President Biden said that “practically speaking” he’s already declared a national climate emergency, an executive action that would unlock far-reaching powers to curtail emissions by restricting domestic fossil fuel production.
Mr. Biden has not declared such an emergency. Environmentalists and Democratic lawmakers have been urging him for years to do it.
“We’ve already done that,” he said during an interview with The Weather Channel that aired Wednesday. “We’ve conserved more land, we’ve rejoined the Paris climate accord, we passed the $368 billion climate control facility. We’re moving. It is the existential threat to humanity.”
Pressed further about if such an emergency declaration has been issued, Mr. Biden responded: “Practically speaking, yes.”
The climate control facility he mentioned was a reference to his tax and climate spending law that was titled the Inflation Reduction Act and included nearly $370 billion in green tax credits to spur clean energy production.
The White House tried to walk back his climate emergency comments, saying that the president was talking about his decision to invoke the Defense Production Act last year for green technologies.
“What the president was talking about is the Defense Production Act. That’s something he did very early on,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on CNN.
Mr. Biden’s remarks, which he made during a three-day swing through Western states to highlight his climate change achievements, prompted swift blowback. Climate activists faulted him for failing to issue an official directive while the fossil fuel industry slammed him for leaning further into the idea.
“With today’s remarks, he’s already out there supporting the idea — he freaking said ‘I’ve already done that’ — so let’s go ahead and do it then!” Director of Fossil Free Media Jamie Henn, a nonprofit movement advocating to end fossil fuels, wrote on social media. “Millions of young people and climate advocates have rallied around the climate emergency. Biden should show he’s responding!”
Molly Morabito, a climate organizer with the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity, noted that the Biden administration has approved new major fossil fuel ventures like Alaska’s Willow oil project and West Virginia’s Mountain Valley gas pipeline.
“Good news,” she wrote on the X social media site, “you can still reverse course.”
Fossil fuel groups said the COVID-19 pandemic was evidence that a national climate emergency would unlock overreaching powers that could significantly scale back oil and natural gas production.
“The fact Joe Biden doesn’t know when he’s declared an emergency is scary enough, but the fact he’s considering it at all is even worse,” said Power The Future Executive Director Daniel Turner. “Covid showed us that politicians will use emergencies to exercise overreaching power which is exactly what the eco-left wants to do to America’s families.”
The Oil and Gas Association said a climate emergency would unleash powers “even authoritarian regimes” would be envious of, such as the ability to control energy infrastructure, utilities and supply chains.
“The administration hasn’t declared a climate emergency — yet,” the lobbying group posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Americans should be sitting up and paying attention.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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