis Energy.  
• Vermont has become the first state to require by law that oil companies pay for damages in the state caused by their products. The Climate Superfund Act, will calculate damages and associated emissions owed by the companies between 1994 and 2024. The revenue will finance future climate resiliency and recovery projects for the state. Legal challenges are expected to be brought forward in response to the law.  
• The long-delayed 2023 Farm Bill finally passed out of the House of Representatives Republican-controlled Agriculture Committee last week, 33 votes to 21, with four Democrats joining the Republicans in voting to advance it. The current version of the bill will bolster sustainable aviation fuel R&D while also removing climate-smart policy requirements for $13 billion worth of conservation programs funded by the Inflation Reduction Act. It also imposes strict limits on the USDA’s discretionary Commodity Credit Corporation, a government-owned corporation that funds conservation programs along with foreign market development and trade strategies. The next step for the 2023 Farm Bill is to pass a floor vote in the House before it can move on to the Senate. 
• California’s state Legislature ensured that bills aiming to limit plastic bags and PFAS made it one step closer to becoming state law before the close of the current session. Among those moving forward is a toxics-in-packaging bill that would forbid the manufacturing, sale or distribution of plastic packaging that includes multiple forms of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), toxic chemicals commonly found in plastic.