SOMERSET, Mass./WASHINGTON, July 20 (Reuters) – US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that climate change is an emergency, but did not make a formal statement, announcing a modest package of executive action and promising more aggressive efforts.
Biden made the comments during a visit to Massachusetts and when a historic heat wave affected Europe and the United States. About 100 million Americans from New York City to Las Vegas will be under heat warnings this week. Read more
“Climate change is literally an existential threat to our nation and to the world,” Biden said. “This is an emergency, an emergency, and I’ll look at it that way.”
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The announcements included new funding for cooling centers and boosting new offshore wind projects in the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico.
However, these actions do not meet the demands of Democratic lawmakers and environmental activists who want Biden to formally declare a climate emergency, which would allow the use of the Defense Production Act to increase production of a wide range of renewable energy products and systems.
Biden told reporters he will soon decide whether to make that statement.
“I’m running the traps on the … authority I have,” he told reporters as he returned home from Massachusetts. “I will make that decision soon.”
Biden is under increasing pressure after Conservative Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said last week that he was unprepared to support key climate provisions in Congress, a critical loss in the equally divided Senate.
Biden has not spoken to Manchin since then, he told reporters Wednesday.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency will provide $ 2.3 billion in funding to help states build cooling centers to deal with excess heat and deal with other impacts of climate change, the White House said when announced the largest investment ever made in the Resilient Infrastructure and Community Building program. .
The new funding could expand flood control, strengthen public services, rehabilitate buildings and help low-income families pay for heating and cooling costs.
Biden also announces new support for the national offshore wind industry. The administration has identified 700,000 acres for a possible development of offshore wind power in the Gulf of Mexico, the White House said. Read more
Biden spoke from an old coal plant that plays a role in supporting the state’s offshore wind industry as a submarine cable manufacturing center.
Biden said more will come.
“In the coming days, my administration will announce the executive actions we have taken to combat this emergency,” Biden said.
Senator Jeff Merkley and eight other Democrats sent a letter Wednesday to Biden urging him to declare a climate emergency and to use aggressive enforcement actions to limit emissions of fossil fuels produced on public land and water and maximize the use of electric vehicles.
Biden promised tough action on climate change in his presidential campaign, and remains a key priority for some voters ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm legislature for control of Congress. The President of the United States also pledged in international climate negotiations to reduce climate pollution by 50% by 2030 and reach 100% clean electricity by 2035.
But this climate agenda has been derailed by several major setbacks, such as the fact that Congress failed to pass crucial measures on climate and clean energy in a federal budget bill, record gasoline prices, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine that disrupts world energy markets.
A Supreme Court ruling last month limiting the federal government’s authority to issue comprehensive regulations to reduce carbon emissions from power plants is also undermining Biden’s climate plans. Read more
When asked if Biden has concluded that there is no longer any option for a climate bill, a senior White House official told reporters that other people could answer that question, clearly suggesting that it depends a lot. of Manchin.
“Our approach is what we can do,” the official said.
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Featured by Steve Holland, Trevor Hunnicutt, Timothy Gardner, Jeff Mason, Jarrett Renshaw and Nandita Bose; Written by Timothy Gardner and Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Trevor Hunnicutt and Lisa Shumaker
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