Bloomberg News: White House Renews Internal Talks on Invoking ‘Climate Emergency’ Before 2024 Election – ‘Could be used to halt exports, drilling’

https://archive.fo/NwYno#selection-1699.0-1773.201

By Jennifer A Dlouhy and Jennifer Jacobs

White House officials have renewed discussions about potentially declaring a national climate emergency, an unprecedented step that could unlock federal powers to stifle oil development.
Top advisers to President Joe Biden have recently resumed talks about the merits of such a move, which could be used to curtail crude exports, suspend offshore drilling and curb greenhouse gas emissions, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because a final decision has not been made.
White House advisers are divided over the idea of declaring a climate emergency, with some saying it wouldn’t provide Biden with enough newfound authority to make substantial changes, the people said. Others, however, argue such an announcement would galvanize climate-minded voters.
Officials have not made a decision on the matter, nor is any declaration imminent, the people said. White House discussions over potential policy steps can span years, sometimes without ever coming to fruition.
The White House did not comment specifically on the discussions. In an emailed statement, White House spokesperson Angelo Fernandez Hernandez highlighted the president’s existing policies, saying Biden has “delivered on the most ambitious climate agenda in history.”
“President Biden has treated the climate crisis as an emergency since day one and will continue to build a clean energy future that lowers utility bills, creates good-paying union jobs, makes our economy the envy of the world and prioritizes communities that for too long have been left behind,” Hernandez said.
US presidents have widely declared national emergencies for various reasons. Former President Donald Trump used the tactic to divert military funding to build a wall along the US-Mexico border. But a climate-emergency declaration would be unprecedented and almost certainly face legal challenges.
The Biden administration previously mulled a similar emergency declaration in 2022 after negotiations on broad, clean-energy legislation faltered, threatening to stall much of the president’s climate agenda. But the idea of a declaration was shelved after the sweeping Inflation Reduction Act was enacted.
Last year, Biden said he’d already effectively declared a climate emergency, having used other powers to impose conservation policies, emission curbs and clean-energy supports. The president expanded those efforts this year, indefinitely halting new licenses to widely export natural gas.
Still, environmental activists have been demanding bolder moves to confront global warming.
Emergency declarations could enable the president to halt or limit crude exports for at least a year at a time, suspend offshore drilling, and throttle the movement of oil and gas on pipelines, ships and trains. Industry experts have warned that such a measure would discourage investment in domestic oil production and stoke higher retail prices.
Youth activists, led by the Sunrise Movement, Fridays For Future USA and the Campus Climate Network, are planning protests nationwide on and around Earth Day to demand Biden proclaim climate change a national emergency.
As the world stares down “another summer of floods, fires, hurricanes and extreme heat,” 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,” said Aru Shiney-Ajay, the Sunrise Movement’s executive director. “If Biden wants to win the youth vote, he needs to take forceful action on climate change.”
Those voters helped clinch victory for Biden in the 2020 election, yet they’ve been frustrated by decisions to support fossil-fuel projects such as ConocoPhillips’ mammoth Willow development in Alaska.

 

 

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https://dailycaller.com/2024/04/18/joe-biden-administration-reelection-national-climate-emergency-declaration-report-bloomberg/

REPORT: Biden’s Latest Reelection Gambit May Be Declaring National ‘Climate Emergency’

By REAGAN REESE

White House officials are weighing whether to declare a national climate emergency several months out from the 2024 election, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

President Joe Biden’s top advisers have returned to conversations about declaring such a national climate emergency, though those in discussion appear to be divided on the move, the sources told Bloomberg. While the move, the sources say, would stunt offshore drilling and curb greenhouse gas emissions, others think the move would help energize youth voters, particularly those with a focus on climate, Bloomberg reported. (RELATED: Biden Reportedly Plans To Go Full Steam Ahead With Same Strategy Despite Disastrous Polling)

“President Biden has treated the climate crisis as an emergency since day one and will continue to build a clean energy future that lowers utility bills, creates good-paying union jobs, makes our economy the envy of the world and prioritizes communities that for too long have been left behind,” White House spokesperson Angelo Fernandez Hernandez told the outlet while not commenting directly on the reported discussions.

The decision, Bloomberg notes, has not been made and such conversations could carry on for as long as several years. The president’s administration previously considered a similar measure in 2022 once negotiations over clean-energy legislation failed, Bloomberg reported. Biden also said he had declared a climate emergency in 2023 when he implemented “conservation policies,” the outlet reported.

Ahead of the 2024 election, such a move could help Biden win over some of the youth vote as the president trails hypothetical matchups with former President Donald Trump, Bloomberg reported.

The Sunrise Movement, Fridays For Future USA and the Campus Climate Network, all youth climate activist networks, are planning protests surrounding Earth Day in an effort to put pressure on the president to declare a climate emergency, Bloomberg reported.

“If Biden wants to win the youth vote, he needs to take forceful action on climate change,” Aru Shiney-Ajay, the Sunrise Movement’s executive director, told the outlet.

While Biden has a lead over Trump with youth voters, the margins aren’t where they should be to help the president confidently secure reelection, Politico Playbook reported. With registered Americans under 30 years old, Biden leads the former president 50% to 37%, according to Harvard’s Institute of Politics April poll.

“For a Democrat to comfortably win the Electoral College, he or she needs to win 60 percent of the youth vote. Biden and Obama, ’12 and ’20, won 60 percent. Obama got 66 percent in ’08. [John] Kerry and Hillary Clinton got 55 percent,” John Della Volpe, director of polling at Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, told Politico Playbook. “Biden is in the mid-50s. Can you improve that to get to 60 percent? It’s within reach. But he’s going to have to get younger men and young men of color, younger men who are white, younger men in the suburbs and their urban areas to turn out.”

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LA TIMES EDITORIAL: Biden says he’s ‘practically’ declared a climate emergency. – ‘He should’ do it for real – ‘With GOP-controlled House blocking climate action, the country needs the executive branch to respond more aggressively’

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