China Joe has plans. None of them include reducing his own use of fossil fuels, nor making the White House run on 100% renewables. Nor doing away with grand parties for foreign dignitaries flying to the U.S. on fossil fueled private jets
How Joe Biden plans to use executive powers to fight climate change
Democrats have won control of the Senate, thanks to two tight Tuesday runoff races in Georgia.
With the Senate question largely resolved, President-elect Joe Biden can now start to focus on policy, including his ambitious agenda to deal with climate change, which calls for an aggressive shift to clean energy, carbon neutrality by the middle of the century, and massive federal investment to drive these changes. Contrast that with President Donald Trump, who put forth no plan to deal with climate change and actively undermined existing policies to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
OK, lets skip past the typical Voxwhining and Voxcomplaining to the salient 10 points
Campaign press secretary Jamal Brown told us that Biden has come up with at least 10 executive actions to pursue off the bat:
- Requiring aggressive methane pollution limits for new oil and gas operations. (skyrocketing energy prices)
- Using the federal government procurement system — which spends $500 billion every year — to drive toward 100 percent clean energy and zero-emissions vehicles. (Bet Joe and Kamala won’t use them)
- Ensuring that all US government installations, buildings, and facilities are more efficient and climate-ready, harnessing the purchasing power and supply chains to drive innovation. (your taxes are going up to pay for this)
- Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transportation — the fastest growing source of US climate pollution — by preserving and implementing the existing Clean Air Act, and developing rigorous new fuel economy standards aimed at ensuring 100 percent of new light- and medium-duty vehicles will be electrified and annual improvements are made for heavy-duty vehicles. (the cost of even compact cars will soon become unaffordable to the lower and lower-middle class folks. Heck, even for the middle-middle class folks)
- Doubling down on the liquid fuels of the future, which make agriculture a key part of the solution to climate change. Advanced biofuels, made with materials like switchgrass and algae, can create jobs and new solutions to reduce emissions in planes, oceangoing vessels, and more. (because those have worked so well)
- Saving consumers money and reducing emissions through new, aggressive appliance and building efficiency standards. (you “save” money by having to purchase more expensive appliances and such that die before you recoup the extra costs)
- Committing that every federal infrastructure investment should reduce climate pollution, and require any federal permitting decision to consider the effects of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. (taxation and inefficiency)
- Requiring public companies to disclose climate risks and the greenhouse gas emissions in their operations and supply chains. (I don’t believe this is legal without a new law)
- Protecting biodiversity, slowing extinction rates and helping leverage natural climate solutions by conserving 30 percent of America’s lands and waters by 2030. (he’s going to take a run at the Waters of The USA rule again, which was shot down as un-Constitutional. It basically gives the feds a say in what people do with their private lands)
- Protecting America’s natural treasures by permanently protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other areas impacted by President Trump’s attacks on federal lands and waters, establishing national parks and monuments that reflect America’s natural heritage, banning new oil and gas permitting on public lands and waters, modifying royalties to account for climate costs, and establishing targeted programs to enhance reforestation and develop renewables on federal lands and waters, with the goal of doubling offshore wind by 2030. (we’ll become a net importer of oil again, with much higher prices, which lead to a higher cost of living)
These actions are only a slice of how Biden plans to address climate change, and there may be more. There are also more contentious executive actions Biden could potentially take, like revoking authorization for the Keystone XL pipeline or denying oil and liquefied natural gas export licenses.
I’ve got a slap in my pocket, as the Brits say, for any China Joe voter who complains about their cost of living skyrocketing. And those who can no longer afford a compact fossil fueled vehicle. Who’s energy bill skyrockets. This is what you schmucks voted for, regardless of whether you were actually a China Joe voter or were voting against Trump, letting your Trump Derangement Syndrome guide you to vote against your best interests.
Read: Ten Things China Joe Plans To Do To Combat Climate Crisis (scam) »