Updated at 5:06 p.m.
SOMERSET, Mass. (AP) — President
Joe Biden
The president stopped short, though, of declaring a formal climate emergency, which Democrats and environmental groups have been seeking after an influential Democratic senator quashed hopes for sweeping legislation to address global warming. Biden hinted such a step could be coming.
“Let me be clear,” Biden said. "Climate change is an emergency, and in the coming weeks I’m going to use the power I have as president to turn these words into formal, official government actions through the appropriate proclamations, executive orders and regulatory power that a president possesses.”
Biden delivered his pledge at a former coal-fired power plant in Massachusetts. The former
Brayton Point power plant in Somerset, Massachusetts
Executive actions announced Wednesday will bolster the domestic offshore wind industry in the Gulf of Mexico and Southeast, as well as expand
efforts to help communities cope with soaring temperatures
Watch Biden's remarks
The trip comes as
historic temperatures bake Europe
Calls for
a national emergency declaration
White House officials have said the option remains under consideration. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday declined to outline a timetable for a decision aside from saying no such order would be issued this week.
Gina McCarthy, Biden's climate adviser, said Biden is not “shying away” from treating climate as an emergency.
"The president wants to make sure that we're doing it right, that we're laying it out, and that we have the time we need to get this worked out,'' she told reporters on Air Force One.
Sen.
Ed Markey
“I think that he’s made that clear in his statement last Friday, and I think coming to Massachusetts is a further articulation of that goal,” Markey told reporters Tuesday.
An emergency declaration on climate would allow the president to redirect federal resources to bolster renewable energy programs that would help accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels. The declaration also could be used as a legal basis to block oil and gas drilling or other projects, although such actions would likely be challenged in court by energy companies or Republican-led states.
Such a declaration would be similar to the one issued by Biden’s Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, who declared
a national emergency to build a wall
Biden pledged last week to take significant executive actions on climate after monthslong discussions between Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., came to a standstill. The West Virginia senator cited
stubbornly high inflation
For now, Manchin has said he will only agree to a legislative package that shores up subsidies to help people buy insurance under the 2010 health care law and allows Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices that will ultimately lower the cost of pharmaceuticals for consumers.
The White House has indicated it wants Congress to take that deal, and Biden will address the climate issue on his own.
The former Brayton Point power plant
closed in 2017
A new report says the U.S. and other major carbon-polluting nations are
falling short on pledges to fight climate change