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☆ Five Major Climate Policies Trump Would Probably Reverse if Elected
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-26 | by ( Lisa Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Former President Donald J. Trump has vowed to “cancel” President Biden’s policies for cutting pollution from fossil-fuel-burning power plants, “terminate” efforts to encourage electric vehicles, and “develop the liquid gold that is right under our feet” by promoting oil and gas. Those changes and others that Mr. Trump has promised, if he were to win the presidency again, represent a 180-degree shift from Mr. Biden’s climate agenda. When he was president, Mr. Trump reversed more than 100 environmental protections put in place by the Obama administration. Mr. Biden has in turn reversed much of Mr. Trump’s agenda. But climate advocates argue a second Trump term would be far more damaging than his first, because the window to keep rising global temperatures to relatively safe levels is rapidly closing.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, “, Obama, Biden Organizations: Trump

☆ New Biden Climate Rules Could Shutter Remaining American Coal Plants
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Lisa Friedman | Coral Davenport | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Biden administration on Thursday placed the final cornerstone of its plan to tackle climate change: a regulation that would force the nation’s coal-fired power plants to virtually eliminate the planet-warming pollution that they release into the air or shut down. The regulation from the Environmental Protection Agency requires coal plants in the United States to reduce 90 percent of their greenhouse pollution by 2039, one year earlier than the agency had initially proposed. The compressed timeline was welcomed by climate activists but condemned by coal executives who said the new standards would be impossible to meet. also imposed three additional regulations on coal-burning power plants, including stricter limits on emissions of mercury, a neurotoxin linked to developmental damage in children, from plants that burn lignite coal, the lowest grade of coal. The rules also more tightly restrict the seepage of toxic ash from coal plants into water supplies and limit the discharge of wastewater from coal plants.

Persons: Biden Organizations: Environmental, Agency Locations: United States

☆ Five Things to Know About Biden’s New Power Plant Rules
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Coral Davenport | Lisa Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The most consequential of the new rules is aimed at nearly eliminating carbon dioxide emissions from the coal plants. Once implemented, the rules are widely expected to result in the shuttering of nearly all the nation’s remaining coal plants by 2040. Here’s what to know about President Biden’s new moves to clean up coal power. There is no widely used technology available to substantially reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plant smokestacks. The cheapest way to comply may be to just shut down the nation’s roughly 200 remaining coal plants.

Persons: Biden, Biden’s Organizations: Environmental Protection Agency Locations: America, United States

☆ Biden Shields Millions of Acres of Alaskan Wilderness From Drilling and Mining
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-19 | by ( Lisa Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Biden administration expanded federal protections across millions of acres of Alaskan wilderness on Friday, blocking oil, gas and mining operations in some of the most unspoiled land in the country. It also announced it would ban drilling in more than half of the 23-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, an ecologically sensitive expanse north of the Arctic Circle. Together, the two moves amount to one of biggest efforts in history to shield Alaskan land from drilling and mining. They are expected to face challenges from industry as well as from elected leaders in Alaska, where oil and gas revenues make up much of the state’s budget and where mining is a main driver of the economy. “Alaska’s majestic and rugged lands and waters are among the most remarkable and healthy landscapes in the world, sustaining a vibrant subsistence economy for Alaska Native communities,” President Biden said in a statement.

Persons: Biden Organizations: Interior Department, and, Petroleum Reserve Locations: Alaska

☆ R.F.K. Jr.’s Environmental Colleagues Urge Him to Drop Presidential Bid
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-19 | by ( Lisa Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As an independent candidate for the White House, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., claims he would be the “best environment president in American history,” drawing on his past as a crusading lawyer who went after polluters in New York. But dozens of Mr. Kennedy’s former colleagues at the Natural Resources Defense Council are calling on him to withdraw from the race, in full-page advertisements sponsored by the group’s political arm that are expected to appear in newspapers in six swing states on Sunday. Separately, a dozen other national environmental organizations have issued an open letter calling Mr. Kennedy “ a “dangerous conspiracy theorist and a science denier” who promotes “toxic beliefs” on vaccines and on climate change. People involved in both efforts maintain that Mr. Kennedy cannot win the presidency but could siphon votes away from President Biden and help elect former President Donald J. Trump, who has called climate change a hoax and promised to unravel environmental laws and policies.

Persons: Robert F, Kennedy Jr, Kennedy’s, Kennedy “, ”, Kennedy, Biden, Donald J, Trump Organizations: White, Natural Resources Defense Locations: New York

☆ Interior Said to Reject Industrial Road Through Alaskan Wilderness
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-16 | by ( Lisa Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Biden administration is expected to deny permission for a mining company to build a 211-mile industrial road through fragile Alaskan wilderness, handing a victory to environmentalists in an election year when the president wants to underscore his credentials as a climate leader and conservationist. A formal denial of the project would come later this year, they said. The road was essential to reach what is estimated to be a $7.5 billion copper deposit buried under ecologically sensitive land. There are currently no mines in the area and no requests for permits have been filed with the government; the road was a first step. Blocking the industrial road would be an enormous victory for opponents who have argued for years that it would threaten wildlife as well as Alaska Native tribes that rely on hunting and fishing.

Persons: Biden Organizations: Interior Department Locations: Ambler, Alaska

☆ E.P.A. Says ‘Forever Chemicals’ Must Be Removed From Tap Water
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Lisa Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For the first time, the Biden administration is requiring municipal water systems to remove six synthetic chemicals linked to cancer and other health problems that are present in the tap water of hundreds of millions of Americans. The extraordinary move from the Environmental Protection Agency mandates that water providers reduce perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known collectively as PFAS, to near-zero levels. The compounds, found in everything from dental floss to firefighting foams to children’s toys, are called “forever chemicals” because they never fully degrade and can accumulate in the body and the environment. The chemicals are so ubiquitous that they can be found in the blood of almost every person in the United States. A 2023 government study of private wells and public water systems detected PFAS chemicals in nearly half the tap water in the country.

Persons: Biden Organizations: Environmental, Agency Locations: United States

☆ Environmental Protection Agency Limits Pollution From Chemical Plants
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-09 | by ( Lisa Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

More than 200 chemical plants across the country will be required to curb the toxic pollutants they release into the air under a regulation announced by the Biden administration on Tuesday. The regulation is aimed at reducing the risk of cancer for people living near industrial sites. This is the first time in nearly two decades that the government has tightened limits on pollution from chemical plants. The new rule, from the Environmental Protection Agency, specifically targets ethylene oxide, which is used to sterilize medical devices, and chloroprene, which is used to make rubber in footwear. They are considered a top health concern in an area of Louisiana so dense with petrochemical and refinery plants that it is known as Cancer Alley.

Persons: Biden Organizations: Environmental Protection Agency Locations: Louisiana

☆ Trump’s Violent Language Toward EVs
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-18 | by ( Lisa Friedman | More About Lisa Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

He has long claimed electric cars will “kill” America’s auto industry. He has declared that the Biden administration “ordered a hit job on Michigan manufacturing” by encouraging the sales of electric cars. Now if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a blood bath for the whole. That’s going to be the least of it. It’s going to be a blood bath for the country, that’s going to be the least of it.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, ”, Biden, “, don’t, they’re Locations: Michigan, Mexico, United States

☆ U.S. Taxpayers Have Subsidized Fossil Fuels for 111 Years, and Counting
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( Lisa Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON — As a candidate in 2020, Joseph R. Biden Jr. campaigned to end billions of dollars in annual tax breaks to oil and gas companies within his first year in office. Mr. Biden’s budget request to Congress this week was his fourth attempt to eliminate what he called “wasteful subsidies” to an industry that is enjoying record profits. His new budget proposal calls for the elimination of $35 billion in tax breaks that would otherwise be provided to the industry over the next decade. Mr. Biden’s wish is opposed by the oil industry, Republicans in Congress and a handful of Democrats. In Washington, it seems, oil and gas subsidies are the zombies of the tax code: impossible to kill.

Persons: Joseph R, Biden, It’s, Mr, Biden’s Organizations: WASHINGTON Locations: Washington

☆ Biden Makes the Case on Climate
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-07 | by ( Manuela Andreoni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

President Biden and former President Trump are worlds apart on climate policy. But do voters know it? Polls show that most Americans don’t know that Biden signed into law the biggest climate law in U.S. history. Tonight, Biden will have the chance to highlight those contrasts when he addresses Congress in the annual State of the Union speech. I asked my colleague Lisa Friedman, who covers climate policy and politics, for a preview.

Persons: Biden, Trump, Lisa Friedman Organizations: State of Locations: Paris, State

☆ Biden Administration Toughens Limits on Deadly Air Pollution
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( Lisa Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday tightened limits on fine industrial particles, one of the most common and deadliest forms of air pollution, for the first time in a decade. Public health organizations said the pollution rules would save lives and strengthen the economy by reducing hospitalizations and lost workdays. Fine particulate matter, which can include soot, can come from factories, power plants and other industrial facilities. The new rule lowers the annual standard for fine particulate matter to nine micrograms per cubic meter of air, down from the current standard of 12 micrograms. will use air sampling to identify areas that do not meet the new standard.

Organizations: Environmental Protection Agency, Business

☆ Two Climate Advisers Quit U.S. Export-Import Bank Over Fossil Fuel Plans
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-05 | by ( Lisa Friedman | Hiroko Tabuchi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A federal bank that finances projects overseas is set to vote on Thursday on whether to use taxpayer dollars to help drill oil and gas wells in Bahrain, a contentious decision that prompted two of the bank’s climate advisers to resign, according to people with knowledge of their decisions. The project in Bahrain is one of several controversial overseas fossil fuel projects that the Export-Import Bank of the United States is currently considering. The two advisers, who sit on an 18-person board that President Biden created to help the bank take climate change into account when making investments, resigned last week after a meeting about the Bahrain project, according to five current and former bank officials, who spoke on the condition that they not be identified because they were not authorized to discuss internal deliberations. They described mounting frustration among climate advisory board members, who say they are being kept in the dark about upcoming fossil fuel loans and blocked from making recommendations about whether to approve or even modify a particular project.

Persons: Biden Organizations: Export, Import Bank Locations: Bahrain, United States

☆ Biden Picks John Podesta to Be His New Global Climate Representative
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( Lisa Friedman | Coral Davenport | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

President Biden has tapped John Podesta, his adviser on clean energy and a seasoned political strategist, to succeed John Kerry as his global representative on climate, the White House confirmed on Wednesday. Mr. Podesta, 75, will take on that international role in addition to his current White House job overseeing $370 billion in spending on clean energy projects under the landmark 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. Mr. Kerry, 80, has told the White House that he intends to step down by the spring but has not given a specific date. Mr. Podesta will take on the role in a slightly different capacity because, under a recently passed law, the job of special envoy would require Senate confirmation. Jeffrey Zients, Mr. Biden’s chief of staff, called Mr. Podesta “a fierce champion for bold climate action.”

Persons: Biden, John Podesta, John Kerry, Mr . Podesta, Kerry, Mr, Podesta, Jeffrey Zients, Biden’s, Podesta “ Organizations: White House, House, White

☆ Democrats Say Biden Hasn’t ‘Made the Case’ on Climate Despite Achievements
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-27 | by ( Lisa Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden has done more than any president to tackle climate change, but strategists are grappling with an uncomfortable fact: Voters don’t seem to know it. He is cracking down on methane, a potent greenhouse gas, that leaks from oil and gas wells. Taken together, these efforts could substantially reduce the country’s contribution to global warming. But as he faces a bruising re-election campaign against the Republican front-runner, former President Donald J. Trump many Democrats said the president is failing to communicate his most significant policy achievements. In recent months, polls have found that most Americans are unaware of the Inflation Reduction Act, Mr. Biden’s signature climate law.

Persons: Biden, Donald J Organizations: Republican, Trump, Democrats, Mr

☆ Biden Administration Pauses Approvals of New Gas Export Terminals
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-26 | by ( Lisa Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

President Biden on Friday paused the permitting process for new liquefied natural gas export facilities in order to analyze their impact on climate change, the economy and national security. “In every corner of the country and the world, people are suffering the devastating toll of climate change,” Mr. Biden said in a statement. “This pause on new L.N.G. approvals sees the climate crisis for what it is: the existential threat of our time.”The move could spell trouble for what would be the largest export terminal in the country, a $10 billion proposed project in Louisiana that has drawn scrutiny for its potential environmental impact.

Persons: Biden, Mr Locations: Louisiana

☆ Biden Vetoes Republican Measure to Block Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-24 | by ( Lisa Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden on Wednesday vetoed a Republican-led effort that could have thwarted the administration’s plans to invest $7.5 billion to build electric vehicle charging stations across the country. In issuing the veto, Mr. Biden argued that the congressional resolution would have hurt domestic manufacturing as well as the clean energy transition. charging manufacturing, and chill further domestic investment in this critical market,” Mr. Biden said in a statement. The move comes amid a growing political divide over electric vehicles. The landmark climate law signed in 2022 by Mr. Biden, the Inflation Reduction Act, offers incentives to consumers to buy electric vehicles and to manufacturers to build them in the United States.

Persons: Biden, Mr Organizations: Wednesday, Republican, Mr Locations: United States

☆ John Kerry Bows Out as U.S. Climate Envoy
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-13 | by ( Lisa Friedman | More About Lisa Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

John Kerry, President Biden’s special envoy for climate, plans to step down from the Biden administration by spring, according to two people familiar with his plans. Mr. Kerry, 80, has served as the president’s top diplomat on climate change since early 2021, working to cajole governments around the world to aggressively cut their planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. He led the U.S. negotiating team through three United Nations climate summits, reasserting American leadership after the country withdrew from the Paris climate agreement during the Trump administration. Mr. Kerry championed cooperation on global warming between the United States and China, the world’s two largest polluters, during times of tension.

Persons: John Kerry, Biden’s, Biden, Kerry, Trump Organizations: U.S Locations: Nations, Paris, United States, China

When there’s a global crisis, wealthy countries tend to find money. That was the case in the United States when big banks were bailed out to soften a global financial crisis. But the climate crisis? This weekend, Vice President Kamala Harris visited the United Nations climate summit in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, and promised $3 billion for the Green Climate Fund, which benefits poorer nations. One of the big tests facing this summit, known as COP28, is whether it will fare any better than earlier climate talks at shoring up anything close to the money that’s needed.

Persons: Kamala Harris, John Kerry, Biden’s Organizations: United Arab, Green Climate Fund, Biden, Walmart, Pepsi, McDonalds Locations: United States, Ukraine, United Nations, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

☆ Climate Summit Leader Tries to Calm Uproar Over a Remark on Fossil Fuels
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-04 | by ( Lisa Friedman | More About Lisa Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Simmering tensions around the decision to hold a global climate summit in a petrostate burst into the open on Monday when Sultan Al Jaber, the Emirati oil executive who is leading the conference, launched into an angry public defense of his position on ending fossil fuel use. Mr. Al Jaber, who runs the state-owned oil company, Adnoc, was under fire for a video that surfaced in which he said there is “no science” behind the idea that fossil fuels must be phased out in order to keep average global temperatures from rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius over preindustrial levels. That’s the threshold beyond which scientists say humans would struggle to adapt to increasingly severe storms, drought, heat and rising sea levels caused by global warming. Climate experts convened by the United Nations have said that nations must cut the emissions from fossil fuels by 43 percent by the end of this decade, compared to 2019 levels, if the world has any hope of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Persons: Sultan Al Jaber, Al Jaber Organizations: United Nations

The United States will, for the first time, require oil and gas producers to detect and fix leaks of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that wafts into the atmosphere from pipelines, drill sites and storage facilities and dangerously speeds the rate of global warming. Michael S. Regan, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, announced the regulation in Dubai, where diplomats from nearly 200 nations have gathered for a two-week United Nations climate summit. Methane is not as widely discussed as the carbon dioxide that results from burning fossil fuels, but it has become a rare area of progress this week at the global talks. Vice President Kamala Harris, the top-ranking American official to visit the summit, was expected on Saturday to highlight the new rule in a speech to delegates. She was also set to announce several other new climate policy initiatives from the administration.

Persons: Michael S, Regan, Kamala Harris Organizations: Environmental Protection Agency Locations: States, Dubai, Nations, Brazil, Kenya, India, United States

President Biden signed the country’s first major climate law and is overseeing record federal investment in clean energy. In each of the past two years, he attended the annual United Nations climate summit, asserting American leadership in the fight against global warming. But this year, likely to be the hottest in recorded history, Mr. Biden is staying home. At the same time, climate activists, particularly the young voters who helped elect Mr. Biden, want the president to shut down drilling altogether. Internationally, developing countries are pushing Mr. Biden to deliver on promises for billions of dollars to help cope with climate change.

Persons: Biden, centrists, Mr Organizations: White House, Russia, Republican Locations: United Nations, Dubai, Israel, Ukraine, United States

President Biden on Sunday hailed the release of Avigail Idan, a 4-year-old American citizen who has been held hostage by Hamas for seven weeks, and vowed to keep working to secure freedom for others in captivity and extend the pause in the fighting. “Thank God she’s home,” Mr. Biden told reporters in Nantucket, Mass., where he has been marking the Thanksgiving holiday. Her case has been the focus of widespread international attention and concern as she marked her fourth birthday on Friday. “More is needed but this deal is delivering lifesaving results,” Mr. Biden said. This deal is structured so that it can be extended to keep building on these results.

Persons: Biden, Avigail, God she’s, ” Mr, “, ” Avigail, Abigail, ” Organizations: Sunday Locations: Nantucket, Israel, Gaza

President Biden will not attend a major United Nations climate summit that begins Thursday in Dubai, skipping an event expected to be attended by King Charles III, Pope Francis and leaders from nearly 200 countries, a White House official said Sunday. The official, who asked to remain anonymous to discuss the president’s schedule, did not give a reason Mr. Biden will not make an appearance at the two-week summit, known as COP28. But senior White House aides suggested that the war between Israel and Hamas had consumed the president in recent weeks and days, as he pressed for a pause in fighting and release of hostages held by Hamas. “They’ve got the war in the Middle East and a war in Ukraine, a bunch of things going on,” John Kerry, Mr. Biden’s special envoy for climate change, said last week. Mr. Kerry and his team will be in Dubai.

Persons: Biden, King Charles III, Pope Francis, “ They’ve, ” John Kerry, Biden’s, Kerry Organizations: White Locations: United Nations, Dubai, Israel, Ukraine

Twelve of those newly released were among the roughly 75 people who had been kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7. Ruth is a retired hairdresser and seamstress, according to Kibbutz Nir Oz. Danielle Aloni; Amelia Aloni, 5Danielle Aloni and her daughter Amelia were taken hostage while visiting Ms. Aloni’s sister, Sharon Cunio, a resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz. She was kidnapped from her safe room in Kibbutz Nir Oz after her husband, Sa’id Moshe, was killed during the Hamas assault. Hanna Katzir, 76Ms. Katzir helped oversee child care in Kibbutz Nir Oz for many years, according to a niece, Dalit Katzenellenbogen, who lives in Tel Aviv.

Persons: —, Kibbutz Nir Oz, Keren Munder, Munder, Ruth Munder, Ohad Munder, Ruth, Abraham Munder, Nir Oz, Abraham’s, Roee, Ohad, Abraham, Keren, Danielle Aloni, Amelia Aloni, Amelia, Aloni’s, Sharon Cunio, Sharon, David Cunio, Emma, Yuli, ”, Aloni, Adina Moshe, Moshe, Sa’id Moshe, Naama Ben, Moshe’s, ” Yaffa, Adar, Tamir Adar, Hanna Katzir, Katzir, Katzenellenbogen, Elad Katzir, Rami, Hanna Peri, Peri, Ms, Margalit Moses, Moses, Doron Katz Asher, Raz Asher, Aviv Asher, Katz Asher, Raz, Efrat Katz, Katz, Yoni Asher, Asher, Khan Younis Organizations: Nirim Locations: Tel Aviv, Gaza, Israel, Kfar Saba, Palestinian, Nirim, South Africa, Norway, Mozambique

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