We have been fielding questions about the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed Congress last week and was signed by the President on July 4th, and thought that as this turns from a partisan debate to now being the law, this initial analysis would be relevant, urgent, and provide utility to our readers.

Enacted as a budget reconciliation bill that only requires a simple majority in the Senate (instead of needing 60 votes to avoid a filibuster), it reduces taxes, reduces or increases spending for various federal programs, otherwise addresses agencies and programs throughout the federal government, and on page 686 the statutory debt limit “is increased by $5,000,000,000,000.” (.. that is 5 Trillion dollars, but who is counting?).

It is likely not possible to overstate how consequential this sprawling legislation is, fundamentally realigning the role of government in the image of President Trump’s economic and social vision. The impact will be felt by literally every household and business in the country.

This blog post will not address the vast majority of the provisions in the nearly 1,000 page H.R. 1, from “no tax on tips” (up to $25,000), “no tax on overtime” (up to $12,500), “no tax on car loan interest” (up to $10,000), a new tax deduction for “senior citizens” ($6,0000 per individual), and more, but rather this is a quick compilation of the key environmental matters our clients have been asking about.  

Be clear, the big, beautiful bill is not “anti” protecting the environment and human health; rather, it represents a rising movement of environmentalists who believe you can care about the planet and still hold conservative values. This bill has reclaimed the environmental debate from the left and made it their own. Eco conservatives tend toward an all of the above approach to the environment and energy policy. Those solutions are articulated in this bill, and there is a lot more common ground than the legacy media reports in the exhausting news cycle, when it focuses all but exclusively on the bill’s implications for Medicare to the detriment of other matters, including environmental issues.

Many of the clients we have spoken with view this mega bill, and importantly, when considered concomitantly with the President’s Executive Orders, as a huge necessary and positive course correction in environmental and energy public policy for the nation.

Environmental highlights from the law include:

179D: Energy Efficient Commercial Buildings Tax Deduction that was permanent and was widely utilized, “.. is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: ‘‘(i) TERMINATION. – This section shall not apply with respect to property the construction of which begins after June 30, 2026”.’’ But like much else in this bill, the Biden era altered program is now ended, but with 100% first year “bonus depreciation,” a feature of the Trump 2017 tax cuts being reinstated, real estate developers are winners in this new law. 

45L: New Energy Efficient Homes Credit utilized in many residential properties, “is amended by striking ‘‘December 31, 2032’’ and inserting ‘‘June 30, 2026’’ as the credit’s end date.” A sister federal tax incentive, also altered by the Biden Administration, for residential building not eligible for 179D, this will now sunset on June 30, 2026.

25C: Energy Efficient Home Improvement Tax Credit “is amended by striking ‘‘placed in service’’  .. through December 31, 2032’’ and inserting ‘‘placed in service after December 31, 2025’’ ending the incentive this year.”

25D: Residential Solar, other home energy systems credits, “is amended by striking ‘‘to property placed in service after December 31, 2034’’ and inserting ‘‘with respect to any expenditures made after December 31, 2025.”

Of note, that while wind and solar industry are clear losers in this new law, especially any project relying on foreign components, there are no new excise taxes on wind and solar projects; that proposed provision was removed from the bill in the final hours. And the bill preserves existing tax incentives on technologies like advanced nuclear, battery storage, hydropower, and geothermal energy, again advancing the all of the above approach to environmental and energy policy..

30C: Alternative Fuel Refueling Property Credit, “is amended by striking ‘‘December 31, 2032’’ and inserting ‘‘June 30, 2026’’.”

30D: New Clean Vehicle Credit “is amended by striking ‘‘placed in service after December 31, 2032’’ and inserting ‘‘acquired after September 30, 2025’’.”

Beyond sunsetting certain tax deductions and credits, “unobligated funds from the following programs are rescinded, effectively terminating the programs.  All unobligated funds will be remitted to the U.S. Treasury’s general fund.” The programs eliminated include:

Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (providing dollars to non profits)

American Innovation and Manufacturing Act (aimed at reducing GHGs)

Greenhouse Gas Corporate Reporting Fund (providing $27 Billion to reduce GHGs)

Environmental Product Declaration Assistance Fund (to drive EPDs into use)

Greenhouse Gas Air Pollution Plans and Implementation Grants, and many more ..

The bill phases out and terminates multiple energy related federal tax credits, and generally terminates the clean electricity production tax credit for an otherwise qualified facility placed into service after 2028 or for which construction begins after 60 days from the date of enactment of this section (under the prior law, a tax credit is available for the production and sale of zero emissions electricity by a qualified facility placed into service after 2024.)

The bill repeals a program under which the EPA provides “(1) grants and rebates to replace certain medium-duty vehicles (e.g., school buses) and heavy-duty vehicles (e.g., garbage trucks) with zero-emission vehicles, ..” and a host of other Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 programs.

Also the bill “.. nullifies the final rule issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) titled Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards ..” under a related rule, NHTSA finalized CAFE standards for passenger cars and light trucks that increase at a rate of 2% per year for passenger cars in model years 2027-2031, ..”

Further, the bill seeks to reduce burdens on energy development, including:

Delay the methane emissions fee, imposed by the Biden IRA on certain methane emissions from oil and natural gas sources for 10 years, to 2034.

Expedited National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) review, will be available from the newly created White House Council on Environmental Quality program by paying an optional fee, 125% of the anticipated costs to prepare the environmental impact statement to have the environmental assessment completed no later than 180 days after paying the fee.

There are new provisions to encourage investments, including in real estate, a sector that, as described above, is a winner under this law:

Opportunity Zones are made permanent, although the definition of “low-income community” is narrowed.

45D: New Markets Tax Credit, which would have expired this year, is made permanent.

The extraordinary breadth and scope of this bill result in it being one of the most consequential pieces of U.S. legislation in modern times.

The enactment contains hundreds of provisions and directly impacts trillions of dollars in spending that must also be seen for its sweeping domestic policy changes, so it is not possible to simply summarize the enactment. We could have written hundreds of words alone about the new requirement that the Department of Transportation secretary “impose fees for space launches and reentries based on payload weight,” but such is beyond the scope of our effort here to highlight environmental and energy changes.

While the bill does more than impact any one sector, significantly, it has reclaimed the environmental debate from the left and made stewardship of land, air, and water their own. Eco conservative’s all of the above approach to environmental and energy policy is evident throughout this legislation.

To determine how the regulatory changes and funding shifts will impact your business, you can search the bill at this link, or better yet, to appreciate all of this in context, read about the William McKinley presidency. If you have a specific question, email me and ask. As the big beautiful bill is implemented, including as the action turns to regulations and agency guidance, we will post more about all of this in the coming days, ..