Arthur Shavers Jr., the co-founder of Mudbone Grown, a community farming organization that aims to connect Black Oregonians to the land through food cultivation, speaks with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan on a tour of Mudbone Grown's community garden at at the newly opened Rockwood Village apartment complex in Gresham.

A group of Oregon’s political leaders gathered Wednesday at a Black-led community farming operation in Gresham, using it as a backdrop to highlight the outsize impacts of climate change on low-income neighborhoods and communities of color and to tout the benefits of the sweeping climate bill that Congress is expected to pass Friday.

The Inflation Reduction Act is the downsized version of the Build Back Better infrastructure package that Democrats spent much of the past year trying and failing to pass. While some economists are skeptical it will actually tame inflation, the new bill authorizes $430 million in new spending on programs that aim to reduce out-of-pocket costs for energy, health insurance and prescription drugs. It also aims to raise $740 million in new tax revenues by establishing a minimum tax on corporations with more than $1 billion in profits and bolstering the Internal Revenue Service’s ability to go after tax cheats.

Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.

Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your California Privacy Rights (User Agreement updated 1/1/21. Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement updated 7/1/2022).

© 2022 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us). The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local.

Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site.