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Earth Government Power United States

A Biden Victory Positions America For a 180-Degree Turn On Climate Change (seattletimes.com) 251

"Joe Biden, the projected winner of the U.S. presidency, will move to restore dozens of environmental safeguards President Donald Trump abolished," reports the Washington Post, "and launch the boldest climate change plan of any president in history."

destinyland shares their report: While some of Biden's most sweeping programs will encounter stiff resistance from Senate Republicans and conservative attorneys general, the United States is poised to make a 180-degree turn on climate change and conservation policy. Biden's team already has plans on how it will restrict oil and gas drilling on public lands and waters; ratchet up federal mileage standards for cars and SUVs; block pipelines that transport fossil fuels across the country; provide federal incentives to develop renewable power; and mobilize other nations to make deeper cuts in their own carbon emissions... Biden has vowed to eliminate carbon emissions from the electric sector by 2035 and spend $2 trillion on investments ranging from weatherizing homes to developing a nationwide network of charging stations for electric vehicles.

That massive investment plan stands a chance only if his party wins two Senate runoff races in Georgia in January; otherwise, he would have to rely on a combination of executive actions and more-modest congressional deals to advance his agenda.

Still, a number of factors make it easier to enact more-ambitious climate policies than even four years ago. Roughly 10% of the globe has warmed by 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), a temperature rise the world has pledged to avoid. The price of solar and wind power has dropped, the coal industry has shrunk, and Americans increasingly connect the disasters they're experiencing in real time — including more-intense wildfires, hurricanes and droughts — with global warming. Biden has made the argument that curbing carbon will produce high-paying jobs while protecting the planet...

Some of the new administration's rules could be challenged in federal court, which have a number of Trump appointees on the bench. But even some conservative activists said that Biden could enact enduring policies, whether by partnering with Congress or through regulation... The new administration may be able to broker compromises with key industries that have experienced regulatory whiplash in the past decade, including the auto industry and power sector, while offering tax breaks for renewable energy that remain popular with both parties. And Biden can rebuild diplomatic alliances that will spur foreign countries to pursue more-ambitious carbon reductions...

Biden's advisers have said that they plan to elevate climate change as a priority in departments that have not always treated it as one, including the Transportation, State and Treasury departments. It will influence key appointments, affecting everything from overseas banking and military bases to domestic roads and farms.... Biden's pledge to achieve a carbon-free U.S. power sector within 15 years would mean the closing or revamping of nearly every coal- and gas-fired power plant around the country, and the construction of an unprecedented number of new wind turbines and solar farms. On top of that, engineers still need to devise a better way of storing energy when the sun is not shining or the wind is not blowing.

"If I were advising Biden on energy, my first three priorities would be storage, storage and storage," said Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, who worked in the alternative energy businesses before running for office.

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A Biden Victory Positions America For a 180-Degree Turn On Climate Change

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  • by Antique Geekmeister ( 740220 ) on Saturday November 07, 2020 @03:39PM (#60696684)

    Lowering Eatth's average temperature by roughly 5 degrees Centigrade would reverse decades of climates change. Altering it by 180 degrees Centigrade would be too much.

    • Lowering Eatth's average temperature by roughly 5 degrees Centigrade would reverse decades of climates change. Altering it by 180 degrees Centigrade would be too much.

      I for one look forward to living on Popsicle Planet.

    • You've misunderstood, obviously a 180-degree turn on climate change simply means we rotate everything half a turn.

      • Oh? A "turn" is typically to the left or right, approximately a 90 degree change. Wouldn't half a turn be only 45 degrees?

        This is one of the reasons good documentation is so very valuable. People often invent phrases to describe what they mean and don't see it from another point of view.

      • You've misunderstood, obviously a 180-degree turn on climate change simply means we rotate everything half a turn.

        That might be ok, what's the range on the thermostat?

    • At least they didn't say it would be a 360 degree turn.

    • by rossdee ( 243626 )

      America uses Fahrenheit not centigrade.

      • Does it really matter? A temperature change of 180F is still excessive.

        • Assuming 70F/21C, I don't think the difference (normalized to F) between -110F (-128F has been measured on earth) and -254F is going to have a substantial impact on our odds of survival, unless underground infrastructure already exists.
  • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Saturday November 07, 2020 @03:39PM (#60696686)
    Biden isn't a king, he's a president. Without a Senate willing to work with him he'll just get blocked and obstructed until the Mid-Terms. Then voters will blame him for doing nothing and vote back in the opposition party.
    • by Misagon ( 1135 )

      You don't think that voters could get tired of this toxic political climate, and vote in some level-headed senators to replace the bad ones?

      • That has not been the direction. Things have been shifting more partisan, not less. The filibuster is all but dead to get things done. Just 50 years ago, somehow the senate got stuff done with the filibuster and without 60+ members on one side.
      • by Z80a ( 971949 )

        Sadly there are forces amplifying the idiots on both sides of the fence, because they don't want politics to get sane as they're the first in the firing squad of sane politics.

      • You don't think that voters could get tired of this toxic political climate, and vote in some level-headed senators to replace the bad ones?

        People have tended to get fed up with Congress as a body; but they usually don’t project that antipathy onto their own representatives.

        This disconnect is not a new thing.

      • You don't think that voters could get tired of this toxic political climate, and vote in some level-headed senators to replace the bad ones?

        HAHAHAHAHA.

        You must be European.

      • You don't think that voters could get tired of this toxic political climate, and vote in some level-headed senators to replace the bad ones?

        They might try, but most of the worst ones are Republicans, and Gerrymandering is overwhelmingly a Republican-led activity [rollingstone.com].

    • by meglon ( 1001833 )
      Actually the republicans in the senate have shown they're more than willing to have a president govern by executive order. I wonder how that will look if they start taking him to court saying that's wrong, after the bullshit they let happen the last 4 years.
      • by sound+vision ( 884283 ) on Saturday November 07, 2020 @06:08PM (#60697344) Journal

        It'll look like it already looks.

        Just 5 years ago, they were complaining that Obama signed too many executive orders, then fell silent as Trump signed several times the amount.

        They disallowed Obama to make a Supreme Court appointment because 6 months was "too close to the election", but sprinted to approve Trump's nominee mere days before the election.

        They pounded the podium for 8 solid years about the budget deficit and fiscal responsibility during the Obama era. When Trump took office and proceeded to grow the deficit even larger, nothing but silence.

        You don't even have to get into the policy issues to see that they're morally and ideologically bankrupt. At least the Democrats' broke clock is right twice a day. The Republicans smashed their clock into pieces because they didn't like what it read.

    • by Mitreya ( 579078 ) <mitreya@gma[ ]com ['il.' in gap]> on Saturday November 07, 2020 @03:49PM (#60696770)

      Biden isn't a king, he's a president. Without a Senate willing to work with him he'll just get blocked and obstructed until the Mid-Terms.

      For starters, he can undo things that Trump has done unilaterally, like the Paris Agreement.
      I think we learned both that president is not king, but also that they have a non-trivial amount of leeway. Trump had mapped out many of the limits (e.g., the Mexican wall funding redirection or payroll tax deferral tricks) of what the president can and cannot do without Senate support.

      • by iggymanz ( 596061 ) on Saturday November 07, 2020 @04:12PM (#60696864)

        Paris Accords are meaningless. No standards, no penalties. Under itaech nation makes up its own rules. Get it out of your head, it was pointless and useless. You only think it meant something because of media hype, not by reading or understanding it.

        • by jrumney ( 197329 )

          Under it, most nations are making up their own rules and doing their best to follow them. I don't see a problem with that, do you?

          • They can do that following a blank sheet of paper, too. Engage your brain.

            • by SirSlud ( 67381 ) on Saturday November 07, 2020 @11:08PM (#60698160) Homepage

              The Paris Agreement is much more than just "doing what you feel like doing." Which is why we're doing it, and why it's better than not doing it. That is isn't perfect or lacks sharp legislative teeth doesn't make it without value. People engage in symbolic, verbal or written commitments *all the time* in life, because it increases the chances of following through on those commitments. At a basic level, almost every person does this. It's a framework for organization and change, and while you think it's just as likely to be useful as "a blank sheet of paper", this flies in the face of all sorts non-binding arrangements that help drive personal and and professional - private and public alike - initiatives.

      • For starters, he can undo things that Trump has done unilaterally, like the Paris Agreement.

        Like Trump was able to undo things Obama did unilaterally, like DACA? Oh, wait...

      • Except that what the Democrats showed us post-Obama, is that fiat-presidencies can be particularly tenacious.

        Trump tried to undo 'stroke of a pen' executive orders, only to have his every action blocked by dozens if not HUNDREDS of lawsuits across the US, some of which will take years to STILL plod their ways through the US legal system.

        Do you think Republicans won't do exactly the same thing in reverse? I'd be curious to know why.

        • by Mitreya ( 579078 )

          Trump tried to undo 'stroke of a pen' executive orders, only to have his every action blocked by dozens if not HUNDREDS of lawsuits across the US, some of which will take years to STILL plod their ways through the US legal system.
          Do you think Republicans won't do exactly the same thing in reverse? I'd be curious to know why.

          They surely would.
          But I checked and DACA was protected by Supreme Court in a 5 v 4 decision, with RBG joining the majority. So it would almost certainly be change now.
          Also:

          The court decided that the way Trump went about canceling DACA was illegal, but all the justices seemed to agree that the president does have the authority to cancel the program if done properly.

      • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Saturday November 07, 2020 @05:43PM (#60697232)
        going. We need a stimulus. McConnell knows this, which is why he blocked it. He didn't expect Trump to win, so the plan will be to hurt the economy so we'll all blame the Dems and give McConnell back control.
      • For starters, he can undo things that Trump has done unilaterally, like the Paris Agreement.

        Obama signed the agreement unilaterally. Trump "unsigned" it unilaterally. Biden signs it again. Then what? Biden is obviously in poor health, he's even admitted openly that he's unlikely to run for another term. It's quite likely he will not finish his first term. It's possible, though perhaps unlikely, he won't make it to inauguration before being declared unfit, stepping aside willingly, or waking up dead some morning.

        Obama wrote his legacy in executive orders. That allowed President Trump to obli

      • by Solandri ( 704621 ) on Sunday November 08, 2020 @05:33AM (#60698726)
        1. The U.S. was never a signatory to the Paris Agreement. Obama signed, but the Constitution requires 2/3 of the Senate to ratify any international treaty [wikipedia.org] before the U.S. formally adopts it. The President alone does not have the power to bind the U.S. to a treaty. The Paris Agreement was never ratified by the Senate. Trump's "withdrawal" from the agreement was basically him saying he would never present it to the Senate for their approval.

        2. All the court decisions blocking Trump's attempts to undo Obama-era Executive orders and policies (like immigration) are going to bite us in the ass now. Those decisions are now legal precedent, and can be used to thwart Biden's attempts to undo Trump-era Executive orders and policies. Either one administration's executive orders and policies can be changed and undone by future administrations, or they can't. You can't have it both ways - where Presidents you like are allowed to undo previous administrations' policies and orders, but Presidents you don't like are not allowed to do the same.
    • Just putting some non-stooges in EPA and letting California do their thing with car emissions will go a long way. But yeah, I'd say putting scientists back in science-y positions should be top priority. Who remembers the NOAA guy who lost his job for contradicting you-know-who's sharpie weather hijinks?
  • 180 degrees would be too cold. Celcius or Fahrenheit? It doesn't matter.

    OK...joke's over. Interesting fact: The 180 degrees in Fahrenheit are actual degrees. 212-32=180, so if you want to construct a thermometer for F, you can come reasonably close to calibration by checking to see that the needle is 180 degrees away from the boiling position when it's freezing.

  • by e3m4n ( 947977 ) on Saturday November 07, 2020 @03:48PM (#60696760)

    And this is the fundamental problem with executive orders. The come and go based on the whims of whoever sits in the oval office. Good policy, bad policy, well intended but poorly executed, it doesnt matter. This is why we dont elect kings. Legislation is more binding. Albeit most bills read like a damn unified diff file, editing previous USC. Amendments are by far the most permanent and most binding. They are supposed to require a majority vote in 75% of the states to ratify. The amendment process gives the people the power of self determination by which specify to which powers we enumerate to the government and what their responsibilities are.

  • I like my house warm in the winter without paying a fortune on heating or rebuilding it with new insulation technology. While I would like to do so, gutting it down to frame to re-insulate it is just cost-prohibitive. Currently, my house is heated with natural gas. I would like to keep it this way.

    I like my internal combustion engine (ICE). I don't have anything against electric cars other than costs and low miles. I do mind all environmental regulations that make IC unreliable and more expensive. These r
    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Saturday November 07, 2020 @06:02PM (#60697312) Homepage Journal

      A lot of strange ideas here. You don't need to strip your house back to a shell just to improve the insulation.

      As for your ICE car, well you may not care about the air pollution it creates but I do. I don't like having to breath your emissions and have my health suffer for your comfort. The price you pay for doing that is, frankly, way too low.

    • by thrich81 ( 1357561 ) on Saturday November 07, 2020 @06:03PM (#60697316)

      "I do mind all environmental regulations that make IC unreliable " -- citation needed. You must not have lived through the carbureted, mechanical breaker points days of IC engines before environmental regulations. Those cars were broken down on the side of the road all the time.
      One of the reasons that spark plugs last 100,000 miles now instead of 20,000 (or what ever it was in the old days) is that getting the lead out of gasoline (forced by environmental regulation) ended the inevitable lead fouling of the plugs.
      And, regulations do not make the resulting unreliable cars "go to the junkyard much sooner". Sooner than what? Those 60's cars in the "glory days" before regulations were worn out at 75,000 miles. One reason car engines last 150,000+ miles now is that they burn everything cleaner and more completely, with not near as much carbon and other combustion product buildups.
      IC engines are far better than they used to be -- a lot of that was forced by environmental regulations pushing the car companies into electronic ignition, fuel injection, and computer controls sooner rather than later.

    • by vix86 ( 592763 )

      While I would like to do so, gutting it down to frame to re-insulate it is just cost-prohibitive.

      Hence the point on incentives/investments. People could receive tax credits -- just like for solar panels -- to remodel their house to improve efficiency.

      I do mind all environmental regulations that make IC unreliable and more expensive.

      The other way to look at this is just that you now have to shoulder the costs of the down-the-line externalities of ICE vehicles. Personally I would much prefer this be baked into gas prices than into vehicle costs, as the possibility of carbon neutral fuels for ICE could become more common. But touching gas prices could have significant impacts on certain

    • by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Saturday November 07, 2020 @07:21PM (#60697632)

      I like my house warm in the winter without paying a fortune on heating or rebuilding it with new insulation technology.

      So basically you like the idea of taking no responsibility for your actions.
      And people wonder why the USA tops the per-capita emissions. Simple answer: Many of you seem to actively be proud of your selfish arsehole attitudes.

      Me, I did precisely what you find prohibitive, I gutted my ceiling and exterior walls to insulate. Now I'm going to claim the moral high ground and give you the middle finger on behalf of you grandchildren.

      • And people wonder why the USA tops the per-capita emissions. Simple answer: Many of you seem to actively be proud of your selfish arsehole attitudes.

        Only the ignorant wonder why the USA tops the per capita emissions.

        That's [wikipedia.org] because [europa.eu] the USA [worldbank.org] doesn't lead [ucsusa.org] the world [ourworldindata.org] in that metric. [statista.com]

        Care to guess which western nation is the only one that emits more per capita than the US? Here's a hint. [google.com]

        By all means, do go on about arseholes.

    • by Ogive17 ( 691899 ) on Saturday November 07, 2020 @07:41PM (#60697686)

      I like my house warm in the winter without paying a fortune on heating or rebuilding it with new insulation technology. While I would like to do so, gutting it down to frame to re-insulate it is just cost-prohibitive. Currently, my house is heated with natural gas. I would like to keep it this way.

      Ever heard of blown-in insulation? Not that expensive. Your entire complaint revolves around natural gas staying cheap for a long period of time. What happens if subsidies for that industry are removed? I know I personally do not like my tax money being used to supplement the profits of these companies.

      I like my internal combustion engine (ICE). I don't have anything against electric cars other than costs and low miles. I do mind all environmental regulations that make IC unreliable and more expensive. These regulations also focus on tailpipe emissions and ignore manufacturing emissions - so the resulting unreliable cars end up polluting more as they go to the junkyard much sooner.

      This makes no sense. IC engine reliability is impacted more on design and quality of materials than any emissions regulations, The Japanese proved this in the 60s. Regulation can help spur innovation.

      I don't like brown-outs or tripling of electricity costs. I don't have anything against wind or solar, but I do mind having to buy myself a backup generator as push for renewable compromised base load generation capability.

      Let's remove all subsidies in the energy sector and let the different energy sources sort it out.

      I don't want everything made in China, we can't depend on them to play nice in the future. They don't follow any emission agreements and their manufacturing pollutes without penalty. We can't expect our manufacturing to stay competitive if we go overboard with CO2 emission regulations. We need a national project on recapture, not kill (and ship) all our manufacturing to China so they can pollute on our behalf.

      I've been to Beijing.. you don't want our air looking like that. Americans desire to have the cheapest possible goods is what really screwed over our economy. You're right in that manufacturing products in the US cannot compete with products made in China (on price).. relaxing environmental regulations is not going to change that.

      Your posts sounds extremely selfish. I want what's best for "me" and I don't care the consequences!

    • You're one of the Fox morons that think on day one gasoline cars will be made illegal. Do you think sleepy Joe is gonna send big bad Kamala over to rough you up until agree to use a different heat source?

    • My electric cars have been more reliable than any of my other vehicles. There was one recall, it happens. Other than that the only service it has needed is new tires, and windshield washer fluid. Almost 50k miles on it. No stops for gas, no crawling under the car to change oil. Never ran out of charge, hasn't stopped me from taking longer trips, even day trips more than 2x the range the car gets on the freeway have been a non-issue. The charging situation has gotten a lot better in the last two years, and I
  • by WindBourne ( 631190 ) on Saturday November 07, 2020 @05:30PM (#60697168) Journal
    For 2 out of 3 years, America's emissions have dropped. And it appears that this year, America may drop the most that it has, AND will be the most of any nation.

    Even now, several more LARGE coal plants have said they are looking to shut down, this year.

    Most States, and many businesses, have actually been cleaning up. In addition, we have made progress on new nuclear plants. If we add fast reactors at old sites that are shutting down, they can burn up the waste fuel for the next 100+ years, making money, while reducing the waste by 70-80%, and have it safe in 200-300 years.

    Heck, if we burn this up, in 100-200 years, we can just sink it in a 2-4 mile hole as classified waste. Issue solved.
    • by jrumney ( 197329 )

      A 180 on federal policy. At the state and local level, there were still a lot of good things being done, but it wan't because of a national coordinated effort.

      • Coal just became more expensive than gas.

        Nothing to do with trying to help the environment. And it is a one off gain -- gas is just a bit less polluting than coal.

        Non-carbon is more expensive than gas. But that is not the point. It is not the goal to produce the cheapest electricity. It is the goal to produce electricity in a way that does not cook the planet. And the indirect coasts of global warming will totally dwarf the cost of non-carbon electricity.

        The USA (and Australia) is shitting in the globa

  • Weatherizing homes is something I've heard since the 1970s. Aren't they done yet?
  • Biden is a corporate tool and has been for decades. Think the US is going to sacrifice itself on the altar of "climate change?" Guess again.

  • Rumor is his lunatic associates are going to make it illegal for white males to breathe.
  • Presumably, after making the 180-degree turn, the United States will begin moonwalking.

  • ...so damage prosperity that there will be _less_ money available to build solar farms and wind turbine farms? Go shoveling all the extra money to Washington via higher corporate taxes, and I think it could happen.

  • I assume that this means gas will be ~double today's price in two years.

  • Now fix China (Score:4, Interesting)

    by wakeboarder ( 2695839 ) on Sunday November 08, 2020 @11:34AM (#60699474)

    Last time I checked China was spewing gobs of CO2 into the atmosphere. If policies are enacted, what's to stop industry from moving over there, you get the same CO2, just not in the US

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