BREAKING: I’m urging @JoeBiden to declare a national climate emergency. The climate crisis is an emergency, and President-elect Joe Biden needs to treat it that way. That means using every tool available to him. https://t.co/0E9LlWKeXQ
— Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) December 21, 2020
Jeff Merkley, a Democrat, represents Oregon in the U.S. Senate.
WaPo: How Joe Biden can act boldly to address the climate crisis
Jeff Merkley, a Democrat, represents Oregon in the U.S. Senate.
December 21, 2020
Excerpt:
Sen. Merkley: Our ability to take on the climate crisis through legislation will be challenged by the realities of the Senate. If Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) emerges as the majority leader following the runoff elections in Georgia, no serious climate bill will ever get a hearing in committee, much less get to the Oval Office. And even if Democrats win the Senate, passing adequately ambitious legislation will be a struggle with such a razor-thin margin and the need for filibuster reform.
The National Emergencies Act (NEA) and the Defense Production Act (DPA) give the president broad powers to act in the national interest during grave national emergencies. While President Barack Obama used the DPA to purchase green transportation fuels, neither of these acts has been fully used to address the climate emergency.
Declaring the climate crisis a national emergency under the NEA would not only send a powerful signal about the urgency of bold action, it would unlock powers that allow our nation to take significant, concrete actions regardless of congressional gridlock. Examples include redirecting spending to build out renewable energy systems, implementing large-scale clean transportation solutions and financing distributed energy projects to boost climate resiliency — all of which would help safeguard our communities and slash harmful pollution.
I do not say any of this lightly. I’ve spent the past four years — and, frankly, several years before that — watching, worriedly, the increasing use of executive power and the sidelining of Congress. A president’s emergency powers should never be used wantonly. However, we cannot afford to shy away from tackling this crisis just because President Trump misused the NEA to fund the construction of his racist border wall.
I understand that many people may still feel trepidation about using these powers to address the climate crisis. However, we know that continuing on our current path will be catastrophic, and will hit working people the hardest. On the other hand, if we put in place the right policies, we can create millions of new jobs re-powering the country and cleaning our air.
And let’s not forget that millions of Americans voted for Joe Biden because he promised climate action. Those voters will be demoralized and disillusioned in future elections if we sacrifice their health, livelihoods and futures to prop up fossil fuels. Substantively and politically, we cannot afford to be passive in the face of this crisis.
The climate crisis is one of the biggest emergencies that our country has ever faced, and our time is running out. Americans are counting on Biden to lead accordingly. Let’s act boldly, and treat this crisis like the emergency it is.
#
Related:
You won’t be able to own a home either!The Green assault on home ownership: ‘We need to seriously question the ideal of private homeownership’ –“Cheap energy is untenable in the face of a climate emergency. And individual homeownership should be seriously questioned.” UCLA urban planning professor Kian Goh, in an op-ed in the far-left magazine The Nation, wrote that “if we want to keep cities safe in the face of climate change, we need to seriously question the ideal of private homeownership.”
You won’t be able to own a car either!Dem presidential candidate Andrew Yang: Climate Change May Require Elimination of Car Ownership – Suggests ‘constant roving fleet of electric cars’– “We might not own our own cars. Our current car ownership and usage model is really inefficient and bad for the environment,” Yang said.
Watch: Al Gore: ‘This is the time for a Great Reset’ – ‘This is a time for a reset to fix a bunch of challenges, first among them the climate crisis’