Biden vows climate change actions will create jobs
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Making climate change a top priority, U.S. President Joe Biden signed a raft of executive orders Wednesday - clean energy policies he promised would be a boon to the U.S. economy and an engine for job growth.
"This is a case where conscience and convenience cross paths, where dealing with this existential threat to the planet and increasing our economic growth and prosperity are one and the same.”
Biden said millions of good-paying, union jobs would be created in wind and solar energy – something former Secretary of State John Kerry – in his new role as U.S. climate envoy - noted at a press briefing earlier in the day.
“You look at the consequences of ‘black lung’ for a miner for instance, and measure that against the fastest-growing job in the United States before COVID - solar power technician. The same people can do those jobs.”
Meanwhile, Biden’s nominee for energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm – who spent eight years as governor of Michigan, the hub of U.S. auto manufacturing – defended the administration’s position in her confirmation hearing Wednesday as way to prevent foreign countries from hijacking U.S. jobs.
“We can buy electric car batteries from Asia, or we can make ‘em in America. We can install wind turbines from Denmark, or we can make ‘em in America.”
Biden also paused new oil and gas leases on federal land and cut fossil fuel subsidies, marking a reversal from policies put in place by his predecessor, Donald Trump - who sought to maximize U.S. oil, gas and coal output by removing regulations and easing environmental reviews.
But Biden did not enact one measure that Trump, on the campaign trail, claimed his rival would.
FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP ON OCT. 26, 2020: “He’s going to ban fracking.”
BIDEN: “Let me be clear – and I know this always comes up – we’re not going to ban fracking.”
Biden last week returned the U.S. to the Paris Climate Accord after Trump abandoned the agreement.
Biden’s focus on climate change has cheered international partners and environmental advocates, but has upset Big Oil, which argues the moves will cost the U.S. millions of jobs and billions of dollars in revenue at a time when the economy can least afford it.
