Pirate's Cove

If the GOP holds the Senate, China Joe Biden won’t be able to get much done legislatively, because all the climate cult crazy will never make it to his desk. We know that Joe won’t look to do reasonable stuff that, even if the GOP doesn’t believe in the climate scam, would be good, such as building nuclear power plants. So, how does he do stuff?

Executive orders: Biden’s best bet on climate

If Democrat Joe Biden moves into the White House next year, the path to action on climate and the environment will likely run through the executive branch.

Senate control remains in limbo, but if Democrats lose just one of the two special elections in Georgia in January, Republicans will keep the upper chamber, leaving a difficult path for environmental legislation.

Biden’s allies said they’ll be pushing him to flex the powers of the presidency immediately in hopes that a quick move to regulate can avoid rollbacks by a future Republican president.

“There’s lots of opportunity for him to use executive authority to look for setting standards, to look for federal investments in technologies and advanced battery storage, to get the grid constructed in an infrastructure investment,” said Gina McCarthy, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council and a former EPA administrator.

No, no, using executive “authority” doesn’t sound to authoritarian or anything.

EPA finalized the Clean Power Plan in 2015, shortly after the world adopted the Paris climate agreement, but the Supreme Court almost immediately issued a stay, and the Trump administration eventually rolled it back for a more modest power plant greenhouse gas regulation.

President Trump has also scaled back Obama-era auto fuel efficiency standards and the 2015 methane rule, not to mention some of President Obama’s national monument designations.

Observers said the experience highlights the dangers of an executive approach, particularly for climate policy, because the next administration could easily erase any new regulations made in the next four or eight years.

And, there is the Congressional Review Act, which can whack any executive orders with a simple majority vote. So, what might China Joe do?

While uncertainty still reigns about Senate control, one thing is clear: Biden will rejoin the Paris Agreement.

The former vice president has pledged to do so throughout his campaign, and even though the U.S. formally withdrew earlier this week, rejoining is a relatively simple administrative process.

On the domestic front, observers said there are a few obvious early moves. Biden could move to restore Bears Ears National Monument to its original size; halt Trump’s proposal to open up logging in the Tongass National Forest; and restore Obama-era methane standards, which were largely supported by the oil and gas industry.

There are also several other policies “within reach,” including more stringent vehicle fuel efficiency standards, said Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune.

“We would expect the Biden administration to move forward with an end to fossil fuel leases on public lands,” Brune said.

The GOP should demand that Joe stop taking fossil fueled flights and SUVs, practice what he preaches.

With Trump leaving more conservative courts in his wake, the judiciary is likely to be less flexible with EPA authority.

There is that. China Joe will probably over-reach, because he’s cognitively impaired and Kamala Harris and the other hardcores will be telling him what to do, but, there will be lawsuits, and the rules and regs will be put on hold, much like with the Clean Power Plan and Waters of the USA.

Mitch McConnell should bring the Green New Deal up for another vote as soon as the Senate starts its next session in January/February, put the Dems on the record yet again, though they’ll probably vote “present”.