9/18/2023 0 Comments Emergency climate lockdown“If the Senate will not move to tackle the climate crisis and strengthen our domestic clean energy industry, I will take strong executive action to meet this moment,” Biden said in a statement released Friday evening. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., is met by reporters outside the hearing room where he chairs the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, July 19, 2022. Absent Manchin’s support for that package, experts say, it will be virtually impossible for the United States to fulfill Biden’s pledge to reduce emissions by half this decade. Until now, the White House has moved cautiously on executive actions on climate change, as it tried to get its proposal to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on subsidizing the adoption of electric vehicles and clean energy sources such as solar panels, formerly known as Build Back Better, through an evenly split Senate with unified Republican opposition. "Don’t be disappointed if you don’t see a climate emergency tomorrow," one source told Reuters.īiden has already signaled his intent to pursue an array of executive actions, such as stricter new rules limiting various pollutants. Instead, the president will reportedly announce some new executive orders on climate change during his Massachusetts speech. Sources acquainted with the White House’s thinking also told Yahoo News that though a climate emergency declaration is under serious consideration, it will not be coming this week. The Associated Press reported that on Wednesday, Biden “will stop short of issuing an emergency declaration that would unlock federal resources to deal with the issue,” according to a person familiar with the president's plans. In theory, such a precedent would bode well for a climate emergency declaration, but one cannot assume too much consistency from a court that has also become more partisan and seen fit to limit the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency to enforce the Clean Air Act. Trump, for instance, declared illegal migration across the southern border a national emergency so he could use funds that Congress appropriated for the military to build a border wall, a move the Supreme Court upheld in 2019. In an era of increased partisan polarization and congressional gridlock, however, pushing the boundaries of executive action is becoming more common. The cooling towers at the former Brayton Point Power Station in Somerset, Mass., crumbled during a controlled implosion on April 27, 2019. Historically, those have typically been for acute crises, such as specific natural disasters, rather than a long-term predicament like climate change. presidents have declared 60 national emergencies since 1976, according to the think tank Demos. Rhetorically, Biden has previously called climate change an “emergency,” but he has stopped short of making an official declaration under the National Emergencies Act. Brayton Point is currently shuttered while it transitions from burning coal to generating wind power. Speculation that the president would soon declare a climate emergency increased when it was announced that he will visit the Brayton Point power plant in Somerset, Mass., on Wednesday to give a speech about climate change. “We are considering all options, and no decision has been made.” “The president made clear that if the Senate doesn’t act to tackle the climate crisis and strengthen our domestic clean energy industry, he will,” a White House official said in a statement. Later that evening, the Washington Post reported that the White House is indeed considering doing so. The most dramatic option that Merkley wants Biden to take is to declare a national emergency on climate. We have the forest fires … and we have a huge impact on our fishing, both in our streams and offshore.” We have the red zone where the pine beetles are killing the pine trees. “We have massive droughts that are destroying our farmers. and in Europe, Merkley argued that climate change is no longer a future threat but an already unfolding disaster. “There is probably nothing more important for our nation and for our world than for the United States to drive a bold, energetic transition in its energy economy from fossil fuels to renewable energy,” Merkley said.Īmid record-breaking heat waves in the Western U.S. Many of these, such as using the Defense Production Act to build up domestic clean energy manufacturing capacity, are extensions and expansions of moves Biden has already begun to make. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., held a press conference to ask Biden to explore a range of actions to reduce climate pollution. (Evan Vucci/Pool via AP)īut such a creative use of the relevant federal law would also undoubtedly trigger lawsuits from fossil fuel companies and Republicans. Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, in November 2021.
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