The Agriculture Department says it will plant more trees as the White House contemplates additional climate mitigation actions. Meanwhile, California is stepping up its own climate goals.
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Biden to announce measures on wildfires and extreme heat
The Biden administration will this week announce actions aimed at reducing the risk of wildfires and protecting people from extreme heat, according to a White House official.
What do we know? The official said the actions Biden will announce include new resources for communities dealing with extreme heat and new initiatives expanding access to “more affordable clean energy sources” in an email to The Hill.
What other thing? The administration will also announce investments through the bipartisan infrastructure act to help “eliminate the backlog of reforestation needs” and help communities plan for and mitigate wildfire risk.
The Department of Agriculture on Monday said that I would try to plant more than
1 billion trees in the next 10 years and also try to eliminate the reforestation backlog. The White House official said the administration will announce additional measures related to wildfires this week.
The upcoming actions were previously reported by E&E News.
The steps come after attention turned to the Biden administration on climate action after Sen. Joe Manchin (DW.Va.) walked out of the Senate climate talks.
Biden last week announced measures related to expanding offshore wind power and financing heat, adding that his administration would announce additional executive actions aimed at climate change “in the coming days”.
- But many climate advocates described last week’s steps as insufficient and are likely to view the latest steps in a similar light.
- Several progressives have called on Biden to declare an emergency over climate change. Last week, Biden called the issue an “emergency” but stopped short of a formal statement that unlock additional weather powers.
Read more about the next moves here.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES PLANS TO PLANT 1 BILLION TREES
On Monday, the Biden administration outlined plans to plant a billion trees as part of efforts to address a long backlog in reforestation.
How is that? The effort, spearheaded by the Department of Agriculture, will build on existing reforestation efforts using funds from the bipartisan Infrastructure Act and the Bipartisan Repair Existing Public Lands by Adding Needed Trees (REPLANT) Act.
Without the two laws, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said, the department would only have been able to address about 6 percent of the reforestation backlog.
- “Forests are a powerful tool in the fight against climate change,” Vilsack said in a statement. “Caring for their natural regeneration and planting in areas most in need is critical to mitigating the worst effects of climate change while making those forests more resilient to the threats they face from catastrophic wildfires, historic droughts, outbreaks of disease and pest infestation.
- “Our reforestation efforts in national forests are only increased through strong partnerships with other federal agencies, tribes, state and local governments, communities and organizations,” added US Forest Service Chief Randy Moore. “We recognize that the successful increase in reforestation in national forests depends on these strong partnerships.”
This year, the Forest Service has significantly expanded reforestation funding, committing about $100 million to such efforts this year, at a time when unprecedented wildfires remain an imminent threat.
The announcement is the latest in a series of forestry-related measures by the federal government.
In April, President Biden signed an executive order aimed at protecting old-growth forests. In August, before Biden took office, the US officially signed on to an effort to plant a trillion trees worldwide, with a goal of at least 855 million in the US by 2030.
Read more about the announcement here.
California raises climate goals, faces fires
A growing fire near Yosemite National Park forced the evacuation of thousands of residents over the weekend, prompting California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) to declare a state of emergency just one day after announcing a set new and ambitious climate goals.
Newsom issued a state of emergency for Mariposa County on Saturday due to impacts from the Oak Fire, which his office says destroyed homes, threatened critical infrastructure and prompted the evacuation of 3,000 residents.
- At the time of the statement, the fire had burned more than 11,500 acres, a figure that grew to 16,791 acres on Monday morning. according to lime fire. The fire was 10 percent contained Monday.
- Newsom’s emergency declaration came less than a day after launched a new c statewideclimate goals for renewable energy, clean buildings, carbon removal and clean fuels.
The details: As part of the new goals, the Governor called on the state to ensure its 2022 Climate Change Scoping Plan provides the tools necessary to achieve California’s 2030 climate goals, as well as carbon neutrality for the state, in addition to late in 2045. in a letter sent to the president of the California Air Resources Board.
In his January state budget proposal, Newsom allocated $22.5 billion to combat the climate crisis for the next five years. In May, he revised the figure to add another $9.5 billion.
However, on Friday night, the governor announced that he would accelerate the state’s clean energy goals as he worked with the legislature “to enshrine carbon neutrality in state law,” according to his office.
- Among the new goals proposed in his letter to the California Air Resources Board was the goal of producing at least 20 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2045.
Read more from Sharon Udasin of The Hill.
WHAT WE ARE READING
- Agents working with the Florida utility engineered the primary challenge to the Miami senator (orlando sentinel and spotlight)
- The bold public relations plot that sowed doubt about climate change (the bbc)
- Colonial Pipeline Spill 30 Times Bigger Than Thought (WRAL)
- Middle Eastern nations wake up to damage from climate change (The Associated Press)
ICYMI
🐢 I love it when You call me Big Daddy.
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