Read the full story at GreenBiz.
Haaland will oversee nearly 500 million acres of land — that’s one-fifth the land area of the U.S. and 70% of all public lands — and almost 700 million acres of natural resources that lay beneath it and its coasts.
Category: Federal government
Biden wants to replace government fleet with electric vehicles
Read the full story at The Verge.
President Joe Biden will start the process of phasing out the federal government’s use of gas-powered vehicles and replacing them with ones that run on electricity. The announcement is the fulfillment of a promise Biden made on the campaign trail to swap government fleet vehicles with American-made EVs.
An international climate agenda for the next administration
Download the summary and explore the detailed recommendations.
After decades of inadequate action by the international community, climate change now poses a clear and imminent threat to our prosperity, security, and well-being. Only a focused and ambitious global response can avert the worst impacts. And as the last four years have demonstrated, American global leadership is indispensable to mobilize action at the required scale and pace. To rise to this unprecedented challenge, the next president and administration must elevate climate change to the first rank of America’s international priorities and make addressing the climate crisis a central organizing principle of U.S. foreign policy.
This agenda provides a governing blueprint for the next administration to lead a global mobilization from day one to address the climate crisis.
Starting from the position that addressing climate change should be a central organizing principle that informs all key areas of U.S. foreign policy, it lays out an ambitious yet achievable agenda with priority recommendations the next administration should pursue to chart a course towards greater climate stability.
All of the recommendations are firmly rooted in advancing U.S. interests, alliances, and global cooperation. Underpinned by a bold domestic agenda, the next administration can seize the opportunity to leverage the U.S.’s unparalleled influence to rally the international community to act at the speed and scale needed to meet the climate challenge.
Clean energy groups cheer reports Biden will tap former Michigan Gov. Granholm to lead DOE
Read the full story at Utility Dive.
President-elect Joe Biden is expected to nominate former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to lead the U.S. Department of Energy, Politico first reported. The news elicited cheers from clean energy advocates who say it is a sign the next administration will act aggressively on climate change and clean energy innovation.
Biden is also expected to nominate Gina McCarthy, former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Obama, to a new position overseeing domestic climate policy. Former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has been selected to become Secretary of Transportation.
“The fact that we’ll have a new position overseeing national climate policy demonstrates that the incoming administration will pursue ambitious action,” Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp said in a statement.
Biden taps environmental law expert Brenda Mallory to head White House Council on Environmental Quality
Read the full story in the Washington Post.
President-elect Joe Biden has chosen Brenda Mallory, a longtime expert in environmental law and regulation, to head the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality, according to several people familiar with the decision who spoke anonymously because the appointment has not been publicly announced.
The nomination would place a veteran government official and conservation advocate in a key administration post, one who works closely with agencies to shape federal environmental and energy policy and to ensure individual communities have a voice in the construction of pipelines, roads and other potentially polluting projects.
Climate Activists Want Biden To Bar Appointees With Fossil Fuel Ties
Read the full story at NPR.
Climate activists have set a high bar for President-elect Joe Biden’s staff picks, asking that he exclude anyone with ties to fossil fuel industries. They’ve already been disappointed.
How Dozens of Trump’s Political Appointees Will Stay in Government After Biden Takes Over
Read the full story at ProPublica.
Documents show that officials appointed by Trump who’d otherwise lose their jobs under Biden have been approved for permanent positions in federal agencies.
Meet Biden’s Energy and Climate Cabinet Contenders
Read the full story in the New York Times.
President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s environment and energy team — facing a narrowly divided Congress and a hostile Republican leadership — will need creativity and perseverance if Mr. Biden is to follow through on his ambitious promises to address climate change.
In November, Mr. Biden announced that former Secretary of State John Kerry, who made climate change a signature diplomatic issue during the Obama administration, will become an international “climate envoy.” Mr. Biden also intends to name a high level domestic policy adviser on climate change this month.
But the agency heads, whose names will be announced in the coming days, will be the ones tasked to find a path around Congress with regulations that can cut planet-warming emissions and survive judicial review.
The Case for Reviving the Civilian Conservation Corps
Read the full story in Wired.
If the US brought back the Great Depression’s massive worker program, it could put millions of Americans back to work—and help stave off disasters like wildfires.
Biden Plans to Move Fast With a ‘Climate Administration.’ Here’s How.
Read the full story in the New York Times.
President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., eager to elevate climate change issues throughout his administration, is already drafting orders to reduce planet-warming pollution and seeking nominees who will embed climate policy not only in environmental agencies but in departments from Defense to Treasury to Transportation.
Top candidates for senior cabinet posts, such as Michèle Flournoy for defense secretary and Lael Brainard for Treasury, have long supported aggressive policies to curb climate change. Mr. Biden’s inner circle routinely asks “is the person climate-ambitious?” of candidates even for lower profile positions like the White House budget and regulatory offices, according to a person advising the transition.
Transition team members have been instructed to identify policies that can improve pollution levels in Black and Latino communities. And one of Mr. Biden’s early executive orders is expected to require that every federal agency, department and program prepare to address climate change.
