Biden’s climate goals sputter at the pump

WASHINGTON — A year after he entered the White House with a vow that fighting global warming would be a driving priority for his administration, President Joe Biden finds his climate agenda is mired in delay and faces legal, legislative and political headwinds that could diminish or dismantle it entirely.

His two main avenues for significant climate action are legislation and regulation. But even Biden’s top aides and closest allies now concede that the legislative centerpiece of his climate plan is unlikely to become law in the face of steadfast Republican opposition. And regulations that are now under development — strict limits on pollution from cars and power plants that is dangerously heating the planet — could be curtailed or blocked by the conservative majority on the Supreme Court.

With gasoline prices surging after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and images receding of last summer’s climate disasters — wildfires that raged through seven states, heat waves and floods — Republicans and oil companies are newly emboldened in calling for more drilling and less emphasis on climate change.

“The U.S. oil companies are like a prisoner that was condemned to death, and suddenly the warden of the prison lets them out and wants them to produce as much oil as quickly as possible,” said Robert McNally, a consultant who was a senior energy and economic adviser to President George W. Bush. “Now the president is saying to them, ‘Help me out of a jam.’ It’s a panicked response to high oil prices.”

On Thursday, Biden said he would release 1 million barrels of oil a day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for as long as 180 days to help bring down global oil prices. The United States also plans to increase exports of natural gas to help Europe wean itself from Russian supplies. Environmentalists are concerned that both of those moves will lead to more domestic drilling at a moment when scientists say nations must sharply and quickly cut fossil fuel use.

The president used the announcement about the petroleum reserve to make a plea for his stymied climate legislation, saying that he was boosting gas and oil supplies to deal with an immediate crisis but that the country’s long-term energy independence should be rooted in wind, solar and other renewable sources that are insulated from global market fluctuations.

“Ultimately, we and the whole world need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels altogether,” Biden said. “We need to choose long-term security over energy and climate vulnerability. We need to double down on our commitment to clean energy and tackling the climate crisis with our partners and allies around the world. And we can do that by passing my plan that’s literally before the Senate right now, the United States Congress right now.”

Still, the administration has advanced some climate policies. The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a landmark rule requiring companies to disclose their financial risk from climate change. The Biden administration approved the nation’s first major offshore wind farm and is moving forward with plans to develop wind farms along much of the U.S. coastline.

In addition, the Environmental Protection Agency is advancing new rules to limit methane, a potent greenhouse gas that leaks from oil and gas wells. The administration is setting tougher energy efficiency standards for refrigerators, washers, dryers and other appliances. And through the bipartisan infrastructure law, it is providing $3.2 billion to weatherize homes and $5 billion to help states create networks of electric vehicle charging stations.

But Biden’s strategy to seed climate policy across the federal government has suffered setbacks. His nomination of Sarah Bloom Raskin for vice chair of the Federal Reserve was scuttled by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who objected to her views that climate change poses a serious risk to the financial system. Manchin and Republicans also pressured the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to back off plans to consider climate effects when approving new gas pipelines.

Republicans have shown little interest in addressing climate change, despite the overwhelming consensus of the scientific community that nations must take immediate action to slash emissions from fossil fuels or face a harrowing future of drought, floods, fires, displacement, famine and more. The planet is warming so quickly, it is outpacing humanity’s ability to adapt, according to the most recent report for the United Nations written by 270 researchers from 67 countries. Global emissions of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas most responsible for climate change, are at their highest level in history after a temporary dip during the coronavirus pandemic.

But the majority of Republicans in Congress have been silent when it comes to the science and have sought to portray the Democrats as “climate elites” who are out of touch with most Americans.

Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, attacked Biden’s proposed 2023 budget as “climate extremism” because he is seeking $45 billion for governmentwide efforts to reduce pollution, expand conservation, research clean energy technologies and prepare for and respond to extreme weather events.

“President Biden wants to spend more taxpayer dollars on his green energy schemes instead of increasing American energy production to solve the energy crisis he created,” Barrasso said Monday.

With an eye toward this fall’s midterm elections, the Republican National Committee has launched a campaign to register voters at gas stations across the country, aiming to connect high prices at the pump to Biden’s policies.

“It’s kind of a perfect storm,” David Axelrod, a Democratic political strategist and former top counselor to President Barack Obama, wrote in an email. “The economic dislocations caused by the pandemic and war in Ukraine have led to record gas prices, and with them, tremendous pressure to encourage more oil and gas production. All in an election year.”

Experts say that it is now impossible for Biden to meet his pledge to the world that the United States will cut its emissions in half by 2030, the amount that scientists say is necessary if the planet’s largest economy is to do its part to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of global warming.

Biden’s best hope for climate action is in the $2.2 trillion climate and social spending legislation stalled on Capitol Hill. If enacted, it could cut the nation’s emissions roughly 25 percent by 2030, getting about halfway to Biden’s promised target.

The House passed the legislation last year, but it came to a standstill in the Senate in December, when Manchin said he would not vote for it.

Manchin’s vote is essential for passage of the bill in the evenly divided Senate, where no Republicans are expected to vote for the measure.

Doug Mills / New York Times President Joe Biden faces headwinds in his vow to cut emissions in half by 2030, with the legislative centerpiece of his climate agenda unlikely to become law.