In a sweeping series of executive orders signed immediately after his inauguration on Wednesday, President Biden began undoing much of the harm the Trump administration tried to听carry out on our country鈥檚 clean air and water, wildlife, natural heritage, and public lands. This is an encouraging start for an administration with goals that extend well beyond simply repairing damage.听
鈥淭he clearest mandate President Biden has is to save our planet for the future and offer good paying jobs that sustain our world rather than destroy it, and these first orders put us on our way to building a truly pro-worker, pro-family, pro-environment economy,鈥 said House Natural Resources Committee Chair Ra煤l Grijalva in an emailed statement.听
Because President Biden鈥檚 predecessor was unable to build legislative consensus, despite enjoying Republican control of both houses of Congress during the first two years of his single term in office, many of his most harmful policies were achieved through executive orders. Plus, several of them are still being challenged in court. That gives Biden the ability to eliminate most of those polices and actions by simple proclamation, and the chance to enact permanent protections during his next听four years in office.听
Take the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska, for example. There, the Trump administration pushed hard to open up the area鈥檚 most ecologically sensitive area鈥攄enning habitat for the world鈥檚 most threatened population of polar bears鈥攖o oil drilling. Ignoring听science, public comment, and backlash from Alaska Native groups, it conducted a flawed environmental impact assessment and rushed through a shambolic lease sale. The auction was boycotted by all major financial institutions, and no significant energy companies chose to participate in it. Just hours after being sworn in, Biden putting a moratorium on the implementation of those leases听and mandating that a proper assessment be conducted. Not only will that process take years, but the proclamation also orders that the听impacts of and on climate change be factored into assessments of all federal projects. The new assessment听will also consider in that mandate. It鈥檚 science, democracy, and environmental justice all wrapped up in couple paragraphs of competent, humane governance.听
鈥淭he President acknowledges our voices, our human rights, and our identity,鈥 said Bernadette Demientieff, executive director of the ,听in an emailed statement. The Gwich始in Nation relies听on ANWR鈥檚 healthy caribou population and is听opposed to extraction in the refuge. Biden鈥檚 order ensures听they听will have a say in future decisions made about ANWR听and that the scientific assessment of the impacts of any proposed project that affects the Nation will also be included.听
That statement stands in stark contrast to the last one听Demientieff issued about the Trump administration, in which she used words like 鈥渃owardly,鈥 鈥渄isgraceful,鈥 and 鈥渦nlawful,鈥 to describe its actions.听
Biden is taking a similar approach to overturning Trump鈥檚 other destructive听polices. The impact听of these first-day executive orders is听going to continue to play out for years, but for a simple overview, here鈥檚听a list of the various projects and policies that he鈥檚 enacting:
- Assess all听Trump administration actions for impacts to climate change, pollution, environmental justice
- Restore methane emissions limits for oil and gas industries
- Restore Obama-era fuel economy standards; work with car industry to establish even better numbers
- Restore appliance energy efficiency standards
- Restore Clean Air Act emissions regulations
- Create听National Climate Advisor oversight office
- Create stronger emissions standards for oil and gas industries
- Include the input听of scientists, labor unions, environmental advocates, environmental justice,听and state, local, tribal, and territorial officials, organizations in all environmental policy decisions
- Restore Bears Ears, Grand Staircase Escalante, Northeast Canyons, Seamount National Monuments
- Restore Waters of the United States rule, protecting 50 percent of American water supplies
- Restore Obama-era ban on offshore drilling in the Arctic
- Account for global impacts of all greenhouse gas emissions in all federal permitting, including social costs
- Cancel Keystone XL Pipeline
- End COVID-19-related 听
- End water rights giveaway to industry in California
Perhaps the听most important part of these executive orders, though, is the repeated inclusion of two simple words: . The effects of pollution and climate change are disproportionately felt by low-income, marginalized, and communities of color. Acknowledging this disparity so prominently is more than just a symbol that the Biden administration intends to work in the interest of all Americans; it also makes a strong, practical argument for听why climate change needs to be addressed鈥攁nd why it needs to be addressed now.听
One of the few things Trump administration officials were good at doing was finding creative ways to work around bedrock conservation and environmental laws, or to bend those laws in the interest of polluters. Former Secretary of the Interior听David Bernhardt, for instance, successfully argued that because the impacts of a specific point source of emissions (a single power plant, for example) couldn鈥檛 be explicitly connected to a threat felt by an individual听animal,听climate change-causing emissions couldn鈥檛 be regulated under the Endangered Species Act. But, factor in human lives, create data around financial costs, and all of a sudden you have an argument involving constituents, budgets, and even plaintiffs, defendants, and liability. A polar bear can鈥檛 sue; human beings听with听evidence of financial harm created and vetted by the federal government听can.听
If Biden鈥檚 time in office is to be judged a success, he鈥檒l need to achieve more than governing by proclamation, and simply returning the country to Obama-era pollution standards. Biden鈥檚 legacy hinges on his ability to achieve major, lasting action on the climate crisis. And environmental justice could be one of the tools by which he convinces other branches of government to help him achieve it. If he succeeds, the true cost of pollution and climate change will never be denied again.听