Mixed Grades and Fun Facts
The Biden administration gets mixed grades for its recent environmental activities.
They reneged on its “no new drilling on Federal land” promise by approving the huge Willow project in Alaska.
But in late March 2023 they did come through with “the first-ever Ocean Climate Action Plan (OCAP)” from any US administration with the goal of achieving a carbon neutral future and enhancing resilience. The full text is available for those who want a really deep dive, but there is a shorter fact sheet. Valerie Cleland of the NRDC wrote an informative blog about this plan.
The plan includes expanding offshore wind energy, efforts to develop green shipping, and ocean carbon dioxide removal. The latter is fraught with danger. Messing with the oceans can be a disaster. OCAP wants more research done, and there are insufficient regulations to make sure this is done safely and OCAP seeks to see what can be done about that.
Offshore carbon sequestration and storage is similar; sounds good but is unproven, potentially dangerous, likely limited, and can be an excuse for more drilling. Similarly, OCAP highlights adaptation and resilience. While critical and absolutely necessary, it is important to be sure it doesn’t make room for inaction on mitigation. Both must be pursued.
OCAP aims to make fisheries climate ready. There are also plans to protect areas, and some concern is whether wind farms are to be considered protected in the way true Marine Protected Areas are. These are not the same thing. We need wind farms, but they are not without potential impacts.
The Biden administration also has a plan to have 450 million dollars available to develop renewable energy facilities on the sites of former coal mines. This will be part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. They will also have 16 million dollars for studying two sites, in North Dakota and Virginia, to extract essential minerals from coal mine waste. These efforts will help ameliorate the pain from closing coal mines for the local communities, something that is important to do.
Let’s hope they are careful and manage to do more good than harm. We need to be vigilant. We have to watch what our elected officials do, not just what they say, and let them know we are paying attention. Remember to call or write your elected officials!
In the fun fact department: In April 2023 the Yale Climate Communications group’s Six Americas that we discuss in our communication and presentation page assessed their data on Americans’ concerns about climate change and broke down some interesting demographics.
In their Six Americas those most aware of climate change were listed as Alarmed or Concerned. Those who were Dismissive or Doubtful may not be true full-blown climate change deniers (some were), but were not convinced about the need for action. Here are some highlights:
64% of Hispanic/Latino and 61% of Black adults were in those categories. It was only 50% for White adults, and at White adults (26%) were three times more likely to be Dismissive or Doubtful. Women (59%) were more likely to be Alarmed or Concerned than men (52%) and less likely to be Dismissive (7% vs 11%). Gen Z (59%) was slightly more likely than Gen X (54%) or Baby Boomer or older (53%) to be Alarmed/Concerned.
Come on, old White guys, we can do better. Less Fox News, maybe.