Liberals in Congress are pressing President Joe Biden to invoke emergency powers to push ahead with Democrats’ climate change agenda and to put new restrictions on fossil fuels, even while gasoline remains at its highest per-gallon price on record. [bold, links added]
With legislation stalled in Congress, the nearly 100-member Congressional Progressive Caucus released a slate of policy recommendations Thursday for Biden to pursue, calling on him to use executive action to deal with a list of topics his “Build Back Better” agenda sought to address, including the development of more green energy technologies and placement of restrictions on new fossil fuel production.
The executive action agenda calls for Biden to declare a national climate emergency, as well as to employ the Defense Production Act, which both Biden and former President Donald Trump have done under the aegis of COVID-19 to increase ventilator and vaccine supplies, and to build more renewable energy technologies, such as solar panels and wind turbines.
It also calls for Biden to target the fossil fuel industry directly through a reinstitution of a ban on crude oil exports in response to high oil and gasoline prices, something Democrats began urging Biden to do in earnest back in November, and encourages the administration to ban new fossil fuel leases on federal lands and waters.
The caucus’s agenda outline reflects the sense of urgency and impatience that many Democrats are feeling now that the party’s flagship social spending and green energy plan lacks movement because of Sen. Joe Manchin’s opposition to broader Democratic legislation.
Nearly 90 congressional Democrats, a number of whom are part of the Progressive Caucus, wrote Biden earlier this week and asked him to start up talks again with Congress about getting their climate change agenda passed.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin suggested earlier this week that chamber leadership isn’t pursuing a revival of the agenda as it was.
“I’ve been burned by this stove enough times,” Durbin said. “I’m not going to grab it another time.”
Those comments sparked anger among environmentalists who have been lobbying for the Build Back Better agenda for a year.
Jamal Raad, the head of Evergreen Action, said Durbin’s comments reflected an “abdication of leadership in a moment where Democrats need to prove that they can deliver.”
A group of 200 green groups wrote Biden on March 9, recommending similarly that he use the DPA to build renewables, as well as energy storage and efficiency technologies as a means of reducing demand for fossil fuels.
The Biden administration has maintained its line on the need to displace fossil fuels in favor of green energy, both to mitigate climate change and avoid price shocks associated with geopolitical upheaval.
Officials, however, have been encouraging more oil production since crude prices shot up following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, frustrating environmentalists.
Read more at Examiner
Perhaps these progressives should do a little reading. All they would have to do is review the EIA 2022 “Annual Energy Outlook” and they can get a good look at the energy statistics and forecasts our own government has available. What they would clearly see is that fossil fuels will continue to play a SIGNIFICANT role in our domestic energy mix at least through 2050. Also, they’ll note that EV’s are NOT expected to dominate the vehicle market. So, why would you want to CRIPPLE the domestic oil & gas industry? Climate emergency? Since COVID is playing out, I suppose that is the next step to getting the populace under their “thumbs.” WAKE UP folks and throw these clowns out of office at the mid-terms before they WRECK the entire economy…
Randy, I wished I lived in the States, so I could vote. As you say, they don’t seem to read any science. Get rid of oil and all you have is unreliable solar and wind systems, unreliable vehicles and no magic potion on the horizon to fulfill their wacky dreams. Get out the vote, young man !
We call them Con-Gress and they belong in Prison for selling America out to the Globalists/Socialists scum suckers from the United Nations the Democrats/Liberals
So anger has been sparked among “environmentalists” (who don’t show much interest in the actual environment). How about just letting the sparks grow until their heads explode? It might be a little messy, but nature is used to cleaning up messes. After all, recycling carbon is the natural order of things. The rest of us could return to realistic environmental protection and true progress.
If “Con” is the opposite of “Pro”, what is the opposite of “Progress”?
These Eco-Freaks wont be happy until were all living in grass huts and eating raw vegtables and making the seasonal sacrifice of a Virgin or Child to their fake gods they worship during their Earth Day Celebrations which be the only celebration we will be allowed to celebrate after the 4th of July is banned because Fireworks disturbs them while they Meditate in the fields Thanksgiving banned because we be forced to all go Vegan and Christmas will be banned because we cut down trees and don’t worship their pagan deities they worship
“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.” ― Groucho Marx
The Congress is selling us their snake Oil cure for non problem