‘Time to act’: Biden signs climate orders
In the WASHINGTON — most ambitious U.S. effort to stave off the worst effects of climate change, President Joe Biden issued executive orders Wednesday to cut oil, gas and coal emissions and double energy production from offshore wind turbines.
The orders target federal subsidies for oil and other fossil fuels and halt new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters. They also aim to conserve 30 percent of the country’s lands and ocean waters in the next 10 years and move to an all-electric federal vehicle fleet.
Biden’s sweeping plan is aimed at slowing humancaused global warming, but it also carries political risk for the president and Democrats as oil- and coal-producing states face job losses from moves to sharply increase U.S. reliance on clean energy such as wind and solar power.
“We can’t wait any longer’’ to address the climate crisis, Biden said at the White House. “We see with our own eyes. We know it in our bones. It is time to act.’’
He said his orders will “supercharge our administration’s ambitious plan to confront the existential threat of climate change.”
Biden has set a goal of eliminating pollution from fossil fuel in the power sector by
2035 and from the U.S. economy overall by 2050, speeding a market-driven growth of solar and wind energy and lessening the country’s dependence on oil and gas. The aggressive plan is aimed at slowing human-caused global warming that is magnifying extreme weather events such as wildfires in the West and drenching rains and hurricanes in the East.
Biden acknowledged the political risk, repeatedly stating that his approach would create jobs in the renewable energy and automotive sectors to offset any losses in oil, coal or natural gas.
“When I think of climate change and the answers to it, I think of jobs,’’ Biden said. “We’re going to put people to work. We’re not going to lose jobs. These aren’t pie-in-thesky dreams. These are concrete actionable solutions.’’
In a change from previous administrations, Biden also is directing agencies to focus help and investment on the low-income and minority communities that live closest to polluting refineries and other hazards, and the oil- and coal-patch towns that face job losses as the U.S. moves to sharply increase its reliance on wind, solar and other energy sources that do not emit climate-warming greenhouse gases.
Biden pledged to create up to 1 million jobs building electric cars, as well as installing solar panels, wind turbines, “capping abandoned wells, reclaiming mines, turning old brownfield sites into the new hubs of economic growth.’’
Even so, Republicans immediately criticized the plan as a job killer.
“Pie-in-the-sky government mandates and directives that restrict our mining, oil, and gas industries adversely impact our energy security and independence,’’ Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state, the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
“At a time when millions are struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the last thing Americans need is big government destroying jobs, while costing the economy billions of dollars,’’ she said.
Biden also is elevating climate change to a national security priority. The conservation plan would set aside millions of acres for recreation, wildlife and climate efforts by 2030 as part of Biden’s campaign pledge for a $2 trillion program to slow global warming.