U.S. Interior’s Investments From 2021 Infrastructure Law Added $3 Billion to U.S. Economy Last Year

The U.S. Interior Department has released a new analysis report that estimates that investments from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, or IIJA, contributed to over $3.3 billion to the U.S. during the fiscal year 2024. Moreover, the law has provided over 28,000 employment opportunities.

The IIJA, which represents the largest investment in U.S. infrastructure, authorized $1.2 trillion for transportation and infrastructure spending with $550 billion of the total going towards new investments and programs. The law allocated funding across over 350 programs in multiple federal agencies, including four key initiatives by Interior Department targeting legacy pollution, water resources, and ecosystem restoration:

• Abandoned Mine Land (AML): $11.3 billion over 15 years for cleaning up coal mining-related pollution and reclaiming abandoned mine lands.
• Orphaned Wells: $4.7 billion to plug and restore orphaned well sites, reducing methane emissions and improving water and habitats.
• Water Resources: $8.3 billion for critical water infrastructure in the 17 western states.
• Ecosystem Restoration: $1.4 billion for enhancing land resilience through restoration, invasive species prevention, and native vegetation efforts.

Among the key milestones, since the enactment of the law, the department has allocated more than $12 billion for over 2,200 projects across the U.S. Moreover, more than 9,000 orphaned gas and oil wells have been plugged, which has helped states with reclaiming more than 811 acres of polluted lands by addressing 130 abandoned mine land hazards. The department has also set up a new Geological Survey Energy and Minerals Research Facility on the Colorado Schools of Mines campus to advance collaborative research and continued partnership and increased fuels management work to lower wildfire risk.

A number of programs financed by the law supports the Biden administration’s Justice40 Initiative, which aims to provide 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain federal investments to underprivileged communities that are impacted by a lack of investment and excessive pollution.

The contributions made since the enactment of the law have gone beyond financial metrics, since some of the environmental and societal benefits are difficult to measure, according to the department.