Chair Castor: 'On Day One, Biden Did More To Act On Climate Than Trump In Four Years'
Jan 22, 2021
Press Release
Through Executive Actions, President Biden Begins Undoing Trump's Harmful Environmental Legacy
WASHINGTON - On Friday, Chair Kathy Castor of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis applauded President Joe Biden's swift and immediate actions to undo the harmful and short-sighted environmental and climate policies of his predecessor.
"In his first day in office, President Biden did more to act on climate and protect American communities than Donald Trump did in four years," said Chair Castor. "By following science, listening to experts, and understanding the crises we face as a country, President Biden is poised to lead us to a clean energy future, one where American families can count on clean air and water, resilient neighborhoods, and good-paying jobs and new careers."
On Wednesday afternoon, a few hours after taking the oath of office, President Biden arrived at the Oval Office and immediately signed a number of executive actions designed to tackle the climate crisis. Specifically, the president:
- Rejoined the Paris Agreement to reposition America as a global climate leader
- Rescinded the permit for the harmful and costly Keystone XL oil pipeline
- Halted all activity related to oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and issued a moratorium on any new leasing in the refuge
- Took an important first step toward restoring the national monument boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante
- Issued an Executive Order to modernize regulatory review to ensure that regulations benefit and do not burden environmental justice communities
- Established a working group to incorporate the social cost of greenhouse gases into federal decision-making
President Biden also ordered federal agencies to begin reviewing and replacing many of Trump's worst environmental policies, including:
- EPA’s mislabeled "Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science"
- EPA’s harmful "Increasing Consistency and Transparency in Considering Costs and Benefits in the Rulemaking Process"
- EPA’s “Review of the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards”
- EPA’s "Review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter"
- CEQ’s regulatory rollback of the National Environmental Policy Act
- Army Corps of Engineers rules that harm our nation’s waterways and wetlands
- EPA and NHTSA rules weakening greenhouse gas emission standards for passenger cars and light trucks and revoking California’s authority to set their own standards
- EPA’s rollback of President Obama’s new source performance standards (NSPS) to limit methane emissions from the oil and natural gas sector
- And others
"The President continues to announce an expert team to expand clean energy and build more resilient communities with an eye to equity for all," Castor said. "I am especially pleased to see Alison Cassady, former deputy staff director of the Select Committee team, move to a leading role at EPA. Alison was critical to the development of the 500-page Climate Crisis Action Plan released last year, providing the roadmap for Congress to meet America’s clean energy, resilience and environmental justice goals."
Background:
- In December, members of the Select Committee sent a letter to outgoing Trump officials, urging them to stop the dismantlement of bedrock clean air and water protections and public health safeguards as President Trump prepared to leave office.
- In June of 2020, the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis Democrats released the majority staff report Solving the Climate Crisis: The Congressional Action Plan for a Clean Energy Economy and a Healthy, Resilient, and Just America. This report provides a roadmap for Congress—a Climate Crisis Action Plan—to build a prosperous, clean energy economy that values workers, advances environmental justice, and is prepared to meet the challenges of the climate crisis.
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117th Congress
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