Infrastructure Package, Covid News, Line3 Pipeline. August 6, 2021, Part 1
Science Friday
Science Friday and WNYC Studios
4.4 • 6.3K Ratings
🗓️ 6 August 2021
⏱️ 47 minutes
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Summary
President Biden’s huge infrastructure bill is finally seeing the end of the road. The nearly 2,000 page bill covers infrastructure improvements—everything from roads to broadband. The package also includes funding for projects that would build up the country’s climate change resilience. Some climate change experts say the budget doesn’t go far enough and other analysis says the bill would not pay for itself. Umair Irfan, staff writer at Vox, walks us through the bill, new fuel economy rules for electric vehicles, a Tesla lithium-ion battery fire, and more science news from the week.
Wait, Am I Going To Need A Booster Shot?
Just this week, health officials announced that New York City will require proof of COVID-19 vaccination for some indoor activities, like dining and exercise. It’s the first city to institute this type of policy, and it’s all in an effort to get more people vaccinated, as the Delta coronavirus variant has forestalled efforts to curb the pandemic.
Spikes in cases are happening all around the country, just as kids are getting ready to go back to the classroom. This is renewing debates about masks, and prompting lots of questions: Are we going to need booster shots? How much should we worry about breakthrough infections? And is full FDA approval of vaccines going to make a difference for those hesitant to get vaccinated?
Joining Ira to break down the latest pandemic quandaries is Céline Gounder, epidemiologist and professor at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine in New York City.
Local Communities Spar Over Minnesota Oil Pipeline
After months of lawsuits, protests, and arrests in northern Minnesota, a controversial oil pipeline is still under construction. Candian energy company Enbridge, Inc., says the Line 3 replacement pipeline, necessary to improve the safety of an aging pipeline.
In 1991, Line 3 ruptured, causing the largest inland oil spill in the United States. The new pipeline will be both higher capacity, and follow a different route past lakes, rivers, and other state waters. But in the midst of a severe state-wide drought, the pipeline’s construction process requires the company to temporarily pump tens of millions of gallons of groundwater. Meanwhile, drilling fluids have been spilled at least once into a nearby river.
Science Friday news director John Dankosky talks to two reporters, Minnesota Public Radio’s Kirsti Marohn and Indian Country Today’s Mary Annette Pember, about the water impacts of the pipeline construction, and why communities along the route remain divided about its value.
Visit here to read a statement provided by Enbridge Energy.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Science Friday. I'm I reflado later in the hour. We'll talk about the latest |
| 0:04.5 | COVID-19 stories. We'll check in on the controversial line three oil pipeline project in northern |
| 0:10.8 | Minnesota. But first, President Biden's huge infrastructure bill is finally nearing the end |
| 0:16.1 | of the road. It's over 2000 pages covers wide ranging infrastructure improvements from roads |
| 0:23.2 | to broadband. The package also includes funding for projects that would build up the country's |
| 0:29.2 | climate change resilience. Some climate change experts say the budget doesn't go far enough |
| 0:34.9 | and other analysis says the bill would not pay for itself. Here to unpack the highlights on this |
| 0:41.3 | and other stories is Umar Irfan, staff writer at Vox based out of Washington DC. Welcome back, |
| 0:47.9 | Umar. Thanks for having me back. You're welcome. Let's talk about the infrastructure bill. First |
| 0:53.5 | proposed in March. How is it different from what Biden laid out? Oh, five months ago. What has changed? |
| 0:59.9 | Well, the big top line thing is that it's much smaller than what Joe Biden actually wanted. When |
| 1:04.9 | he presented his American jobs plan that rounded out to about $2.1 trillion. And this bipartisan |
| 1:11.0 | bill that's being worked on by 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans, this is valued at about $1 trillion |
| 1:15.9 | with only $550 billion in new spending. So there were a lot of concessions made and some of those |
| 1:21.6 | concessions were on things that were related to climate change, particularly on mitigating and |
| 1:26.5 | reducing greenhouse gas emissions, although it does contain a fair number of provisions for dealing |
| 1:31.1 | with the impacts of climate change like adaptation. And so it has about $500 million to protect homes |
| 1:36.8 | against wildfires, about $11.6 billion for the US Army Corps of Engineers to improve flood control |
| 1:42.8 | and about $73 billion for power infrastructure. But there were a lot of cuts on the things that |
| 1:47.4 | would actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions. So there was basically a compromise Biden did not |
| 1:52.4 | get everything he wanted here. That's right. You know, Biden wanted about $363 billion in tax credits |
| 1:58.0 | for clean energy that would boost the deployment of wind and solar power. And he wanted about $157 billion |
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