Biden Considering Declaring "National Climate Emergency" As America Swelters Under Heatwave

[Webster]

(The Guardian) With Congress paralyzed, Biden mulls declaring climate emergency
Is America in the midst of a national climate emergency? The White House may as soon as this week declare it is indeed, the Washington Post reports today, after Joe Biden’s proposals to lower carbon emissions stalled in Congress, sending his administration looking for other ways to take action to curb the planet’s warming. Meanwhile, much of the United States is dealing with a wave of high temperatures, while a heatwave in Europe is breaking records.

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Declaring a national climate emergency, as The Washington Post reports Biden is considering in response to the apparent demise of his efforts to get measures cutting America’s climate emissions approved by Congress, would certainly generate headlines. But what exactly would it do?

The Post’s report underline the ambiguities associated with the move: It is unclear how, exactly, Biden plans to proceed if he opts to declare a climate emergency, which Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged him to do just days after the president took office last year.

Some climate activists have urged the White House in recent months to deploy an emergency declaration to maximum effect, arguing that it would allow the president to halt crude oil exports, limit oil and gas drilling in federal waters, and direct agencies including the Federal Emergency Management Agency to boost renewable-energy sources.

The sad truth is that America is behind where it needs to be when it comes to keeping the planet from experiencing the worst effects of rising temperatures, and even if Biden had gotten his Build Back Better plan through Congress, it wouldn’t have been enough, as the below story from last October makes clear: The Build Back Better plan will put America on track to meet its goals, but it must not be the only action congress takes to combat the climate crisis, said congresswoman Kathy Castor, a Florida Democrat and chair of the House select committee on the climate crisis. More federal action is needed to meet the scale of the emergency, she said.

“Even if we pass the Build Back Better Act as it is, that doesn’t get us to net-zero by 2050, which is the goal,” she said in an interview. Pointing to the latest climate research and a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that declared a “code red” for humanity, she added: “We are going to have to do more.”

Build Back Better is now dead, and it’s unclear if the executive actions Biden says he will now resort to will be anywhere near as effective as his unrealized proposals to curb climate change.

 

[Webster]

(The Guardian) Nine Senate Democrats urge Biden to declare climate emergency immediately
Nine Democratic senators have today written Biden a letter urging him to declare a climate crisis immediately, which they say would give the executive branch extraordinary powers to lower America’s carbon emissions.

The letter comes ahead of Biden’s speech this afternoon where he’s expected to announce executive orders to fight climate change, but not declare an emergency. “For too long, we have been waiting for a single piece of legislation, and a single Senate vote, to take bold action on our climate crisis,” wrote the group of senators, which includes former presidential contenders Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren. “We urge you to put us on an emergency footing and aggressively use your executive powers to address the climate crisis, create good-paying union jobs in the United States, and liberate hard-working American families from volatile energy prices.”

They call on Biden to use powers under the National Emergency Act (NEA) to “immediately pursue an array of regulatory and administrative actions to slash emissions, protect public health, support national and energy security, and improve our air and water quality.”

Here’s more from the letter: Declaring the climate crisis a national emergency under the NEA would unlock powers to rebuild a better economy with significant, concrete actions. Under the NEA, you could redirect spending to build out renewable energy systems on military bases, implement large-scale clean transportation solutions and finance distributed energy projects to boost climate resiliency. All of these actions would employ Americans in new and emerging industries while securing American leadership in global markets.

 

[Bluezone777]

I'd say it can't be that much of an emergency if you need to debate and argue about it. If you really thought it was an emergency then you would have just declared it one and get to work dealing with it.

 

[Nebulous]

It always gets hot in the summer, since when is it an emergency?