Biden to strengthen environmental justice in new climate orders
Joe Biden inauguration
The Biden administration is set to announce a new batch of executive actions aimed at combating climate change that will pause new oil and gas leases on federal land and strengthen measures to protect poor and minority neighbourhoods from pollution.
The orders will set the direction for newly sworn-in President Joe Biden's climate change and environmental agenda.
This essentially marks a drastic reversal from his predecessor Donald Trump, who sought to maximise the country’s oil, gas and coal output by removing regulations and easing environmental reviews.
In the orders, Biden Wednesday will call for a pause on new federal oil and gas leases and direct the Interior Department to review the programme's climate impacts and taxpayer benefits. He will also set a goal to conserve 30% of federal land and waters to protect wildlife.
The orders will impact large swathes of acreage onshore in mostly Western states, as well as offshore drilling acreage located mainly in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
Word of the measure has drawn criticism from some states that depend on drilling revenue and the oil industry, which has warned the move will costs jobs and economic growth.
Biden will also assemble a national climate change task force, to be led by White House domestic climate policy advisor Gina McCarthy. It will enlist federal agencies to devise climate change strategies.
According to Reuters, he will also form an interagency council aimed at addressing environmental justice, placing an official to oversee the issue within each federal agency, and direct 40% of benefits from clean energy investments to low-income and minority communities.
Biden is also expected to create a special environmental justice enforcement unit at the Justice Department.
The orders aim to make good on several of Biden's campaign promises to tackle climate change while also addressing racial and economic inequality.