Triple threat: Obama orders federal agencies to boost clean energy use threefold. Two bills in the Senate would require the country to get at least 25 percent renewable electricity by 2025, but neither has a chance in hell of making it to Obama’s desk.
Thanks, Republicans! So the president is doing what he can without approval from Congress: requiring the federal government to get more of its power from renewable sources. From NPR: President Obama says the U.S. government “must lead by example” when it comes to safeguarding the environment, so he’s ordering federal agencies to use more clean energy.Under a presidential memorandum out Thursday, each agency would have until 2020 to get 20 percent of its electricity from renewable supplies. …Agencies are supposed to build their own facilities when they can, or buy clean energy from wind farms and solar facilities. The U.S. government currently gets about 7.5 percent of its electricity from renewables, so the new goal would almost triple that percentage. Obama signs on to three international climate pacts in three days. The biggest oversight in Obama’s climate plan is a doozy. I’ve mostly been offering modest praise for Obama’s climate plan, but there are some notable oversights.
While it addresses U.S. coal-fired plants through EPA regulations, it neglects another, equally large aspect of the coal problem. Specifically, I’m talking about coal mining, leasing, transport, and export in the U.S. Northwest. There’s a bad situation there and it’s getting worse. The Powder River Basin stretches across southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming. Domestic demand for coal is declining (and will decline further once EPA regulations are in place), so what these coal companies want to do is start shipping the coal by rail to the West Coast and from there exporting it to China and other coal-hungry developing countries, where it sells for prices up to seven times higher than in the U.S.
It’s a sweet deal for the coal companies: buy low, sell high. First, the coal-leasing program. The BLM says it has a “task force” looking into it, for whatever that’s worth. Obama in Berlin: “We have to get to work” on climate change. President Obama keeps saying bold things about climate change in his big speeches.
There was his second inaugural address in January. Then his State of the Union address in February. And today, a high-profile speech in Berlin, Germany, in front of the Brandenburg Gate. But doing bold things about climate change? Well, that’s a whole different issue. So let’s look at those words. “I come here today, Berlin, to say complacency is not the character of great nations,” he said before outlining a number of lofty aspirations, most notably a goal to cut back America’s nuclear arsenal by as much as a third.
Midway through the speech, Obama got to the climate bit: Peace with justice means refusing to condemn our children to a harsher, less hospitable planet. Sounds good, right? The setting in Berlin turned out to be just right for speechifying about global warming. Obama’s climate plan in 3 easy bullet points (and a few sub-bullet points) We have assembled here the highlights of President Obama’s new climate plan.
Congress isn’t going to play along, obviously, so the plan consists of executive actions his administration can take on its own. Even some of these could be blocked by Congress through budgetary moves, and others could be blocked by courts. Obama dévoile son plan pour lutter contre le réchauffement climatique. Republicans say Obama’s climate plan is a war on America. No-drama Obama unveils series of modest, sensible steps on climate change. President Obama’s supporters, his critics, and the media all want the same thing from his climate speech today: drama.
They want grand gestures, some sort of conversion narrative centered on Obama’s will to fight the climate fight. They want a “trade” for Keystone or a climate tax declaration or something about fracking, anything to fire up audiences and get clicks. Everyone has the same incentive nowadays, the green groups, the right-wing groups, the political media, they all want and need attention. Obama unveils plan to combat climate change. The Boston Globe, June 25, 2013 Obama unveils plan to combat climate change By Josh Lederman and Matthew Daly WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama declared the debate over climate change and its causes obsolete Tuesday as he announced a wide-ranging plan to tackle pollution and prepare communities for global warming.
In a major speech at Georgetown University, Obama warned Americans of the deep and disastrous effects of climate change, urging them to take action before it’s too late. ‘‘As a president, as a father and as an American, I'm here to say we need to act,’’ Obama said.