Biden signs orders on climate change amid job concerns: ‘Time to act’



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President Biden signed climate change orders on Wednesday promising to place the issue “at the center” of US national security and domestic and foreign policy.

In a White House ceremony, Biden said the orders would “overload” his administration’s plan to deal with climate change.

BIDEN CLIMATE CHANGE ORDER TO TELL FEDERAL AGENCIES TO ELIMINATE FOSSIL FUEL SUBSIDIES

“Today is White House Climate Day, which means today is White House Jobs Day,” Biden said, adding that the administration is focusing on “products Americans, “the” health of our families, cleaner water and cleaner air. “

“In my opinion, we’ve already waited too long to deal with this climate crisis and we can’t wait any longer. It’s time to act,” Biden said, outlining his executive actions. “Just as we need a unified national response to COVID-19, we desperately need a unified national response to the climate crisis, because there is a climate crisis.”

Biden added, “When I think of the climate, I think of jobs.”

Biden said climate change is a case “where conscience and convenience intersect, claiming that” addressing existential threats to the factory and economic growth are one and the same. “

The president said the United States “can put millions of Americans to work to modernize our restaurant systems, our transportation and our energy infrastructure.”

But Republicans have strongly pushed back against Biden’s policies, including his order to ban new oil and gas rentals on federal lands, claiming they are job killers.

“America has become the world leader in energy production and a major exporter of oil and natural gas, strengthening our national security and boosting our economy for hard-working families,” said Steve Scalise, R-La , the Republican House Whip, and 30 GOP members from the House Energy Action Team said in a statement Wednesday. “In less than a week, the Biden administration put those jobs and accomplishments at risk by attacking US energy, and the good jobs and low energy costs that come with it.”

Biden’s order on Wednesday is expected to “empower American workers and businesses” to “lead a clean energy revolution” that aims to achieve a carbon-free industry by 2035, while also putting the United States on an “irreversible path to a zero rate economy.” by 2050. “

The order will expand its movement last week to join the Paris climate agreement. Its review of the “damaging drops in standards” that protect air, water and communities should direct federal agencies “to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies in accordance with applicable law and identify new opportunities to boost fuel economy. innovation, commercialization and deployment of clean energy technologies and infrastructure. “

On jobs, the ordinance, according to the White House, is “in line with the objectives of the president’s economic stimulus and Build Back Better jobs,” saying clean energy jobs are a “central pillar. “. The ordinances direct federal agencies to procure carbon-free electricity and clean, zero-emission vehicles to create well-paying union jobs and “stimulate clean energy industries.”

The order “also requires that these purchases be made in America,” while “strictly” enforcing salary and benefits guidelines.

“These actions reaffirm that agencies should work to ensure that any jobs created with funds to deal with the climate crisis are good jobs with the choice to join a union,” the White House said.

SUBMISSION OF BAN OF NEW DRILLING PERMITS ON FEDERAL LAND, WATER FOR ONE YEAR

The decree also “catalyzes” job creation in construction, manufacturing, engineering and skilled trades by leading action to ensure that every federal investment in infrastructure reduces climate pollution and that action is taken. to accelerate clean energy and transportation projects under a federal site and enable processes in an environmentally sustainable manner.

Biden of the White House on Wednesday also asserted that “we are not going to ban fracking.”

Fracking is a process of injecting water into shale rock at high pressure to extract natural gas, and has revolutionized the oil and gas industry by allowing producers to reach large amounts into rock from shale that were previously inaccessible and the cost of drilling was prohibitive.

As a result, the production of oil and gas in the United States has almost tripled over the past decade. More than 95% of new wells use hydraulic fracturing, accounting for about two-thirds of natural gas production and half of oil production in 2018, according to the American Petroleum Institute.

The ordinance, according to the White House, establishes climate considerations as an “essential element” of US foreign and national security policy.

“This is a government approach aimed at placing climate change at the center of domestic policy, national security and foreign policy,” Biden said.

The ordinance asserts that the United States “will exercise leadership to promote a significant increase in global ambition,” while making it clear that “short-term global emission reductions and zero net global emissions by mid-century – or earlier – are needed to avoid putting the world on a dangerous, potentially catastrophic climate trajectory. “

The order will also commit Biden to host an Earth Day climate leaders summit on April 22, 2021; the United States to reconvene the Forum of Large Economies; and to underscore the administration’s commitment to uplifting the climate in US foreign policy.

Meanwhile, the order also directs Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines to prepare a National Intelligence estimate of the security implications of climate change, the State Department to prepare a Senate transmission package for the amendment. from Kigali to the Montreal Protocol, and all agencies to develop strategies to integrate climate considerations into their international work.

The ordinance also formally establishes the White House’s Office of Domestic Climate Policy, creating a central office in the White House to coordinate and implement Biden’s national climate agenda.

On agriculture, the order asks the secretary of agriculture to “seek feedback from farmers, ranchers and other stakeholders” on how to use federal programs to “encourage adoption climate-smart agricultural practices that produce verifiable carbon reductions and sequestrations and create new sources of income and jobs for rural Americans. “

Biden’s order also directs the Home Secretary to take a break from entering into new oil and gas leases on public land or offshore waters to the extent possible, launching a rigorous review of all existing rental and licensing practices related to fossil fuel development on public lands. and waters, and identify measures that can be taken to double the production of renewable energy from offshore wind by 2030.

The White House said the order “formalizes” Biden’s “commitment” to making environmental justice part of every federal agency’s mission, directing them to develop programs, policies and activities to do so. in the face of disproportionate impacts on health, the environment, the economy and the climate. disadvantaged communities.

The ordinance creates a government-wide “Justice Initiative40” with the aim of providing “40 percent of the overall benefits of relevant federal investments to disadvantaged communities”. Meanwhile, Biden is also set to sign a presidential memorandum focusing on scientific integrity on Wednesday, in an effort to “send a clear message” that his administration will “protect scientists from political interference” so that they can “think, research, and speak. freely to provide valuable information and ideas to the American people.”

Biden on Wednesday also signed an executive order to re-establish the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

The council is also expected to advise Biden on scientific and technical information needed to “inform public policies relating to the economy, worker empowerment, education, energy, environment, health. public, national and internal security, racial equity and other matters “.

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