Paging Earth is a climate communications blog dedicated to demystifying, depolarizing, and educating the public about climate change activism and climate science.
The year 2020 was a crazy year for everyone, and that definitely includes the federal government. Many agree that the shift from the Trump administration to the Biden administration was chaotic (to say the least.) But what does this mean for the direction of domestic environmental policy?
A Trump to Biden Administration Transition
Biden promised the American people that his administration would reverse the environmental rollbacks passed during the Trump administration, which dismantled over 100 regulations protecting our national lands, waters, clean air, and wildlife. However, even a concerted effort from the executive branch is not enough to ensure environmental quality nationwide.
The president has already wielded his executive authority. In addition to canceling fossil fuel infrastructure projects and reinstating federal protections on distinct areas of land and water, Biden has repealed a number of Trump’s executive orders that gutted environmental reviews, weakened federal greenhouse gas emissions standards, promoted offshore drilling, fast-tracked oil pipelines, and removed protections for national monuments.
But, the new administration may be facing more pushback than expected. Experts say the full process of reversing the environmental rollbacks passed during the Trump Administration might end up taking two to three years as a result.
Perhaps the most infamous of Trump’s rollbacks is the “Dirty Water Rule,” officially known as the Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR). The NWPR — which is objectively considered the most severe weakening of U.S water protections any administration has enacted since the Clean Water Act of 1972 — stripped away protections on over 50 percent of wetlands and between 18 to 71 percent of the U.S. streams that provide safe drinking water to 117 million Americans.
Biden took the first step to restoring these protections in January by signing an executive order, but has yet to reverse Trump’s Dirty Water Rule. His biggest challenge will be revising the WOTUS (waters of the U.S) definition in a way that increases protections for water bodies but passes muster before a conservative majority on the Supreme Court.
With so many obstacles to overcome in federal court, Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School, explains that the Biden administration will ultimately refrain from “rescind[ing] the Trump rule while they are working on the new rule because then the waterways would be left with no protection.”
The nation, however, is not unified in its approach to fresh water protection. Some states have taken it upon themselves to embrace the Trump rollbacks by passing some of their own.
Indiana, for example, has already lost 85% of its wetlands, many having been drained for farming and development. Yet this past February, the state proposed new legislation that would repeal its wetlands law, stripping protections for the few wetlands that remain.
Unfortunately, Indiana is not alone.
Eight other states have implemented laws that completely prohibit state regulators from doing more than the Clean Water Act mandates. Eighteen more are severely limiting regulators’ authority to be more protective of water bodies in general. Twenty-nine states have no permitting requirements for isolated wetlands, leaving them defenseless against a slew of anthropogenic activities ― mining, industrial farming, and pollutive waste ― all with no federal oversight. Thirty-two states don’t even have wetland management programs to regulate who is polluting which waters and for what reasons.
Even with the enormous push towards sustainability and climate change mitigation from the Biden administration, cleaning up hazardous and environmentally detrimental policies from the Trump era has already created more pushback than anticipated. Though there may be no political compromise on the horizon, an act of Congress may be able to fill the protection gap Trump’s EPA left behind.
Current Biden Administration Climate Mitigation Plans
However, Biden, in addition to revoking Trump’s rollbacks, has also made it clear that he’s determined to put forward feasible plans to mitigate climate change.
For instance, the president created the ambitious “30×30” initiative, vowing to conserve 30 percent of national land and 30 percent of national waters by 2030. The plan, if implemented, will protect biodiversity by giving ecosystems nationwide the supportive resources necessary to adapt to our steadily warming climate. Biden also mapped a $2 trillion clean energy and green jobs plan, pledging to cut emissions from electricity to zero by 2035 and to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 nationwide.
Moreover, in his first 100 days as president, Biden has signed several climate-related executive orders, stopping construction on the Keystone XL pipeline and rejoining the Paris Agreement (more on that later).
The president has also put special emphasis on strengthening environmental justice across the U.S, signing an executive order that “focus[es] federal attention on the environmental and human health effects of federal actions on minority and low-income populations” to achieve equitable environmental protection. The significance of this action definitely shouldn’t be overlooked. If we’re looking back at previous years, Biden is essentially the first president to truly commit to national environmental justice in any way.
What we’re seeing is an obvious shift in priority. During his presidency, Trump regularly called climate change a “hoax”, actively fought to defang key environmental legislation, and repeatedly dismissed climate reports produced by the government’s own scientists.
But it seems like Biden is taking the first step as president: promising direct action before the damage becomes irreversible. If you’re looking for more of an in-depth look at Biden’s climate change plans, check out this Paging Earth article: “The Biden Administration’s Approach to Climate Change”!
The Paris Agreement
On a global scale, it was no secret that international leaders were (to put it lightly) concerned when President Trump pulled out of the Paris Agreement. With the U.S as the second-leading carbon emitter after China, many worried that the decision would weaken efforts in other countries to make their own ambitious greenhouse gas emissions cuts.
During Obama’s presidency, the U.S. committed to curbing emissions 26% to 28% below 2005 levels by 2025, with a longer-term goal of an 80% reduction by 2050. However, under Trump’s administration, the U.S saw its second largest annual increase in CO2 emissions. Instead, emissions from fossil fuel combustion spiked, rising by 2.7% in 2018.
The COVID-19 pandemic ultimately caused a large reduction in the U.S. emissions in 2020 ― 21.5% below 2005 levels. But this significant drop doesn’t mean America is on course to meet Obama’s pledge of a 26% to 28% reduction by 2025, as emissions are expected to rebound as pandemic risks lessen.
As a returning signee, the Biden administration must re-enter the Paris Agreement with an ambitious target that reflects the progressive goals set by the European Union and the United Kingdom. Additionally, it must exceed the expectations of domestic environmentalist groups to re-establish the U.S. as an international climate leader; a nation can only rid itself of a wishy-washy reputation on the international stage if it first solidifies its position at home.
Setting itself apart from previous administrations — that have generally relied on the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, and Department of the Interior to handle climate change-related issues — Biden signed an executive order making climate change a priority across all departments in the federal government.
In other words, this “government-wide” approach will result in all federal agencies addressing climate change directly in their individual decision-making, as well as installing climate and environmental policy staff into many others. Federal agencies will be regularly cooperating with the Climate Policy Office, and all agency heads are being directed to increase renewable energy, decrease fossil fuel production, and prioritize environmental justice across all projects.
Future of U.S Climate Policy
In the end, there’s only so much President Biden can do without the support of the House and the Senate. Without Congress passing novel climate legislation, most of the progress made by the Biden administration could simply be undone by whoever takes office next.
What stands in the way of the president locking in his climate policies are moderate Senate Democrats and Republicans from regions economically (or politically) dependent on fossil fuels who disapprove of policies they regard as harmful to the industry. Currently, Biden benefits from a slight Democratic Senate majority — but that’s still 10 votes short of the 60 needed to break the Senate filibuster Republicans are likely to mount when passing environmental bills.
Democrats attempted but failed to pass more far-reaching climate change legislation when they controlled Congress during the Obama administration. They will almost definitely face similar difficulties under Biden.
With a greater Democratic majority in the Senate, President Biden would have a much better chance of passing progressive climate policies; this could be a very possible outcome with the upcoming Congressional midterm election in 2022, where a grand number of 20 Republican Senate seats will be up for grabs.
Bringing About Change
The Biden administration is doing its best to adapt the world to climate change but unfortunately, there are many obstacles ― from past presidencies to current governmental opposition ― that stand in the way of the sustainable world they have envisioned.
In accordance with the Global Climate Pledge we encourage you to use your voice! Reach out to your Congressmen and express your climate concerns, because only through our actions can we expect change in our systems.