Environment policy is a great Obama legacy
“We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” This proverb may well have guided President Barack Obama over the past eight years as he protected our landscapes and led the world to limit the worst impacts of global warming.
From the Climate Action Plan to investing in renewable energy and fuel economy standards and forging the historic Paris Climate Agreement, Obama’s unprecedented leadership on cutting global warming emissions will ensure a brighter future for our planet and all of us who call it home. With 2016 in the books as the hottest year on record, the science could not be clearer — if we are to avoid devastating impacts that could render the planet uninhabitable, we need to take bold action.
From record drought to record flooding, Texas is already experiencing the deadly impacts of global warming. But incredibly, the state leadership’s response to the climate crisis has been one of denial and obstructionism. And where a decade ago Texas was on the cutting edge of clean energy policy, today the state favors lawsuits against clean-air measures.
The Obama administration’s groundbreaking Clean Power Plan created the first federal limits on carbon pollution from power plants and set the stage domestically for aggressive climate action. U.S. leadership coupled with the momentous agreement Obama forged with China in 2014, made international action to stave off the worst impacts of global warming and the Paris Climate Agreement possible.
In addition, the Obama administration doubled fuel efficiency standards for cars and set new standards for trucks and buses, which will make them more efficient and less polluting, and will reduce carbon emissions by over 7 billion metric tons of global warming pollution.
Simultaneously, this administration jump-started America’s clean energy revolution. Today, we have 20 times more solar power and three times more wind energy in the U.S. than when he took office. Energy efficiency is now more than just a sign of “personal virtue” — it’s the basis for our energy policy.
Right out of the gates, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act invested $90 billion in research on renewable technology and Obama subsequently designated eight wind energy areas off the Atlantic Coast, which will provide power when it is needed most on hot summer afternoons and when winter heating needs are at capacity. And of course, the cleanest energy is the energy we don’t use. Since 2009, the Obama administration issued 44 new or updated appliance standards on a range of appliances and equipment.
But Obama went a step further to actually help prevent future climate pollution by rejecting the Keystone Pipeline, which would have produced 26 million metric tons of carbon pollution each year. He followed that up with a win for our climate, our drinking water and members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, when his administration stopped the Dakota Access Pipeline. And, perhaps his most far-reaching actions, Obama permanently protected 98 percent of the U.S. Arctic Ocean and parts of the Atlantic from offshore drilling, guaranteeing no new leasing in these public waters.
Obama had the foresight and the fortitude to protect many of the most sensitive and beloved places and creatures, so that future generations might experience the same wonders we do today.
His administration protected more landscapes and water ecosystems than any president in history, conserving places like the Mojave Trail in California and the rocky spires of New Mexico’s Organ Mountains; Maine’s Katahdin lakes, and the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument forests, and the Waco Mammoth monument.
Finally, over eight years Obama made numerous decisions large and small to prevent pollution and improve our families’ health. His administration put new restrictions on mercury and other toxic pollution from power plants that will avert up to 11,000 premature deaths, 4,700 heart attacks and 130,000 asthma attacks every year. His work to clean up our vehicles will prevent 3,600 premature deaths and nearly 100,000 asthma attacks annually. And, the administration’s Clean Water Rule restored protections to half our nation’s streams, which help provide drinking water to 117 million Americans, including 11 million Texans.
All things must come to an end, including the Obama administration. But thanks to President Obama’s commitment to our families and our planet, the people of Texas, the nation and the world will benefit from his work for generations to come.