Biden calls climate crisis an emergency, but does not declare an emergency in the US

On one of the hottest days of the year in the United States, Joe Biden repeated his pledge to do everything to fight the climate emergency. The president’s official announcement, however, was only one-off measures, not a national emergency declaration on the subject, as had been speculated.

“Congress is not acting as it should. This is an emergency, and I’m going to face it that way. As president, in the absence of congressional action, I will use all my executive powers to fight the climate crisis,” Biden said in Somerset, in an open-air speech, with the empty lot of an old power plant in the background to amplify the impression of scorched earth.

If he officially declared the emergency he mentioned in his speech, he would have more power to take measures without needing the approval of the Legislature, where agendas related to the climate are blocked. According to him, more actions will be announced in the coming days.

This Wednesday (20), he signed the release of US$ 2.3 billion (R$ 12.5 billion) citing the fight against a heat wave. The money will be used to create cool public spaces that shelter people who don’t have a cool place to go, and programs to lower the cost of energy for poor families so they can access fans and air conditioning. conditioning — although all this consumes more energy, not necessarily renewable, and could further exacerbate the climate crisis.

At the same time as Europe, but not to the same extent, the US faces temperatures that have led several states, where 100 million Americans live, to declare alert, especially in the South and Midwest. In Texas and Nevada, thermometers are above the symbolic mark of 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7°C).

Biden’s executive order also provides for partnerships with states to expand wind energy harvesting in coastal areas. Hence the symbolism of the announcement having been made in Somerset: for decades the site of the speech housed a coal-fired power plant, decommissioned in 2017, which is being transformed into a cable factory for wind energy transmission.

Biden has made combating the climate emergency central to the campaign and part of his administration’s agenda, but progress has been slow, due to a lack of consensus within his own party. In 2021, he proposed an environmental package worth hundreds of billions of dollars, within the Build Back Better project’s $2 trillion spending, on investments in the clean energy transition that would help generate jobs and move the economy.

The BBB, however, foundered, because two Democratic senators, Joe Manchin and Kristen Sinema, refused to support it — the party has 50% of the Senate plus the tie-breaking power, so any internal disagreement makes it impossible to advance the measures of interest. from the government.

The White House has tried to break the proposals into smaller pieces, but has made no progress. Last week, Manchin used his power again, continuing to refuse a climate package on grounds of concern about inflation.

The senator is criticized in the party for blocking proposals from the president. He represents the state of West Virginia, famous in the past for producing coal, but which today depends little on this input. The politician’s family got rich from a mining company, and critics accuse him of barring measures against fossil fuels out of personal interest.

The last imbroglio marked an end to the conversations, because of the calendar: Congress goes into recess in August and, when it returns, in September, it will focus on the campaign for the November elections, complete renovation of the Chamber and a third of the Senate. Amid the president’s sinking popularity, there is a serious risk that Democrats will lose control of Congress, which would bury Biden’s chances of passing weighty legislation in the second half of his term.

In June, the president also suffered environmental defeats in the Supreme Court, which ruled that a federal agency cannot force coal and gas-fired power plants to reduce pollutant emissions. As a result, the government’s authority to set reduction targets was compromised.

Without Congress, Biden has few options for action. He can issue executive orders (decrees), but they are limited in scope and can be challenged in court. The declaration of emergency would thus expand its possibilities.

If he follows this path, he will do something similar to his predecessor, Donald Trump, who declared the excess of immigrants at the borders as a national emergency in order to expand the wall on the border with Mexico without depending on Congress. Upon taking office, Biden suspended the works and several sections of the wall were left loose along the way.

With further shifts in power in Washington, climate policy could also fall apart.