Biden says America will lead the way as it signs executive orders on climate change

US PRESIDENT JOE Biden has issued executive orders to reduce oil, gas and coal emissions and double the energy production of offshore wind turbines in a bid to combat climate change.

The orders target federal subsidies for oil and other fossil fuels, and stop new oil and gas leases on federal land and waters.

They also aim to conserve 30% of the nation’s land and ocean waters over the next 10 years and move to a fleet of fully electric federal vehicles.

Biden’s sweeping plan aims to curb human-caused global warming, but it also carries political risk for the president and Democrats as oil and coal producing states face job losses due to measures to increase drastically the dependence of the United States on clean energy such as wind and solar.

“We can’t wait any longer” to address the climate crisis, Biden said at the White House.

“We see with our own eyes. We know it in our bones. It is time to act. “

He said his orders “will advance our administration’s ambitious plan to address the existential threat of climate change.”

Biden has set a goal of eliminating fossil fuel pollution from the energy sector by 2035 and from the overall US economy by 2050, accelerating what is already market-driven growth for solar and wind energy and decreasing the dependence of the country on oil and gas.

The aggressive plan aims to curb human-caused global warming that is magnifying extreme weather events such as deadly wildfires in the west and torrential rains and hurricanes in the east.

Biden acknowledged the political risk, repeatedly stating that his approach would create jobs in the automotive and renewable energy sectors to offset any loss of oil, coal or natural gas.

“When I think of climate change and the responses to it, I think of jobs,” Biden said. “We are going to put people to work. We are not going to lose jobs. These are not dreams of cake in heaven. These are concrete and viable solutions. And we know how to do this.

“I am signing an executive order today to further our administration’s ambitious plan to address the existential threat of climate change,” he continued, adding: “We must lead the global response.”

In a departure from previous administrations on both sides, Biden is directing agencies to focus aid and investment on low-income and minority communities that live closer to polluting refineries and other hazards, and cities with oil and coal plots facing job loss. .

Biden pledged to create up to a million jobs in the construction of electric cars, as well as in the installation of solar panels, wind turbines, “plugging abandoned walls, reclaiming mines, turning old abandoned lands into new growth axes economic”.

Still, Republicans immediately criticized the plan as a job killer.

“Government mandates and directives that restrict our mining, oil and gas industries negatively affect our energy security and independence,” said Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington State, the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

“At a time when millions are struggling due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the last thing Americans need is great government that destroys jobs, while costing the economy billions of dollars,” he said.

Biden is also elevating climate change to a national security priority. The conservation plan would set aside millions of acres for recreation, wildlife and weather activities by 2030.

President Donald Trump, who ridiculed the science of climate change, withdrew the United States from the Paris global climate agreement, opened up more public lands to coal, gas and oil production, and weakened regulation on fossil fuel emissions.

Experts say that these emissions are dangerously heating Earth’s climate and exacerbating floods, droughts and other natural disasters.