Biden announces new $2.3 billion climate change program
Are you ready for the U.S. government to take action on climate change?
Written by Jamie Epstein, Countable News
What’s the story?
- As one million Americans live through a dangerous heatwave, President Joe Biden announced a new plan to fight climate change.
- In a speech on Wednesday at an offshore wind farm project in Massachusetts, Biden said:
"As President, I have a responsibility to act with urgency and resolve when our nation faces clear and present danger. And that’s what climate change is about. It is literally, not figuratively, a clear and present danger."
- Biden pledged $2.3 billion to help communities across America build infrastructure designed to withstand the full impacts of climate change: extreme heat, drought, flooding, hurricanes, and more. He also said his team is working with the states to deploy $385 million in the face of the heat. Biden implored all governors, public utility commissioners, state agencies, and electric utilities to be part of the solution.
- The president's actions include new guidance that allows the federal government to help provide cooling centers, air conditioning, and offshore wind energy leases for the Gulf of Mexico coast.
- Biden quoted the United Nation’s leading international climate scientists, reminding the nation that it is a “code red for humanity.” Biden said he would use his executive power to act on climate change, and criticized Congress, stating it is "not acting as it should" in the face of the climate crisis. He specifically spotlighted the Republicans in Congress, none of which support Biden’s climate plan.
Reactions
- The president declared that his administration sees climate change as an emergency, but did not claim that the world is in a climate emergency, as other world leaders have. Climate campaigners hoped Biden would declare a state of emergency in this long-anticipated speech. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that would not happen in this speech, but it is “still on the table.”
- Executive director of Food & Water Watch, Wenonah Hauter, said:
“Biden must declare a climate emergency, ban crude oil exports and halt new fossil fuel infrastructure, including pipelines and export terminals…The clock is rapidly ticking towards inevitable, irreversible climate catastrophe. There is no more time to lose.”
“For too long, we have been waiting for a single piece of legislation, and a single Senate vote, to take bold action on our climate crisis…As a result, we urge you to put us on an emergency footing and aggressively use your executive power to address the climate crisis.”
- This week on Capitol Hill, Republicans are warning against rash climate action. Last week, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) blocked what could have been the country’s most far-reaching response to climate change. All 50 Republicans in the Senate opposed action on the crisis. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said:
“I don’t want to be lectured about what we need to do to destroy our economy in the name of climate change.”
What’s to come?
- Biden announced that in the coming days, the administration will reveal more actions to combat the crisis. He is also expected to announce new regulations to cut pollution from cars, trucks, and power plants.
- With many pushing Biden to declare an emergency, and use his executive power, it is unclear whether the action would survive in the right-wing-dominated Supreme Court.
Are you ready for the U.S. government to take action on climate change? Let your representatives know.
(Photo credit: iStock.com/FilippoBacci)