The U.S. President, Joe Biden, has announced a new set of executive actions to turn the climate crisis into an opportunity for change. His intention is to promote well-paid clean energy jobs, lower costs for families, protect communities from climate impacts, and increase offshore wind energy production in the United States.
“As President, I’ll use my executive powers to combat climate change and the climate crisis in the absence of congressional action,” Biden said in a briefing held at the former site of the largest coal-powered electricity plant in Massachusetts which is being converted into a manufacturing facility for underwater transmission equipment used to connect offshore wind farms.
Happening Now: President Biden delivers remarks on executive actions to tackle the climate crisis and seize the opportunity of a clean energy future. https://t.co/vXKRyLuqn7
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 20, 2022
Although the United States is experiencing a massive heatwave that has affected over 200 million people this July and the power grid is overloaded, the U.S. President did not declare a national climate emergency as environmental advocates had urged him to do. This would have been an appropriate move after talks on a climate package and drug prices stalled in Congress and would also have enabled the use of the Defense Production Act to enhance renewable energy systems.
“The Department of the Interior is [also] proposing the first Wind Energy Areas in the Gulf of Mexico – a historic step toward expanding offshore wind opportunities to another region of the United States. These areas cover 700,000 acres and have the potential to power over three million homes,” the White House stated.
The press release also contextualized the relevance of the climate crisis given that, last year alone, the United States endured 20 extreme weather and natural climate disasters, each causing more than US$1 billion in damage (a cumulative damage cost of more than US$145 billion). People of color and low-income communities are very much more vulnerable to the climate crisis and experience negative health and environmental impacts from climate and extreme weather events.
Additional steps were also announced including the intention to:
- Provide record funding to increase community resilience by doubling funds for BRIC.
- Expand access to home air conditioners and community cooling centers, and give states more options on how to use federal funds to assist low-income households cool.
- Enforce workplace safety, especially in high-risk sectors like agriculture and construction. To address this issue, the Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is drafting a heat standard and increasing heat-related inspections in high-risk sectors.
- Pursue the potential for offshore wind energy production in the Gulf of Mexico while protecting biodiversity and promoting ocean co-use.
President Biden is expected to announce additional executive actions in the coming weeks as he faces increasing pressure to deliver on his pledge to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2030 and fulfill his campaign climate promises ahead of the mid-term elections in November this year.
