Biden’s Climate Push Faces Low Public Profile Ahead of U.S. Elections

While considering whether to formally declare a climate emergency, the Joe Biden administration in the United States has rolled out several climate-focused measures that appeal to his liberal and younger supporters, but a recent poll suggests few Americans are aware of his actions.

On Monday, “the last Earth Day of this term,” Biden announced US$7 billion in solar power grants for low- and moderate-income communities, reports Scientific American. He also unveiled a new website for applications to the American Climate Corps, which aims to employ 20,000 young people—the first 2,000 jobs starting this June, writes National Public Radio (NPR).

“You’ll get paid to fight climate change, learn how to install those solar panels, fight wildfires, rebuild wetlands, weatherize homes, and so much more,” Biden said at a national park in Virginia where he announced the new website.

And just last week, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) finalized a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management rule to “protect taxpayers from covering costs that should be borne by the oil and gas industry when offshore platforms require decommissioning,” writes Rigzone.

“The American taxpayer should not be held responsible when oil and gas companies are unable to clean up after their own operations,” Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement. “The Interior Department is committed to ensuring that the federal oil and gas leasing program is implemented fairly, with accountability and transparency.”

A ‘Seismic Shift’

Interior also recently made a “seismic shift” in its approach to managing roughly one-tenth of the nation’s land, reports The Washington Post. A new rule puts conservation, recreation, and renewable energy development on public property “on equal footing” with the previously favoured resource extraction and livestock grazing.

“Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, known as the nation’s largest landlord, has long offered leases to oil and gas companies, mining firms, and ranchers,” writes the Post. “Now, for the first time, the nearly 80-year-old agency will auction off “restoration leases” and “mitigation leases” to entities with plans to restore or conserve public lands.”

Around the same time, April 12, the Department of Energy announced efficiency standards for light bulbs that “will save Americans more than $27 billion on their utility bills and cut 70 million tonnes of dangerous carbon dioxide emissions.”

That day the administration also said it would restrict new oil and gas leasing on 5.3 million hectares of land in Alaska—a limitation that was ill-received by oil companies and opponents who argue it counters Congress’s initial intent of reserving the land for fossil fuel extraction.

The Biden administration has been moving fast to get its climate initiatives up and funded before a new government can undo their progress, reports the Guardian. Other funding announcements include $6 billion for decarbonizing industry facilities where cement, concrete, iron, and steel are made, as well as for food production plants.

“The money from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) needs to get out of the door due to the urgency of the climate crisis but also the politics of this year and next year,” said Melissa Lott, a professor at Columbia University’s climate school.

“If money has been already committed, it’s gone,” she added. “It’s very tough for a new administration to pull back funding once it has already committed.”

But the Biden administration is also thinking about “scrapping the most cutting-edge aspect of its highly anticipated and impactful power plant pollution rules,” writes CNN. The proposed rule would require power plants to use hydrogen alongside natural gas for electricity generation.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is also considering pushing back by two years its 2030 deadline for coal-fired plants to reduce or capture 90% of their emissions, sources told CNN.

Key Demographics Unmoved, Unaware

Overall, the administration’s positive measures on climate and the environment are expected to attract younger voters, who “have their fingerprints all over President Biden’s climate agenda,” as one senior administration official put it.

However, “few Americans say they’ve heard a lot about what the administration has done on climate change,” writes CBS News, citing a poll of 2,230 U.S. adults interviewed between April 16 and 19 that largely predated the most recent measures. “That extends to those in the president’s own party and to those who rate the issue of climate change as very important.”

“Half of them have heard little or nothing at all about what the administration has done.”

“Just 10% of Americans who say climate change is a very important issue have heard or read a lot about what the Biden administration has done so far to deal with it,” CBS adds. “And when evaluating the Biden administration, many think it has done too little to address it.”

Yet another poll suggests the climate announcements aren’t galvanizing young voters, as Biden’s policies on other issues—notably, his stance on the war in Gaza—have pushed them away. Many voters also became confused about his stance on fossil fuel development after Alaskan lands were opened up for oil drilling last year.

Still others say the administration has not done enough, and that it should declare a formal “climate emergency.” While Biden had backed away from making such a declaration after the IRA’s passing, Bloomberg says the administration is now reconsidering the option.

“We’re staring down another summer of floods, fires, hurricanes, and extreme heat,” said Aru Shiney-Ajay, executive director of the Sunrise Movement. “Biden must declare a climate emergency and use every tool at his disposal to tackle the climate crisis and prepare our communities to weather the storm.”

Shiney-Ajay added: “If Biden wants to be taken seriously by young people, he needs to deliver on climate change.”

Climate Advocates Fear the Alternative

But on Capitol Hill, Biden continues to face opposition from Conservative lawmakers, writes E&E News. “It’s impossible to justify this administration’s continued disregard for the American people they claim to represent,” House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R.-Arkansas) recently said of the new White House land use rules.

“Washington, DC bureaucrats are abusing their power and making sweeping land management decisions while blatantly ignoring the communities most impacted by their policies,” he added.

Some rules proposed or enacted during Biden’s tenure—like the power plant regulations—are likely to face lawsuits, says CNN.

And the prospect of Biden losing the November election to multiply-indicted Republican candidate Donald Trump has climate advocates on edge, with a second Trump presidency seen as certain to undermine or reverse climate progress, writes The Hill.

Trump has recently been courting the fossil fuel industry for financial backing for his campaign, writes the Post. He “repeatedly ranted about wind power during a fundraising dinner with oil and gas industry executives last week, claiming that the renewable energy source is unreliable, unattractive, and bad for the environment.”

Trump’s comments indicated that a change of administration in November would derail progress for decarbonizing energy systems, especially offshore wind.

“If I were in the offshore wind industry, I would probably be pretty, pretty nervous” about a second Trump presidency, a former Trump administration energy official anonymously said.

This article first appeared in The Energy Mix, and is republished under a Creative Commons license.