Sen. Joe Manchin’s demise of the possibility of a climate measure in Congress has caused President Biden to consider issuing an executive order declaring a climate emergency in a last-ditch effort to save his green agenda.
The Washington Post was informed by sources that Biden could make his announcement this week. To give an address on climate change, Biden will travel to Somerset, Massachusetts, on Wednesday.
Congressmen who are progressive have long urged Biden to make this move. After the Supreme Court’s ruling in West Virginia v. EPA limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s jurisdiction to adopt emissions limits on issues of significant “economic and political significance,” the proclamation might, however, have less weight.
By declaring an emergency Biden could reinstate the crude oil export ban that Congress voted to repeal in 2015, restrict all fossil fuel imports and exports and suspend the offshore drilling leases for 11 million acres of federal waters, according to a report from the Center for Biological Diversity.
He could also invoke the Defense Production Act to compel industry to produce renewable energy and clean transportation technologies and direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency to construct renewable energy systems.
‘A historic climate emergency declaration is exactly what we need from Biden to match the scale and urgency of this crisis,’ Jean Su, Energy Justice program director and author of the report, said. ‘With the world on fire from California to Croatia, an emergency declaration will show Biden’s ready to fight bare-knuckle for a livable future. By unlocking crucial climate powers, Biden can put Manchin’s gaslighting behind us and get busy getting us off fossil fuels and building the renewable-energy powerhouse we desperately need.’
A record heat wave affecting Europe, together with draughts, wildfires, and similar heat trends across the central United States, have rekindled interest in the issue of climate change.
Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, caused a stir this week when he said he couldn’t support passing a climate measure through reconciliation.
Manchin informed Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer that he would support reforms only if money was allocated to extending Affordable Care Act provisions and debt reduction, as well as improvements that would allow Medicare to bargain for lower prescription medication prices.
In an interview with West Virginia MetroNews, Manchin tamped down accusations that he’d killed a climate package, arguing he had only punted it down the road.
‘I said can we just wait until the inflation figures come out [for] July, until we know if the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates,’ said Manchin, who raised alarm following the record 9.1 percent June inflation report that came out this week.
‘Then make the decision on what we can do and how much we can do,’ he said.
‘So I say, Chuck, if you’re on a political deadline, and it has to be done in July, the one thing you know you can get done is basically do the bill write a piece of legislation on reducing drug prices, letting Medicare negotiate that saves about $288 billion over 10 years, take 40 billion of that and extend the Affordable Care Act, the discounts that people were getting, so their premiums won’t go up and also take the other $240 billion and put it to debt reduction,’ he said.
He said that’s what would happen if you’re ‘serious’ about rising inflation.
‘That’s what you can do in this July. And what did he say? … He says, are you telling me you won’t do the other right now? I said, Chuck, it’s wrong. It’s not prudent to do the other [items] right now.’
Manchin first killed a $1.75 trillion version of the spending package during a Fox News interview in December last year – delivering an embarrassing blow to President Biden’s agenda.
Without Congress’ help the White House has been left scrambling to find ways to keep making progress on Biden’s campaign promise to halve U.S. emissions by 2030 compared to 2005 levels.
‘Action on climate change and clean energy remains more urgent than ever. So let me be clear: if the Senate will not move to tackle the climate crisis and strengthen our domestic clean energy industry, I will take strong executive action to meet this moment,’ Biden warned over the weekend as Manchin waffled on supporting a clean energy package.