The grueling fight to pass the Inflation Reduction Act

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On September 14, I sat down with Leah Stokes in front of a live audience at Seattle’s Town Hall to talk about her new book, The Carbon Wave. It’s an insider account of how the Inflation Reduction Act got made, braided with the story of the high-risk twin pregnancy she went through while helping to make it. We get into why electrification is the heart of decarbonization, the enduring mystery of what’s going on in Joe Manchin’s head, what it means to trade your carbon footprint for a carbon wave, and how much of the IRA survives. It was followed by questions from the audience.

Chapters:

00:00 – Welcome and housekeeping

03:05 – The twins, the NICU, and writing the book

08:51 – Carbon footprint vs. carbon wave

13:39 – Sam Ricketts and 100% clean electricity

18:13 – Why electricity is the core of the solution

23:28 – Utilities and the politics of change

26:18 – Tech companies and data centers

29:11 – Inside the Manchin negotiations

33:57 – Why Manchin got to yes