In the weeks leading up to Earth Day on Friday, the administration launched a new effort that Biden officials say is not contradictory – taking steps to lower gas prices while working to strengthen the environment.
The latest step, an executive order aimed at protecting old forests in federal lands, is expected to be announced by Biden on Friday in Seattle. The president is also expected to discuss the recent historic release of the strategic oil reserve and the issuance of an emergency waiver for E15, a gasoline with a 15% ethanol mixture, the White House said.
Double tracks
Speaking in Oregon on Thursday, the president attributed his decision to take advantage of the strategic oil reserve by lowering gas prices, but said it was time for the United States to “get off the train” on fossil fuel reliance, calling on the country to declare “energy independence”. “from oil.
Along with a new executive order to preserve older forests, the Biden administration took steps this week to strengthen a groundbreaking environmental law that was repealed by then-President Donald Trump.
The White House Council on Environmental Quality says it has restored three main provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires federal agencies to assess the environmental impact of projects such as construction of mines, highways, water infrastructure and gas pipelines. .
The Biden administration also unveiled two new programs earlier this week, created by the two-party infrastructure law, which will provide $ 20 million in rebates for replacing old transformers and upgrading electric motor systems, according to the energy ministry. Along with the recent Strategic Petroleum Reserve Release and Release to Allow Summer Use of E15, this week the Biden administration announced it would resume oil and gas sales on land on federal land, with higher royalty rates for companies to pay to the federal government.
The White House describes fuel-related actions as efforts that will save American families money and fight Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war. At the same time, administration officials say no concessions have been made to meet the president’s climate goals.
“We will continue to meet our climate goals,” White House Chief of Staff Karin Jean-Pierre told reporters on the way to the Northwest Pacific. “Look, the president is committed to doing everything he can to deal with the pain that Americans are experiencing at the pump … Our strategy from day one is to meet people where they are. It’s about providing solutions that help people come to terms with the real challenges of real life. ”
Jean-Pierre said: “Overcoming emergency supplies while speeding up clean energy efforts is completely consistent,” adding: “We believe we can walk and chew gum because families have to take their children to school and walk. to work, to take groceries and go for their lives. And sometimes that requires gas today, this month and this year. But at the same time, we need to speed up, not slow down, our transition to clean energy. We believe that we will achieve our goals. We are very committed to doing that. ”
Response from climate activists
In Biden’s first year in office, there were several victories in climate policy. The United States has rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement. He brought in a climate envoy and a national climate adviser. And he revoked the Keystone XL pipeline permit.
But now, nearly a year and a half after Biden’s term, climate activists say the president is not doing enough.
The sale of E15 petrol is usually banned from June to mid-September due to air quality concerns. While proponents of biofuels argue that E15 is an essential part of the transition to cleaner energy, some activists say its use is bad for American health and contributes to environmentally damaging corn production. The refusal comes the same week when a new report from the American Lung Association was published, which shows that the United States has seen the most “very unhealthy” and “dangerous” air quality days between 2018 and 2020 that it has ever had.
Although the administration’s recent move to resume drilling contracts is the first time the federal government has ever increased what companies pay for oil and gas drilling on public land, environmental groups have generally criticized the effort.
The Sunrise movement, led by a youth progressive group of climate activists, said Biden was returning to his campaign promise when he told voters: “No more drilling in federal lands, period.” Varshini Prakash, the organisation’s executive director, said in a statement that the decision would have political implications, saying “Biden cannot get away with this disastrous climate decision”.
“The fact is that more drilling will not solve the high gas prices right now – so why is Biden breaking his campaign promise to stop drilling in public lands?” That is why young people have doubts about the political process as a whole. If Biden wants to decide the turnout in 2022, he must actually do the things he promised, not move away from them, “Prakash added.
Randy Spivak, director of public lands at the Center for Biodiversity, told CNN that while the president’s latest move to protect older forests is “an important step in the right direction,” the course of hiring drilling on public land is ” locks us into more fossil fuels “for a decade or more.
Manish Bapna, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Natural Resources Council, wrote before Earth Day that “it is infuriating to see the American oil and gas industry trying to use (the tragedy of the war in Ukraine) as a way to concluded decades of greater dependence on the fuels themselves that hold our families and businesses hostage to global price shocks that we cannot control as we drive the world into a climate catastrophe and fill the Kremlin’s military chest. ”
However, Bapna expressed hope that the war had sparked global efforts to move away from oil dependence.
Americans’ view of gas prices and climate change
Apparently, the double line of federal action comes amid Americans’ continuing concerns about both gas prices and climate.
While the US unemployment rate recently reached its lowest level since 1968, Americans continue to witness economic turbulence due to inflation and rising gas prices.
But as the administration took steps to ease rising consumer prices, including an increase in the gas station due to the war in Ukraine, Americans began to feel a little better in the economy.
Consumer expectations have improved in terms of both economic and personal financial prospects, according to preliminary April data from the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey.
However, the increase in consumer optimism is relative. The sentiment index in April remained below its January level and lower than every month for the past decade.
A Gallup poll published earlier this month found that 1 in 3 Americans say they have been affected by some extreme weather in the past two years, and those who have been are much more likely to say that the climate crisis is a threat.
The survey also found that 78% of respondents who have faced extreme weather in recent times believe that the effects of climate change are already unfolding, compared to 51% who have not.
The Manchin element
Crucial to Biden’s lofty climate plans is congressional support, especially from Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a moderate who has sunk ambitious items on the president’s climate agenda that were part of the original Build Back Better package.
In recent weeks, Manchin has engaged with White House officials in informal discussions on measures including energy, the cost of prescription drugs, tax changes and deficit reduction that he could potentially support in a new version of the package.
Earlier, Manchin said he supported clean energy tax credits. But amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the chairman of the Senate Energy Committee also called for more fossil fuel production and infrastructure in the United States to help Europe move away from Russian natural gas.
In February, the West Virginia Democrat also voted for the nomination of a key Home Office official after a rare second hearing on her nomination.
Manchin’s office delayed the vote on Laura Daniel-Davis, who was elected president to serve as assistant secretary of the Interior Ministry for land and mineral management, citing the war’s energy crisis. His office then said the senator “would like to see more from the ministry that he intends to return to the leasing and manufacturing business in the federal states and lead in a healthy and responsible manner.”
Biden’s climate adviser, Gina McCarthy, told CNN Newsroom on Thursday that “quiet discussions” were taking place with Manchin. McCarthy said he expects the package to move forward, which will reduce what American families pay for clean energy.
“There are things that Joe Manchin also wants … We will continue to work on them and we will have the whole intention to keep insisting on Congress, because these are not just small things that we need to add. These are essential efforts to make sure we can increase jobs in this country, “she continued.
It is not yet clear whether the bill, which supports Manchin, could garner support from progressive representatives of the House of Representatives and the Senate, especially if it seeks guarantees over fossil fuel projects or infrastructure. Democrats have a razor majority in both houses of Congress and cannot afford to lose a single vote.
Ella Nilsson, Lauren Fox, Sam Fosom, Liz Stark and CNN’s Aneken Tape contributed to this report.
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