(UPDATED) President Biden Tackles Climate Change and Jobs with Three New Executive Orders

Saying “Climate Day” at the White House is the same as “Jobs Day,” President Biden, accompanied by Vice President Harris and climate/clean energy advisors Gina McCarthy and John Kerry, unveiled three new Executive Orders to combat climate change and create new high paying union jobs for Americans.

The President rightly told the audience that healthy American and community lives and economic/national security and prosperity are linked to innovations in American manufacturing and clean energy development.

Saying “it is time to act,” citing the increasing support for combatting “the existential threat of climate change” among Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, and reminding everyone that the nation has endured spikes in poor air quality, wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and droughts, Mr. Biden signed three Executive Orders  that would:

• Purchase clean energy American motor vehicles that would be produced by American workers. According to Biden, this could mean “one million new jobs in the American Automobile Industry.”
• Hire people to cap and seal open oil wells. This, according to Biden, would create many well-paying jobs.
• Establish the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy.
• “Directs the Secretary of Interior to stop issuing new oil and gas leases on public lands and offshore waters “wherever possible.”
• Increase offshore wind energy production.
• Create a Civilian Climate Corp to work on maintaining public lands.
• Make climate change a center of American National Security and Foreign Policy in a whole of government approach.
• Environmental Justice will be a prevailing factor in aiding communities of color or poor white neighborhoods plagued by pollution contamination (fence line communities.)
• Memorandum that protects scientists and their views from political interference.

Mr. Biden pledged to work with local and tribal leaders to achieve his climate change goals. He also promised not to abandon coal workers as the nation transitions to cleaner energy by promising to help set up new local industries (perhaps clean energy ones) and revitalize their communities. He also reiterated that his administration would not ban fracking. He, along with former Secretary of State Kerry, called for convening a climate change summit on Earth Day. He also vowed to continually follow the science and listen to his newly appointed science advisors.

It is gratifying to have a President that believes climate change is real and that windmills do not cause cancer. It is also comforting to know that scientists will be respected and listened to again in the Executive Branch.

UPDATE

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego issued the below statement supporting the Biden/Harris Climate Measures.

“There is much work to be done to avoid a global climate disaster. President Biden’s commitments put the United States back in its important role as a world leader on these issues. I’m particularly pleased to see us return to the use of science and data to make informed public policy decisions. It is something I’ve insisted on as we’ve navigated the COVID-19 crisis: to make decisions based on the best available data. It is a practice I follow as I evaluate policy in every facet of government, and, as a nation, I believe it is exactly where we need to be.”