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Today we’re looking at the suspension of ANWR leases, preparedness for hurricane season (or lack thereof) and the Sunrise Movement’s focus on the Civilian Climate Corps.
ANWR WAR CONTINUES: Biden administration suspends Arctic oil leases issued under Trump
The Biden administration will suspend controversial leases issued under the previous administration for drilling at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), it announced Tuesday.
The leases will be halted amid a further environmental review, which will determine whether they should be reaffirmed, voided or subject to additional measures to lessen their environmental impacts, according to an Interior Department statement.
An order signed on Tuesday by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said that a departmental review found “multiple legal deficiencies” in the record supporting the leases.
These included insufficient environmental analysis including “failure to adequately analyze a reasonable range of alternatives” in a prior environmental review and a failure to properly interpret the law authorizing the lease sales.
Read more about the halt here.
TIS THE SEASON: Experts warn US needs to better prepare for hurricane season
As hurricane season arrives, experts say the country is still not adequately prepared.
They warn that as climate change continues to intensify extreme weather, the U.S. will need to adopt stronger resilience policies.
What are we facing this year? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted that hurricane season, which starts Tuesday, will be above average, with between six and 10 hurricanes, following last year’s active season, which had 13 hurricanes.
What’s Biden doing about it? Last week, White House announced it would double the funding to $1 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s program that helps communities take on hazard mitigation projects.
President Biden’s infrastructure plan also calls for $50 billion in resilience funding.
“[$50 billion] is a good start,” said Chris Uejio, a co-author of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Building Resilience Against Climate Effects Framework. “I think the distributional aspect of it is just as important as the headline number.”
But the government will have a lot more to do going forward, he said, adding that such resilience issues could eventually cost much more to manage.
And what else can be done? In February, a group called the Resilience Action Fund wrote an open letter to the Biden administration calling for additional actions such as requiring minimum resilience standards for federally funded buildings and requiring such standards for buildings that get loans from federally backed mortgage organizations.
“You can divide the country into a handful of regions and say for these regions, we should have consistency of codes and standards,” said Aris Papadopoulos, the group’s chairman.
Papadopoulos also said that the focus should be on homes, which he referred to as the “weak underbelly of our communities.”
Read more about the country’s vulnerability to hurricanes here.
AT ITS CORPS: Progressives set sights on Civilian Climate Corps program
A progressive environmental group plans to focus its advocacy around President Biden’s proposal to create conservation and reforestation jobs, according to a strategy memo obtained by The Hill.
The youth-led Sunrise Movement will be pushing for a Civilian Climate Corps (CCC) — similar to the New Deal-era Civilian Conservation Corps — which Biden backs. But the group says the $10 billion investment the president wants to make is not enough.
“As currently proposed, Biden’s Civilian Climate Corps is insufficient compared to the scale of the climate and jobs crises we face,” the memo said. “Our movement is fighting for a CCC that meets the moment and creates 1.5 million jobs over five years and trains a new workforce for long term careers in good, union jobs stopping the climate crisis.”
So tell me what you want, what you really really want. The Sunrise Movement is pushing for a version of the program that was introduced in a bill by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) that would put more than $100 billion into the program over five years.
What are you gonna do about it? The group said that it plans to organize on Capitol Hill alongside the two lawmakers and other “champions” to fight for “robust funding and passage of the CCC.”
In addition, it plans to launch digital campaigns, marches and actions targeted at Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) as well as Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), who chair their chambers’ committees that deal with labor issues.
Read more about the group’s goals here.
SOME CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENCE: Lawmakers push for green funding, a look at Biden’s climate goals
Some green for green energy: A bipartisan group of lawmakers wrote to House leadership on Monday asking for the inclusion of an “accelerator” to finance clean energy and climate projects in infrastructure legislation.
“As the U.S. House of Representatives moves to craft comprehensive legislation to rebuild our nation’s infrastructure and strengthen our economy long-term, we strongly urge you to include language that would establish a Clean Energy and Sustainability Accelerator,” wrote Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), and Don Young (R-Alaska) in a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). “Given the gravity and scale of the crises we are facing, it cannot be overstated how important this level of funding is for this effort to be a true success.”
Let’s see that NDC: Top energy Republicans on Tuesday asked the Energy Department’s statistics agency to look at the impact of President Biden’s goal of cutting emissions at least in half by 2030 compared to 2005 levels.
“When Congress and the public are presented with major, transformative policy proposals, it is important that we work to assess and understand their potential implications,” wrote Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.). “EIA’s substantive independence along with its expertise, capabilities, and reputation make it the appropriate institution to model these announced targets.”
WHAT WE’RE READING:
Outrage as regulators let pesticides from factory pollute Nebraska town for years, The Guardian reports
Emails: Utilities drafted talking points against gas bans, E&E News reports
Nations begin 3 weeks of grueling climate talks online, The Associated Press reports
ICYMI…Stories from Tuesday and the long weekend
Study: More than a third of world’s heat deaths caused by climate change
BP puts $220M toward U.S. solar projects
OPEC increasing oil output as economy rebounds
Amazon, Red Cross partnering on faster deliveries of disaster relief supplies
Progressives set sights on Civilian Climate Corps program: exclusive
Experts warn US needs to better prepare for hurricane season
Biden administration suspends Arctic oil leases issued under Trump
OFF-BEAT AND OFFBEAT: If you won’t get vaccinated for yourself, get vaccinated for the West Virginia governor’s dog.