SOMERSET, Mass./WASHINGTON, July 20 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday climate change was an emergency but stopped short of a formal declaration, announcing a modest package of executive actions and promising more aggressive efforts.
Biden made the comments during a visit to Massachusetts and at a time when a historic heat wave is sweeping Europe and the United States. About 100 million Americans from New York 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. “It’s an emergency, an emergency, and I’m going to look at it that way.
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The announcements included new funding for cooling centers and a push for new offshore wind projects in the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico.
Still, these actions fall short of demands from Democratic lawmakers and environmental activists who want Biden to formally declare a climate emergency that would allow the Defense Production Act to be used to increase production of a wide range of products and systems. for renewable energy.
Biden told reporters he would soon decide whether to make such a declaration.
“I run the trappings of the … power that I have,” he told reporters on his way home from Massachusetts. “I will make that decision soon.”
Biden is under increasing pressure after conservative Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said last week he was not ready to support key climate provisions in Congress, a critical loss in the evenly divided Senate.
Biden has not spoken to Manchin since then, he told reporters on Wednesday.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency will provide $2.3 billion in funding to help states build cooling centers to deal with excessive heat and to deal with other impacts of climate change, the White House said as it announced the largest investment in the program to build sustainable infrastructure and communities.
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on climate change and renewable energy at the site of the former Brayton Point Power Plant in Somerset, Massachusetts, U.S., July 20, 2022. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
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The new funding could expand flood control, strengthen utilities, retrofit buildings and help low-income families pay for heating and cooling costs.
Biden also announces new support for the domestic offshore wind industry. The administration has identified 700,000 acres for possible offshore wind development in the Gulf of Mexico, the White House announced. Read more
Biden spoke from a former coal plant that plays a role in supporting the state’s offshore wind industry as a manufacturing hub for submarine cables.
Biden said there is more to come.
“In the coming days, my administration will announce the executive actions we have developed to combat this emergency,” Biden said.
Sen. Jeff Merkley and eight other Democrats sent a letter to Biden on Wednesday urging him to declare a climate emergency and use aggressive executive action to limit emissions from fossil fuels produced on public lands and waters, and to maximize the use of electric vehicles.
Biden promised tough action on climate change in his presidential campaign, and it remains a key priority for some voters ahead of the Nov. 8 midterms for control of Congress. The US president has also pledged in international climate talks to reduce climate pollution by 50% by 2030 and reach 100% clean electricity by 2035.
But that climate agenda has been derailed by several major setbacks, including the failure of Congress to pass important climate and clean energy measures in the federal budget bill, record gasoline prices, and Russia’s incursion into Ukraine, which has roiled global energy markets.
A Supreme Court ruling last month limiting the federal government’s power to issue sweeping regulations to cut carbon emissions from power plants also undermines Biden’s climate plans. Read more
Asked whether Biden had concluded he no longer had an option on the climate bill, a senior White House official told reporters that other people could answer that question, apparently suggesting that much depends on Manchin.
“Our focus is on what we can do,” the official said.
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Reporting by Steve Holland, Trevor Honeycutt, Timothy Gardner, Jeff Mason, Jarrett Renshaw and Nandita Bowes; Written by Timothy Gardner and Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Trevor Hunnicutt and Lisa Shoemaker
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