President Biden has gotten to work right away since day one of his inauguration. Most recently, he fittingly issued Executive Orders and a Memorandum addressing climate change policy and scientific integrity on Climate Day, January 27th, 2021. The Executive Order entitled “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad” specifically announces plans to enhance concerted global efforts to fight climate change by joining both domestic action with international action. These new executive orders continue in the same vein as the climate focused efforts President Biden made his first day in office; namely, rescinding the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, rejoining the Paris Agreement, and placing a ban on new federal leases in Arctic Wildlife Refuge.
Back to the new “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad” executive order. While there are a plethora of international measures addressed by the order, of more immediate concern are the domestic actions. Stateside, this executive order plans for both a “government-wide approach” and a strategy centered upon the new White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy.
Specific goals of the order include:
- Doubling offshore wind by 2030 while simultaneously taking measures to protect US natural resources of all kinds. This will be accomplished by permitting processes on public lands and offshore waters in an attempt to make it easier to execute renewable energy initiatives.
- Reviewing the climate impact associated with oil and gas activities on public lands and offshore waters to create plans for lower climatic impacts for this industry. This will be accomplished by putting a freeze on all new oil and natural gas leases on public lands or offshore waters until a comprehensive evaluation has been submitted. There is currently no timeline for how long this permitting pause will continue.
- Eliminating government subsidies for the fossil fuel industry by fiscal year 2022. This will be accomplished by having heads of agencies identify and take steps towards ensuring that no government funds are directly subsidizing fossil fuels. Congressional action will be required.
- Revitalizing coal, oil, and gas based economic communities by identifying opportunities to retain benefits and protections for these populations. This will be accomplished by establishing the “Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities” to carry out this work.
- Furthering climate action within the context of environmental justice. This will be accomplished by taking special care to consider racial justice and equity during all activities. Specifically, this executive order ensures that 40% of the overall benefits of the push towards renewable energy go to minority communities.
So what does this mean for the average person? Well, the expectations are mixed, so really time will tell. Some possibilities include seeing a dramatic increase in jobs in the renewables industry, spiking fuel prices, recovering biodiversity in public parks and aquatic reserves, widespread job losses in communities reliant on the fossil fuel industry, and increasingly healthier living conditions for all people. As we look to the future, it is easy to be concerned about change. Hopefully, with the continuing implementation of President Biden's $2 trillion “whole-of-government” climate plan, that change will be on our terms.