Today I discuss the key points of Joe Biden’s proposed energy plan.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has laid out an ambitious energy plan. His campaign has released nine key elements of Biden’s plan for a Clean Energy Revolution and Environmental Justice. Here are the nine key elements, with some commentary by me below each one.1). Take executive action on Day 1 to not just reverse all of the damage Trump has done, but go further and faster. This involves reinstating some Obama-era policies that President Trump rolled back, like methane limits on oil and gas operations. In some areas it would exceed Obama’s policies by eventually requiring all new light- and medium-duty vehicles to be zero emission vehicles. There would also be new restrictions on oil and gas leases on public lands and waters. Of these policies, the methane limits are even supported by many in the oil and gas industry. The emission requirement on vehicles is a goal that has been adopted by many countries, but it remains to be seen whether any country can achieve this in the foreseeable future. 2). Work with Congress to enact in 2021, President Biden’s first year in office, legislation that, by the end of his first term, puts us on an irreversible path to achieve economy-wide net-zero emissions no later than 2050. This one would require “polluters to bear the full cost of the carbon pollution they are emitting.” In reality, consumers emit a significant amount of carbon pollution. Anyone that drives a combustion automobile emits carbon pollution. So, this is one of those goals that is meant to convey that the fossil fuel companies will be punished for producing fossil fuels, while ignoring consumer behavior that drives those emissions. 3). Rally the world to urgent and additional action. On Day 1, Biden will rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement. President Trump exited the Paris Climate Agreement, and that was not a wildly popular move. Again, even many oil and gas companies thought the U. S. should remain in the agreement, for a number of reasons. So, rejoining it won’t prove to be extremely controversial.
