How to implement the climate law? Go on hiring spree.

Federal agencies put up “Help Wanted” signs as the Biden administration tries to quickly hire thousands to implement the new climate law.

The Department of Energy will need hundreds of new employees, many in its loans office. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, meanwhile, says the IRS plans to hire 5,000 people. And the EPA must staff the new national green bank.

“Federal government hiring can be extremely difficult,” said Brandon Hurlbut, a former DOE official now at nonpartisan climate law firm Boundary Stone, “and they have a lot of people to hire.”

Several challenges loom. Major gaps already exist at some federal agencies, many of which were filled during the Trump administration, and one critical agency received no new funding for staff at all: the Justice Department.

“People tend to forget about the Justice Department,” said Jeff Hauser, executive director of the Revolving Door Project and a former DOJ official. “But they have a big role to play in ensuring the IRA is successful.”

The IRS has some enforcement power over new renewable energy incentives. However, fraud cases would be handled by federal prosecutors. A DOJ spokesman confirmed the lack of new funds but offered no further comment.

Hauser’s group last year examined staffing levels at climate agencies like the EPA and the Interior Department and found that downsizing had not been filled well into the Biden administration.

“Virtually every agency we looked at, with the exception of the DOE, we saw capacity constraints that undermined the work we wanted to see,” said Fatou Ndiaye, research fellow at the Revolving Door Project.

In general, the Biden administration has acknowledged the denials and in some cases, as with the EPA, has tapped special agencies to quickly hire (Green cableFebruary 18).

In addition, political appointments were screened for their commitment to rebuilding the federal workforce, according to the Revolving Door Project report. Still, Ndiaye said the government still has a long way to go.

The Office of Personnel Management, the federal government’s human resources department, did not respond to requests for comment, but officials from several agencies said they are still finalizing their hiring plans.

DOE recruitment advantage

However, DOE seems to be ahead of the game. It had a $60 billion head start in last year’s infrastructure bill and formed the Clean Energy Corps to expand.

“The DOE is expanding to meet this moment and implement the bipartisan Infrastructure Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, establish dozens of new programs, and hire hundreds of new employees — from attorneys to project managers,” a spokesman said in an email.

Currently, the DOE spokesperson is seeking to fill 15 job categories – from engineering and contract management to science and public policy.

The department received a $30 billion grant from the new climate bill and had a strong presence at the Global Clean Energy Action Forum in Pittsburgh last week.

There, DOE executives were actively searching for potential applicants, said Courtney Bourgoin, communications manager at the clean energy nonprofit RMI.

She and her team found that the DOE will need many new accountants in the loan program office and policy business to support the Treasury Department, which itself needs to modernize operations and incentivize people to green their homes (climate wireAugust 19th).

‘Freak out’

The EPA received more than $40 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act, including introducing the methane fee and creating a national green bank.

“The EPA has never administered anything on this scale,” Michael Gergen, an attorney for Latham & Watkins LLP, said on a recent panel at the Institute for Policy Integrity. “I suppose people at the EPA are kind of freaking out about that.”

The agency also just announced a 200-strong Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights that will be responsible for distributing $3 billion in block grants (Green cable27 Sept).

At the Department of Agriculture, officials are preparing to hire staff to research and distribute more than $9.7 billion for rural electrification, a task that will likely require more energy experts, RMI said. And there’s another $20 billion for regenerative agriculture and conservation investments.

“Over the next few weeks, the department will be working to determine specific staffing needs and will be able to provide additional information later in October,” a USDA spokesman told E&E News.

All of these attitudes are welcome news for federal unions.

“NTEU strongly supports the historic investment in the IRS, as outlined in the Inflation Reduction Act, as it will help rebuild the agency after a decade of staff and budget cuts,” said the President of the National Treasury Employees Union, Tony Reardon.

He noted that workplace flexibility and a shorter IRS onboarding process would discourage new hires from accepting other job offers while they wait for their paperwork to be processed.

“Finally, NTEU wants agencies’ training budgets to be adequately funded so that new hires are ready to thrive in their new career in public service,” he said.