On inauguration day, he immediately took action to reverse the actions of the Trump presidency, and rejoined the Paris Climate agreement. The paperwork has been sent, and the United States will officially join the agreement on February 19th. Meeting the terms of the Paris agreement is not going to be easy, especially after our emission reductions being stalled for the past few years. So it will take a lot of heavy lifting from across the board to get the U.S. back on track.
Biden also revoked the Keystone XL pipeline’s federal permit during his first day as president. While a small portion of this pipeline has been built, revoking it’s permit means that it likely won’t be built any further. This however isn’t going to reduce our need for oil, and will only result in job losses on both sides. The bright side is that this shows a sign that we may be pivoting our energy sourcing away from fossil fuels. The administration plans on reviewing the Trump administration’s actions, specifically the ones that aimed to support and boost high emission industries. Among these are getting rid of the repeal order on the Obama administration’s clean order program. Instead, the new president’s EPA is expected to put in place a plan that would achieve the administration's goal of making our power grid carbon neutral by 2035. However, the EPA could face some pushback from the courts on their plans. Biden also plans on reviewing the fuel economy regulations that were revoked by the Trump administrations. The Trump administration also did away with the Obama era’s practice of considering economic factors when making climate resolutions, this is also known as the “social cost” of carbon. Understanding that climate change could cause the country to hurt economically, Biden has instructed the government to consider the economic effects of climate change before making new resolutions. He additionally has asked them to consider, "environmental justice and intergenerational equity". These sweeping actions in just the first few days of presidency, show this President’s commitment to healing the environment, making decisions based on science, and prioritizing the health of his fellow Americans. He is a true beacon of hope in the fight to heal our planet.
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