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President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law this week. The massive piece of legislation funds programs ranging from electric vehicles, to advanced nuclear energy research. Specific to the Mountain West, it includes billions of dollars for forest lands and agriculture to fight climate change.

Depending on where you are in the West, certain lands may be ideal for certain energy projects. The Southwest is good for solar, Wyoming has great wind resources and Nevada is ripe for geothermal development. However, according to a new report from the left-leaning Center for American Progress, oil and gas leasing often takes precedence no matter the location.

In Las Vegas, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Tuesday announced new efforts to facilitate more renewable energy development, including cutting by 50% rent and fees charged for wind and solar projects on public lands.

Bill Gates' company TerraPower and the utility Rocky Mountain Power have picked the Wyoming coal town of Kemmerer as the location for a $4 billion, electricity-generating nuclear reactor. Optimism is high but the technology's unproven.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration expects oil, gas and coal production – and CO2 emissions – to rise in 2022. Extreme temperatures are partly to blame.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects that there was a 14% dip in hydropower in the U.S. this year. The vast majority of that decline is in the West. Less moisture and higher temps meant lower reservoir levels and decreased the ability to get energy from hydro dams. While utilities have long prepared for droughts, they’re becoming more frequent due to climate change.

The U.S. Energy and Employment Jobs report came out Tuesday, showing an overall decline in energy jobs around the nation.

Americans’ fossil fuel consumption dropped 9% last year to its lowest point in three decades. It was also the nation’s largest recorded decrease in fossil fuel use.

Many oil, gas and coal-dependent communities around the Mountain West are concerned about the Biden administration's aggressive stance on climate change. But a recent survey of hundreds of economists around the world suggests that reducing emissions now will save us financially in the long run.

Janet Yellen is President Joe Biden's pick to be treasury secretary. And she's been a big proponent of a carbon tax .