WASHINGTON — President Biden and his administration, who have just signed into broad climate legislation, are planning a series of administrative actions to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prevent the planet from reaching dangerous temperatures. said a senior White House official.
Officials say Mr. Biden will take a range of measures, including new regulations on vehicle tailpipes, power plants and emissions from oil and gas fields.
By furthering the president’s actions, Mr. Biden is trying to make up for Republican compromises on climate change and pass anti-inflation legislation. Democrats included agreeing to fossil fuels and drilling provisions as a concession to Democratic Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, a resister from conservative states heavily dependent on coal and gas. , had to scale back some of their loftiest ambitions.
White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy said regulatory moves, combined with new state laws and actions, will help Biden cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by the end of 2005 compared to 2005 levels. He said it could help him meet his promise to do so. Ten years.
The climate bill was a “starting point”, she said.
“The president has chosen not to look only at Congress, but to recognize that he has the authority and responsibility under the law to keep this moving forward,” she said. , he intends to continue using them.”
Biden last month promised a series of aggressive administrative actions to cut emissions when the climate change bill seemed to stall in the Senate. But even now that the bill has been revived and passed, several administration officials say he has not ruled out taking these unilateral moves.
The enforcement action comes less than two months after the Supreme Court limited the EPA’s powers. Regulating carbon emissions from power plantsBy a vote of 6 to 3, the court’s liberal judges disagreed, with a majority saying it stripped the EPA of “the power to respond to the most pressing environmental challenges of our time.”
Although the ruling has been reduced, it does not preclude the agency’s ability to regulate the energy sector, which may still require measures such as emission controls at individual power plants. But the court ruled out a more ambitious approach, such as requiring utilities to switch from coal to wind or solar power.
EPA officials say they are working to develop new rules that comply with the Supreme Court’s order on coal-fired and gas plants, but have not provided details on how the new policy will work. Is not …
McCarthy noted that the EPA still has “broad authority” to regulate emissions from electricity generation. She also said the government is pushing for new regulations on soot and other conventional air pollutants, which have the side benefit of reducing carbon emissions.
President Biden
With the midterm elections looming, this is where President Biden stands.
A conservative attorney general who claims the Biden administration has exceeded its mandate on climate change is sure to challenge the president’s actions in court.
Republicans and supporters of the fossil fuel industry are bracing for new regulations they say will further strangle investment in coal, gas and oil.
“That’s the goal of the progressive movement, and it’s no surprise the White House is giving them what they want,” said Thomas Pyle, director of the Energy Institute, an organization that supports the use of fossil fuels. “Unfortunately, American households will pay the price in the form of higher electricity bills,” he added.
The Biden administration has criticized the new law for its inadequate coverage of the climate issue and called for administrative action by environmental groups, including those who accused Democrats of agreeing to concessions on fossil fuel projects. I’m under pressure.
The new law includes nearly $370 billion in incentives for utilities to rely more on low-emission energy sources such as solar and nuclear, consumers to buy electric vehicles, and businesses to invest in energy efficiency. is included. They were the product of a last-minute deal struck by Mr. Manchin and Sen. Chuck Schumer, Democrat and Majority Leader of New York State.
Energy experts project that the legislation could cut U.S. emissions by about 40% from 2005 levels, bringing it closer to Biden’s goal but not meeting it.
But government officials believe they have enough executive power to close the gap.
Biden has executive powers to issue regulations through federal agencies, and under the Clean Air Act of 1970, he can make rules to deal with air pollution. But unlike legislation, these rules can easily be overturned by future administrations.
For example, President Donald J. Trump has rescinded more than 100 of President Barack Obama’s environmental regulations.
In addition to power plant regulations, Ms McCarthy cited a wide range of areas where enforcement agencies are preparing action on climate.
The EPA has worked to regulate methane. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas emitted from oil and natural gas operations and can warm the atmosphere 80 times faster than carbon dioxide in the short term. That rule is expected to be finalized later this year. Another regulation may be issued next year to curb vehicle exhaust emissions.
These and others at the state level “will put pressure on some sectors, such as the coal sector, to continue to cut emissions,” she said.
But McCarthy, who has spent much of his career developing environmental regulations, was instrumental in helping the private sector, including some of the country’s first policies to combat global warming, when he was clean air chief at the EPA. He said he believes the U.S. will drive most of the cuts in emissions.
Officials hope the new law will help companies comply with the new regulations at low or no cost by giving them tax incentives to cut emissions. This would reduce emissions far beyond the levels analysts are currently estimating, she said.
“They make money from this, so I have no doubt they will go further,” she said of the private sector.
Climate activists are calling on Biden to continue pushing for new ways to curb global warming.
Varsini Prakash, executive director of Sunrise Movement, a youth-led climate change organization, said: “How Biden will use the remaining two and a half years of his tenure to maximize his executive powers. We plan to use it,” he said. activist group.
She said activists still want Biden to declare a national climate emergency, rather than just issue new rules. It’s a tool I thought I’d been using for a long time.
“Climate change is literally an existential threat to our country and the world,” Biden said in July when it appeared as if the bill was passed. “This is an emergency. An emergency.”
A White House spokesman said Friday that no action would be off the agenda to meet Mr. Biden’s emissions goals. Officials, however, did not say if they had plans to declare a climate emergency.
There is one area in which Mr. Biden specifically limits the actions that environmentalists are seeking. It’s a halt to new fossil fuel projects. As part of the deal with Mr. Manchin, the new law mandates oil and gas lease sales on federal land and waters, and if the Interior Department plans to approve new wind or solar projects, there will be no fossil fuel leases. The auction should continue to be held. on federal land.
Democratic leaders promised Mr. Manchin to vote on reform bills that could encourage the development of new fossil-fuel projects, such as oil and gas pipelines, as well as large-scale wind and solar projects. .
McCarthy said Biden would continue to limit fossil fuels, but did not specify how.
“We’re going to push this forward as best we can,” she said.
According to a recent International Energy Agency report, countries must immediately halt new oil, gas and coal development to prevent the global average temperature from rising 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. Hmm.
The Earth has already warmed up by 1.1 degrees Celsius.