Democratic lawmakers and their environmentalist allies have a laundry list of executive actions on climate change that they want President Biden to take because Congress can’t get the job done.
Mr. Biden is being urged to test the limits of his executive authority by declaring a national climate emergency under the National Emergencies Act.
Short of that, Democrats are presenting Mr. Biden with scores of far-reaching proposals for executive action. They want him to:
• Direct the Department of Justice to get involved in ongoing local and state climate litigation against the fossil fuel industry.
• Invoke the Defense Production Act to churn out renewable energy technologies and solar panels.
• Reinstitute a crude oil export ban.
• Restrict fossil fuel imports.
• End domestic and international federal fossil fuel subsidies.
• End oil and natural gas lease sales for federal lands and waters.
• Prevent new fossil fuel infrastructure projects.
• Strengthen vehicle emissions standards.
• Electrify the USPS vehicle fleet.
• More resources for identifying and enforcing potent methane leaks; finalize new methane standards for new and existing oil and gas operations to cut methane pollution at least 65% below 2012 levels by 2025.
• Institute a carbon border tariff on imports from countries with worse emission levels than the U.S.
• Redirect federal money to transition from fossil fuels to clean energy.
Kat Maier, national coordinator of Fridays for Future, the youth-led international climate group formed by activist Greta Thunberg, said executive action is the president’s last chance to stay true to his campaign promises on global warming.
“If President Biden was ever serious about being a climate president, this is his last chance,” Ms. Maier said. “Everyone from Republicans to Democrats, institutions to individuals, has shown their hand, and we know who stands on the side of climate action. There’s nothing to wait for anymore, no compromises to make anymore. It’s time for the bold action.”
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, who called for a climate emergency declaration within the first week of Mr. Biden taking office, said his position was unchanged.
“We’re urging the administration to do things that it can do administratively, and we’re going to look at everything that we can do,” the New York Democrat said.
When it comes to the public, more voters say they support Congress acting on climate change than the president. A recent poll from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication found that 61% of Americans said Congress should do more compared to 57% who said their governor and 52% who said Mr. Biden should do more.
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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