by Marc Morano at wattsupwiththat.com
Biden: I’ve Declared a Climate Emergency ‘Practically Speaking’
CNN: ‘Biden incorrectly claims he has declared a national emergency on climate’– CNN: While Biden has taken a series of significant legislative and executive steps to combat climate change, he has stopped short of declaring a national emergency, which would unlock sweeping new federal authorities and funds to combat the climate crisis. Climate activists have called on Biden since the earliest days of his presidency to declare a national emergency. … The president seemed close to declaring a climate emergency in the summer of 2022 after it appeared Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, had tanked the Inflation Reduction Act – Biden’s signature climate and health care bill. In a July 20, 2022, speech in Massachusetts, Biden strongly hinted that he could declare an emergency.
Politico: Biden says he has ‘practically’ declared a climate emergency. But he actually hasn’t…YET – ‘Would give him a host of new powers to combat climate change’– “We’ve already done that,” Biden said Wednesday when asked whether he was prepared to declare a national climate emergency during an interview on The Weather Channel. “We’ve conserved more land, we’ve moved into rejoining the Paris Climate Accord. We’ve got a $60 billion climate control facility.” When pressed about whether he has actually declared an emergency, Biden responded, “Practically speaking, yes.”
However, no such declaration has come from the White House. Experts say Biden could invoke the 1976 National Emergencies Act to give himself the power to order the manufacture of clean energy technology, deploy renewables on military bases, block crude oil exports or even suspend offshore drilling — though that would require compensation to the owners. Though the law limits emergency declarations to one year, it could be renewed annually to address the increasingly troubling impacts of climate change.
What it would mean for Biden to declare a national ‘climate emergency’ – ‘Triggers ability for him to deploy around 130 different powers’– U.S. presidents have declared 60 national emergencies since 1976, according to the think tank Demos. Historically, those have typically been for acute crises, such as specific natural disasters, rather than a long-term predicament like climate change. …
“If he declares a national emergency, it triggers the ability for him to deploy around 130 different powers,” Jean Su, energy justice program director and senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said.
Biden could stop “the export of crude oil…phase out all exports and imports of fossil fuels entirely…stop issuing permits for offshore oil and gas wells under already existing leases and halt all drilling immediately…marshaling funding under the DPA to deploy clean energy — for example, rooftop solar installations on low-income housing.”
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