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The Biden-Harris administration’s Buy Clean Task Force recently announced new actions under its Federal Buy Clean Initiatives program to support low-carbon construction materials and American jobs. While visiting the Cleveland-Cliffs Direct Reduction steel plant in Toledo, Ohio, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Administrator Robin Carnahan, and Deputy National Climate Advisor Ali […]
After passing the House and Senate, President Joseph Biden Jr. signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 into law on August 16, 2022. Although significantly pared down from its predecessor, the Build Back America bill, it is the largest federal commitment to date to address climate change. The law provides $369 billion in funding […]
Expect new limits on coal ash and ozone pollution from the EPA to continue the push toward the transition from fossil fuel-powered energy generation to clean energy. The Agency continues to explore other options for decarbonization as the Biden administration pushes to achieve the president’s stated campaign goals of achieving net-zero emissions by 2035. “We […]
President Joseph Biden Jr. announced a series of executive actions on July 20, 2022, to address the “clear and present” danger to the United States presented by climate change and promised additional upcoming executive actions over the next few weeks to combat “this emergency,” states a White House Fact Sheet. Biden announced the actions at […]
President Joseph Biden Jr. emphatically stated climate change is the “number one issue facing humanity” during his campaign and vowed to shepherd the United States through the tough changes to transition the nation away from fossil fuel use to clean energy sources during his presidency. Biden has been stalled and hampered at almost every turn […]
The Biden administration continues to take actions to advance its goals to elevate environmental justice (EJ) and address past injustices by enforcing pollution laws to create equity for overburdened communities. The latest action is the release of “EPA Legal Tools to Advance Environmental Justice (EJ Legal Tools), dated May 26, 2022, by the EPA Office […]
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), representing 7,500 of the EPA’s 14,300 employees, “signaling its dissatisfaction with the White House’s level of action on climate,” will ask the Biden administration to declare a climate emergency, reports Bloomberg Law. “The request represents a marker for the [AFGE] Council 238 when it sits down with the […]
On February 15, 2022, the Biden administration announced plans to support clean manufacturing initiatives, including the creation of a Clean Task Force, to source low-carbon materials in federal purchasing and new trade policies to incentivize manufacturers of low-carbon aluminum and steel. The industrial sector currently produces almost one-third of domestic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according […]
Analysts predict that the Biden administration will see an increase in environmental justice (EJ) claims during the public review process for both air permit renewals and new permit applications.
On April 9, the White House announced President Joe Biden’s nomination of Doug Parker to head the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Parker currently is chief of California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA).