This story originally aired on “Marketplace” on Sept. 6.
It has been just over two years since President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which invests $369 billion of federal cash in energy security and dealing with climate change.
In that time, states and residents have claimed about 7% of the funds available.
A report from RMI, a sustainability think tank previously known as Rocky Mountain Institute, found that Louisiana and West Virginia are bringing up the rear, each claiming fewer than 1% of their potential IRA dollars. At the top of the leaderboard are Connecticut, New Mexico, Tennessee and Georgia, which each secured more than 13% of their potential funding.
But the No. 1 spot belongs to Nevada, which already claimed 54% of its potential funding.
"I was impressed to see that data as well," said Dwayne McClinton, director of the Governor's Office of Energy.
McClinton said his boss, Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, is more interested in the energy security provided by dirtier sources like gas than his Democratic predecessor. But his office embraces clean energy too and the funding that comes with it.
"If there's a benefit to Nevadans, why not take advantage of it?" McClinton said. "Let's not let politics get in the way of that."
That seems to be the thinking in a lot of states. The highest per-capita clean energy investments last year were in Wyoming, Nevada, West Virginia, Arizona, Texas and Louisiana. None of those states are Democratic strongholds.
"We see a strong interest in clean energy projects coming from Republican governors," said RMI Senior Principal Jacob Corvidae, a co-author of the report. "Places that haven't done as much historically have a bigger opportunity."
His other finding: The states leading the pack right now are the ones that had the biggest, most expensive projects approved.
So, for example, the subsidy a state gets when its residents buy electric vehicles trickles in a couple of thousand dollars at a time. "Whereas one major manufacturing project comes in, or one major utility overhaul comes in, and you've got a huge chunk of cash dropping at once," said Corvidae.
That’s happening in Connecticut, which has secured several IRA awards but is also part of a plan for an interstate freight corridor lined with EV chargers.
"Given that those transportation sectors are the largest [carbon] emitter in the state, having that is a really, really big push for us," said Climate, Energy and Justice Policy Associate Jayson Velazquez with the Acadia Center.
Velazquez added that Connecticut is an early leader because the state had several plans ready to go when IRA funding became available. "Having the supplemental capacity of the IRA really just boosted some of those efforts," he said.
There are only so many big-ticket projects, so the laggards could start catching up as the early leaders turn to the slow-trickling funding that comes from heat pump and EV adoption tax credits. States that want funding for carbon capture, energy-efficient homes and clean vehicles have until 2032 to apply for it.
But Corvidae said that gap will only close if the lagging states start playing the game.
"Are we going to see sort of winners and losers emerging, depending on who managed to secure both the large projects and a broad adoption of these technologies?" he asked.